Boys win Northern A title

Whitefish wrapped up first place in the

Northern A conference with two dominating wins last week, including

a 9-0 win Oct. 1 at Bigfork and a 6-3 win at home over Polson. The

victories give Whitefish homefield advantage in the first round of

the playoffs and a chance to host the Class A title game.

“It’s always handy to get to play the

first game at home,” Whitefish coach O’Brien Byrd said. “One of our

goals was to win our conference.”

“This team is slowly getting better and

better, and we have to stay level-headed. We’ve got some

big-pressure games coming up where we are going to be put to the

test.”

Whitefish put together one of their

best stretches of soccer Sept. 27 in the first half against

Polson.

“The first 40 minutes were literally

perfect, we were unstoppable,” Byrd said.

Whitefish tallied five goals in the

opening 35 minutes and added another in the 55th minute.

Polson came back and made a game of it

with three goals in the final 20 minutes.

“We had some mental lapses and took our

foot off the gas,” Byrd said. “Polson won the second half, that’s

how I look at it. We started to panic and lose the plot. We were

disappointed with how we reacted, but happy with the win.”

They righted the ship at Bigfork,

controlling the pitch from start to finish. With a handful of

players out for SAT tests and other events, younger players stepped

up.

“We created chances and our younger

guys kept the level of play high,” Byrd said.

He noted Curran Edland’s four assists

and one goal on Saturday. “Every assist he had the opportunity to

shoot. That’s the kind of player he is. Has also has the vision to

pick his head up and find his teammates.”

Byrd also commended freshman Tommy

Murphy, who played all 80 minutes.

The Bulldogs travel to Columbia Falls

this week for their final conference game of the regular

season.