Bulldogs come up short in Dog-Cat rivalry game

The Bulldogs took the lead twice in the second half of a game against Columbia Falls Friday on the road, but couldn’t hold onto it in the final quarter.

In the end, the Wildcats topped the Dogs 24-20 in a tight, back-and-forth rivalry game. The spirit of the rivalry was alive and well as the two teams faced each other for the annual matchup.

“It felt different before the game — our guys were in a different state of mind… It’s really fun, it's fun for the guys to have a rivalry that’s close by and competitive…” Whitefish head coach Brett Bollweg said. “When you play in games like this it’s good for kids, it's good for their emotions to understand what it feels like to hurt after a loss and have success after a win.”

“Rivalry games are fun, I told the guys it's what high school football should be right here,” he added.

Though Whitefish saw this game slip away from them, Bollweg says the heart was there just came up a few plays shy of the win.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game, we knew it was going to be a battle and we certainly got that,” Bollweg said. “We missed our chances a few times, and credit to Columbia Falls, they did a nice job of implementing their game plan. At the end of the day we came up a couple plays short.”

Columbia Falls came off the opening kickoff with a quick score when Wildcat quarterback Cody Schweikert punched through for a 3-yard rush. Before the end of the first quarter, Whitefish tied up the score by capitalizing on a muffed punt by Columbia Falls. QB Fynn Ridgeway found the end zone on a short gain and the PAT by Ryder Barinowski was good to tie it up at 7-7.

A 21-yard field goal in the second quarter gave the Wildcats a slight lead going into halftime. The Wildcats had another opportunity to score just before the end of the second quarter, but a 30-yard kick attempt missed the uprights.

Coming out of the break, Whitefish wasted no time when Ridgeway connected with receiver Clayton Godsey on a 56-yard touchdown pass to take the team’s first lead in the game.

The Wildcats responded quickly, however, with a drive ending in a Reggie Sapa TD.

With a minute remaining in the third quarter, Ridgeway found Barinowski in the end zone on a big gain to grab the lead again, 20-17.

Columbia Falls held off the Bulldogs' rally in the fourth quarter and Sapa scored once more to give the Cats the win. Though the Dogs had one more opportunity at an offensive drive, they couldn’t quite put the pieces together.

“We felt good about our chances when we got the ball back with five or six minutes to go and just couldn’t execute the way we were hoping,” Bollweg recalled.

In the game, Ridgeway led the Bulldogs connecting on 14 of 21 passing attempts for 151 yards and two touchdown passes. He also carried the ball 17 times to rack up 84 yards.

Godsey tallied three receptions for a team-high 64 yards and one touchdown; Bulldog Jesse Burrough had four catches for 44 yards and Barinowski made two catches for 36 yards and a touchdown.

For Columbia Falls, Schweikert went 21 of 30 passing for 237 yards and one touchdown pass. He also rushed for 90 yards and a TD. Sapa had 77 yards on 12 carries and Jace Hill led the Wildcat receivers with six receptions for 71 yards.

The Wildcats improved to 6-1 overall and the Bulldogs are now 6-2 for the season.

“Hopefully this is one of those opportunities that our guys get to learn from being on the hard end of things to grow as players and as a team,” Bollweg said. “It’s one of those things that catapults us into being able to finish games like that, put together those final drives and make those big stops when we need to.”

Whitefish have an opportunity to play another tough opponent on Friday when the Dogs take on the undefeated Pirates in Polson. The Pirates are 7-0 this season and are first in the Northwest A. Game time is 7 p.m.

Whitefish 7 0 13 0 —20

Columbia Falls 7 3 7 7 — 24

1st quarter

CF — Cody Schweikert 3 run (Kai Golan kick)

WF — Fynn Ridgeway 1 run (Ryder Barinowski kick)

2nd quarter

CF — Golan 21 FG

3rd quarter

WF — Clayton Godsey 56 pass from Ridgeway (bad snap, no PAT)

CF — Reggie Sapa 16 pass from Schweikert (Golan kick)

WF — Barinowski 27 pass from Ridgeway (Mason Kelch kick)

4th quarter

CF — Sapa 14 run (Golan kick)