Make that 4 in a row as Whitefish defeats Stevensville
Bulldog Cody Berry breaks through a hole in the Stevensville defense to advance the ball in a game on Thursday in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Whitefish's Jaxsen Schlauch breaks a tackle to get free for a touchdown in the first half of a game against Stevensville on Thursday evening in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Bulldog senior Dennis Shestak celebrates a huge run that took Whitefish to into the red zone during the third quarter in a game against Stevensville on Thursday in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Whitefish quarterback Fynn Ridgeway powers through a tackle in a game against Stevensville on Thursday in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Whitefish's Ty Schwaiger assists teammates Cody Berry and Montana Cohenour on a tackle in a game against Stevensville on Thursday in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
Whitefish football remains undefeated, and with that the team moves into the ranks of the other top Class A teams.
On Thursday, the Bulldogs moved to 4-0 after defeating Stevensville at home in Whitefish; the defense kept the Yellowjackets scoreless in the second half to win 24-6.
“Every week we’re taking steps forward and we’re excited about that,” Bulldog assistant coach Brett Bollweg said. “We’re excited that we get to be in the conversation of teams that are doing the right things and winning games, and we feel fortunate to be in that situation.”
Bollweg said the team knew Stevensville would put up a tough fight in the game, but with Whitefish’s offense and defense on point, the Yellowjackets had a tough time getting anything going.
That is except in the opening drive of the game, Stevensville’s Gus Turner caught a pass that turned into a 50-yard touchdown reception. Whitefish took a bad step and missed the tackle, but that score only lit the fire under the defense.
“Team wins is what we’re looking for, to do things correctly,” Bollweg said. “We gave up a big play on the first drive of the game, one bad step and their kid takes off running and makes a nice play. We kind of rallied after that defensively, and made some nice stops.”
Whitefish responded quickly on offense as well when senior receiver Jaxsen Schlauch brought down a 43-yard touchdown pass from Bulldog quarterback Fynn Ridgeway in the first quarter.
Soon after Bulldog Logan Conklin caught a 5-yard pass for a touchdown to give Whitefish a more comfortable lead going into halftime.
Schlauch again caught a pass from Ridgeway in the third quarter and avoided several tackles on his way to a big 61-yard touchdown.
“We made some big plays on third down on offense,” Bollweg recalled. “We got our third score (of the game) on a third and long — that’s a huge play in the game for us to really solidify where we wanted to go.
“Fynn threw a great ball, Jaxsen made a great route right over the middle and it’s fun to watch our kids have success in the midst of a tough game,” he added.
The Bulldogs tacked on a successful field goal in the final period as well. Whitefish kicker Ryder Barinowski put it through the uprights on all three touchdowns as well as the field goal opportunity.
“Ryder Barinowski made some big steps in his confidence, just being a really good kicker for us,” Bollweg said. “We saw that last week against Butte Central he made some huge plays for us, and now putting the ball where he wants it and putting us in the position to make plays.”
The coach added that all of the players on special teams have made incredible progress over the first four games of the season. Another huge plus for Whitefish this season is senior Talon Holmquist. He hasn’t played football with the Bulldogs until this year, and his size as well as punting ability is an asset Whitefish is utilizing.
“Talon Holmquist’s punting on Thursday was huge, he just drilled the ball,” Bollweg said. “It’s fun to watch him do that — he’s kind of a kid that we almost stumbled into and, holy cow, you can crush this thing.”
Ridgeway had another impressive showing in the game against Stevensville as he threw for 143 yards and three touchdowns, while also gaining 77 yards on the ground. Schlauch continued his stellar senior year as well with two touchdown receptions and 113 yards.
Cody Berry is the Bulldogs standout running back thus far, he racked up 113 rushing yards in the game.
Whitefish is now preparing to face East Helena, a team in its first year as a varsity Class A program.
“They’re a program that’s trying to learn how to do a lot of things and we can appreciate that,” Bollweg said of East Helena.
“At the end of the day we’re playing football, and you can’t really beat that,” he added.
Whitefish will travel to East Helena on Friday with the game beginning at 7 p.m.
Stevensville 6 0 0 0 - 6
Whitefish 7 7 7 3 - 24
S — Gus Turner 50 pass from Sahkaia Wehr (PAT failed)
W — Jaxsen Schlauch 43 pass from Fynn Ridgeway (Ryder Barinowski kick)
W — Logan Conklin 5 pass from Ridgeway (Barinowski kick)
W — Schlauch 61 pass from Ridgeway (Ryder Barinowski kick)
W — Barinowski 33 FG
