Broncs buck Bulldogs in tough season opener
Forrest Kobelt launches a pass during Friday night’s loss to Hamilton. (Daniel McKay photos/Whitefish Pilot)
Teammates cheer on Mark Anderson after scoring the Bulldogs' lone touchdown during Friday's loss to Hamilton.
Josh Dudley breaks up a pass during a loss to Hamilton Friday. (Daniel McKay photos/Whitefish Pilot)
It was all Hamilton, all night in the Bulldogs 47-10 season-opening loss.
It’s not the way the Dogs (0-1) wanted to start the season, head coach Chad Ross said, but there were some upsides to seeing how his young team handled adversity.
“Despite losing 47-10, we did some good things for how young we are,” Ross said. “They didn’t quit. The effort and the attitude, you can’t really coach that. The kids played all four quarters and on film you could see the kids didn’t give up.”
The Broncs scored early and often, putting points on the board on seven of nine drives in the first half
Quarterback Carson Rostad and receiver Tyler Chouinard connected on two touchdowns for 14 and 32 yards. Rostad had three scores in the air and one on the ground in the first half.
Bridger Bauder scored on an 85-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and took back a punt return later in the quarter.
Carver Gilman booted in a 42-yard field goal for the Dogs’ lone points in the first.
Whitefish faced a 40-3 deficit heading into the locker room at half.
The scoring slowed in the second half.
The Broncs’ Declan O’Brien ran in a 6-yard score to open the half, making the score 47-3.
A botched snap thwarted another Gilman field goal attempt for the Dogs, who finally got a touchdown with 8 minutes to go in the final quarter.
Sophomore Justin Conklin stepped in under center and connected with Mark Anderson for a 10-yard touchdown to put the score at 47-10.
Ross said the biggest thing his team needs to focus on are mental errors.
“Missed tackles, mental mistakes, missed assignments. The speed of the game, poor angles,” he said. “A lot of the stuff that you just get by playing.”
Whitefish will travel to Frenchtown next week to take on another team of Broncs. Frenchtown defeated Timberlake 51-21 last Saturday.
Cleaning up the mistakes that plagued his team last week will be the first step to picking up their first win of the season, Ross said.
“They’re a lot like Hamilton, scheme-wise. They run a spread offense and zone and power read like we saw this week. They’ve got some good speed,” he said. “We’ve got to tackle better, that’s probably the number one thing. And we need defensive stops. A lot of that goes back to the mental part of the game, and that just comes with practice.”
Hamilton 27 13 7 0 — 47
Whitefish 0 3 0 7 — 10
H — Carson Rostad 16 run (Bridger Bauder kick)
H — Bauder 85 run (Bauder kick)
H — Camron Rothie 15 pass from Rostad (Bauder kick)
H — Bauder 35 punt return (kick failed)
H — Ty Chouinard 15 pass from Rostad (kick failed)
W — Carver Gilman 43 field goal
H — Chouinard 32 pass from Rostad (Bauder kick)
H — Declan O’Brien 11 run (Bauder kick)
W — Mark Anderson 7 pass from Justin Conklin (Gilman kick)