By GREG SCHINDLER

The Daily Inter Lake

WHITEFISH - The Whitefish High School football team didn't play perfectly Friday night, but it shut out visiting Corvallis 21-0 and finished non-conference play with a perfect record.

The Bulldogs (2-0) didn't score after the 10:43 mark in the second quarter and spent the second half trading blows with the physical Blue Devils. But they kept Corvallis off the scoreboard, finished the game with no injuries and proved that they can win a gritty game without firing on all cylinders.

"It was a hard-hitting, competitive game and that's what you need in your non-conference games," said Whitefish coach Patrick Dryden.

The Blue Devils (0-2) made several early blunders and Whitefish capitalized on them to build a comfortable lead.

The Bulldogs kicked off to start the game, but Corvallis fumbled on its first play from scrimmage and Whitefish recovered on Corvallis' 36-yard line. Danny Neff knocked the ball loose from Corvallis' ball carrier and Scott Yogodzinski recovered the fumble.

Whitefish committed two penalties on its ensuing drive, but senior running back Luke Fennelly found the end zone with 8:08 to play in the first quarter when he took a pitch from senior quarterback Zach Fennelly and raced 7 yards around right end to score standing up. Brad Nielsen's extra point gave Whitefish a 7-0 advantage.

The Blue Devils made some strong runs on their next possession, but turned the ball over again when senior quarterback Cody Cousins threw a pass, which was intercepted by Byron Whitcomb. The interception came on a third-and-12 play, one snap after Yogodzinski broke into the Corvallis backfield and threw Cousins for a 7-yard loss.

Whitefish doubled its lead when Luke Fennelly scored on a 15-yard run with 3:14 to play in the first quarter. Corvallis' defense stuffed Fennelly's initial charge at the line of scrimmage, but he bounced outside and zipped into the right side of the end zone.

Luke Fennelly finished with 93 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. The Bulldogs combined to rush for 180 yards on 34 attempts.

Whitefish forced Corvallis into a fourth-and-19 play on the next drive and the Blue Devils botched the snap on their punt attempt. The Bulldogs took over on the Corvallis 18-yard line and rushed the ball four straight times, including Zach Fennelly's 1-yard touchdown run. Nielsen's third extra point capped Whitefish's scoring.

Zach Fennelly completed six of 13 passes for 90 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. His numbers would have been even better had two seemingly sure touchdown passes not been dropped by Whitefish receivers.

"We need to catch the ball, that's a big part of it," Dryden said. "Our pass protection broke down and that's typical of an early-season team."

Whitcomb led Whitefish's receivers with two catches for 26 yards. But junior tight end Brian Flickinger made Whitefish's biggest pass play of the night, grabbing a fourth-quarter pass from Zach Fennelly and rumbling 40 yards down the Bulldogs' sideline.

But just when Whitefish looked primed to blow Corvallis away, the Blue Devils stiffened on defense and strung together a few long, physical drives.

"The second half we feel good about because we drove the football," said Corvallis coach Russ Hendrickson.

Sophomore running back Matt Smith bruised Whitefish for 67 yards on 18 carries. But as Smith chipped away at Whitefish's defense, the clock melted and the Bulldogs came up with timely stops to preserve their shutout.

Corvallis totaled 112 rushing yards on 45 carries.

"There was no sense of urgency on their side, they were just working their offense," Dryden said.

Dryden said Corvallis was smart for using its final non-conference game to get its offense in gear, especially since the Blue Devils aren't built to come back from a three-touchdown deficit.

"We're a running team and we can't put points on the board fast yet," Hendrickson said.

Hendrickson knew Whitefish would be tough since the Bulldogs clipped Havre 9-7 last week, so he told his players to simply compete once their early mistakes rendered victory unrealistic.

The Bulldogs committed five penalties for 40 yards and some of the penalties killed promising drives. Dryden said Whitefish must correct mistakes like those if it is to beat Bigfork in its Northwestern A opener next week.

Though Bigfork (0-1) struggled last year and lost its opener to Dillon, Dryden considers the Vikings a dangerous bunch because they are coming off a bye week and will have had two weeks to prepare for the Bulldogs. The game is critical to Whitefish's conference-title hopes.

"We've got out biggest game of the year coming up next week," Dryden said. "You can't afford to stub your toe before you get to Polson and Libby."

BULLDOGS 21, BLUE DEVILS 0

Corvallis 0 0 0 0 - 0

Whitefish 14 7 0 0 - 21

First Quarter

Whitefish - Luke Fennelly 7 run (Brad Nielsen kick), 8:08

Whitefish - Fennelly 15 run (Nielsen kick), 3:14

Second Quarter

Whitefish - Zach Fennelly 1 run (Nielsen kick), 10:43

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C W

First downs 9 12

Rushes-yards 45-112 34-180

Passing yards 26 90

Passing 2-8-1 6-13-0

Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties 5-40 5-40

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Individual Stats

Rushing - Corvallis, Chase Jessop 2-11, Zac Davis 5-19, Bo Davenport 14-22, Matt Smith 18-67, Cody Cousins 4-(-15); Whitefish, L. Fennelly 14-93, Colt Idol 4-19, Z. Fennelly 6-16; Matt Starr 2-12, Aaron Tkachyk 3-15, Jesse Strunk 2-9, Jake Scheel 1-4, Nielsen 1-4, Danny Neff 1-8.

Passing - Corvallis, Cody Cousins 2-8-1-26; Whitefish, Z. Fennelly 6-13-0-90.

Receiving - Corvallis, Davis 2-26; Whitefish, Brian Flickinger 1-40, Byron Whitcomb 2-26, Neff 1-18, L. Fennelly 1-3, Starr 1-3.