If you were to do a statistical analysis on the Ronan-Whitefish football contest Friday night at Whitefish High School, you would have thought the Chiefs won the football game.

The Chiefs finished with 139 yards on the ground on 33 attempts and finished with 192 passing yards to the Bulldogs 94 running yards and 103 passing yards. Ronan also got twice as many first down conversions as the Bulldogs did, which suggests dominance on the offensive line.

However, the Bulldogs won one critical statistical category that negates all the others: the scoreboard. Whitefish defeated the Ronan Chiefs 24-23 in a closely-contested game the entire night.

The Chiefs’ Bubba Bush’s 7-yard touchdown run gave them a 7-3 lead at the conclusion of the first quarter.

However, Whitefish continued to score and took a 17-7 lead in the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Chiefs got two critical scores when quarterback Eric Dolence ran for a 17-yard touchdown run with 10:02 left in the fourth quarter that gave the Bulldogs a fragile 15-17 lead over the Chiefs.

Another Whitefish score gave them a 15-24 lead.

The Chiefs made one last attempt and Dolence completed a pass to Justin Mays for a 4-yard touchdown run and then connected with wideout Happy Cheff to complete the 2-point conversion but the Chiefs fell one point short in the 23-24 loss.

Dolence led the team in rushing with 61 yards on 14 attempts and scored a touchdown. Wide Receiver Happy Cheff caught 11 passes for 152 yards. Dolence was 15-of-33 for 192 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

The Chiefs, now 1-2 in conference play, will face one of the top-ranked teams in the state Columbia Falls this week at Ronan High School. Columbia Falls is considered to be rated as one of the top-5 teams in Class A.