Boys win Northern A title
Whitefish wrapped up first place in the
Northern A conference with two dominating wins last week, including
a 9-0 win Oct. 1 at Bigfork and a 6-3 win at home over Polson. The
victories give Whitefish homefield advantage in the first round of
the playoffs and a chance to host the Class A title game.
“It’s always handy to get to play the
first game at home,” Whitefish coach O’Brien Byrd said. “One of our
goals was to win our conference.”
“This team is slowly getting better and
better, and we have to stay level-headed. We’ve got some
big-pressure games coming up where we are going to be put to the
test.”
Whitefish put together one of their
best stretches of soccer Sept. 27 in the first half against
Polson.
“The first 40 minutes were literally
perfect, we were unstoppable,” Byrd said.
Whitefish tallied five goals in the
opening 35 minutes and added another in the 55th minute.
Polson came back and made a game of it
with three goals in the final 20 minutes.
“We had some mental lapses and took our
foot off the gas,” Byrd said. “Polson won the second half, that’s
how I look at it. We started to panic and lose the plot. We were
disappointed with how we reacted, but happy with the win.”
They righted the ship at Bigfork,
controlling the pitch from start to finish. With a handful of
players out for SAT tests and other events, younger players stepped
up.
“We created chances and our younger
guys kept the level of play high,” Byrd said.
He noted Curran Edland’s four assists
and one goal on Saturday. “Every assist he had the opportunity to
shoot. That’s the kind of player he is. Has also has the vision to
pick his head up and find his teammates.”
Byrd also commended freshman Tommy
Murphy, who played all 80 minutes.
The Bulldogs travel to Columbia Falls
this week for their final conference game of the regular
season.