Dogs spoil Polson homecoming with shutout
Whitefish notched its fifth straight win in a 38-0 beatdown of the Polson Pirates on Friday.
Led by a huge day from kicker and receiver Carver Gilman, the Bulldogs offense was humming in Polson.
Gilman had two receiving touchdowns on passes from quarterback Mark Anderson, while also hitting five PATs and one 46-yard field goal.
Gilman finished with five receptions for 102 yards, with his touchdowns coming on 13 and 54-yard catches.
Anderson got the scoring going in the first quarter with a 20-yard touchdown run. He had 13 carries for two touchdowns in the game, and went 17 for 30 passing for 211 yards and two touchdowns.
Gilman recorded his first touchdown in the second quarter, putting the Dogs up 14-0 heading into halftime.
A 3-yard touchdown run by Anderson and a 38-yard run by Devin Beale added another two scores in the third quarter. Gilman recorded his second touchdown and his field goal in the fourth to cap off the scoring.
Whitefish had 470 yards of total offense in the game, with Beale going for 83 yards rushing and Jack Eisenbarth getting 106 yards on 16 carries.
Defensively, the Dogs only allowed 71 yards by the Pirates. They held Polson to negative 38 yards rushing in the dominant performance.
Overall, head coach Chad Ross said he was happy with how his team showed up on the field, but lamented some missed opportunities early in the game.
“We started off slow again, we’re leaving too many points in the red zone,” he said. “We’ve got to be a little more efficient when we get inside the 20-yard-line. We had a bad snap, missed a field goal, turned the ball over on downs. But overall, we played real well in the second half.”
Ross said he was also pleased to see his passing game develop behind Anderson’s 211 yards.
“We just mixed it up a little bit. We want to throw the ball a little bit more. We’re going to need to throw the ball against Columbia Falls — no one has really been able to run against them — so we were just trying to try a couple different things and open up the passing game a little bit,” Ross said.
Whitefish (5-2, 3-0) hosts the Wildcats in what will be a huge Northwest A conference battle.
That game will be at 7 p.m. on Friday at Memorial Field. It is also Senior Night for the team’s seniors, Anderson, Eisenbarth, Gilman, Josh Barton, Dillon Botner, Keegan Wold and Jack Schwaiger.
Right now Columbia Falls sits just ahead of Whitefish in conference standings with only one loss to the Dogs’ two.
The Wildcats have been dominant against everyone but Hamilton, who handed them their sole loss.
“They’re a great football team. It’s the best team we’ve played since Hamilton by far. They’re well-coached, so it’s no so much preparing for them but it’s just not making mistakes and just being in the right spot, the stuff football coaches say all the time,” Ross said. “It’s not really a specific thing, it’s not like, ‘We’ve got to do this to beat C-Falls.’ We’ve got to make them beat us, and if we want to have any chance of winning the game we’ve got to stop the run attack.”
“I’m proud of where the guys are at right now,” he added. “It should be a great game. It’s like a home game, but C-Falls will bring just as many as we have.”
Whitefish 7 7 14 10 — 38
Polson 0 0 0 0 — 0
W — Mark Anderson 20 run (Carver Gilman kick)
W — Gilman 13 pass from Anderson (Gilman kick)
W — Anderson 3 run (Gilman kick)
W — Devin Beale 38 run (Gilman kick)
W — Gilman 54 pass from Anderson (Gilman kick)
W — Gilman 46 field goal