Crucial defensive stop secures Bulldog win over Dillon
With just under two minutes remaining in a close battle between familiar foes, the Whitefish defense shut down a 2-point conversion attempt and left Dillon stumped as the clock ticked away.
Dillon, the fifth ranked team in Montana Class A football, had just scored a 68-yard receiving touchdown and needed 2 points to tie the game on their home turf. The Bulldogs read the play well to stop another score, leading to a 28-26 victory over Dillon.
Whitefish head football coach Chad Ross says in his 23 years with the team he can only recall a couple times winning in Beaverhead County.
“It’s just getting off on the right foot,” he said. “And winning in Dillon is huge… They’re ranked five in the state and are a reputable program, so it gives our kids just a little confidence to come away with a win on the road.”
Ross says that although there were some first game of the season jitters, and mistakes were made by both teams, he was impressed with the effort from the whole Bulldog team.
Whitefish and Dillon both went scoreless in the first quarter. But it didn’t take long into the second for Bulldog Ty Schwaiger to get the ball across the goal line and give Whitefish the early 6-0 lead.
The scores went back and forth in the second quarter, as Dillon’s Kale Konen scored to give Dillon a brief lead. Soon Whitefish quarterback Fynn Ridgeway scored a rushing touchdown and completed a 2-point conversion to Jack Akey, swaying the score back in favor of the Bulldogs.
Before the end of the first half Dillon’s Konen scored once again to tie the game at 14-14.
Whitefish didn’t waste any time coming out after halftime; first Schwaiger had a 7-yard rush for a score and in Whitefish’s next possession Ridgeway found receiver Jaxsen Schlauch for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Whitefish had a 28-14 lead, but allowed two large touchdown passes for Dillon which before the end of the game narrowed the advantage to just 2 points.
Dillon was unable to connect on a 2-point conversion, and Whitefish ran out the clock for the win.
“Our [defensive line] played great against the run, but we need to get a little better with our pass rush, getting to the quarterback,” Ross said. “I don’t think we had a sack the whole game… On the flip side I thought our offensive line did really well and we only gave up one sack. So for the first game with four guys playing new positions I thought they did a really good job of stepping up.”
Ridgeway completed 18 of 32 passes for 191 yards and threw one touchdown pass to Schlauch in the third quarter. He also had 68 rushing yards and ran the ball for a touchdown.
Schwaiger had 17 carries for 53 yards and two touchdowns; Schlauch racked up 115 yards on six catches and one touchdown.
Ross says the stat that made the biggest difference between winning and losing the game was fourth-down conversions. Whitefish stopped-up Dillon twice within 5 yards of the end zone and the Beavers went 1-5 when converting on fourth down. The Bulldogs on the other hand were 3-4 on fourth down conversions.
“Twice we held them inside the five and they didn’t score, so that was probably the difference in the game; those goal-line stands and the defense stepping up,” Ross said.
Next Whitefish hosts the No. 7 ranked Frenchtown Broncs at the Dawg Pound on Friday at 7 p.m.
Whitefish 28, Dillon 26
Whitefish 0 14 14 0 - 28
Dillon 0 14 6 6 - 26