Whitefish High School senior Fynn Ridgeway last week signed a letter of intent to play football at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

The four-year starter at quarterback for the Bulldogs had a goal of becoming a collegiate athlete and will see that come to fruition this fall. Ridgeway says he decided on the MSUM after visiting a few schools, but in the end, this one was the right fit.

“Ultimately the school just made me feel the most at home,” Ridgeway said. “I visited a couple schools and MSUM was definitely just like the most at-home feeling; the coaches made me feel super good.”

He says it was a long, at times stressful recruiting process that started when he was pretty young, so he is glad to officially sign with the Dragons. Playing in college has been a long-term goal for Ridgeway and he is ready for the next level.

“I’ve always wanted to play college football or at least be a collegiate athlete in some way. I became really passionate about football in the past four years,” Ridgeway said. “It will be fun to get out of state and see a different part of the United States and I’m excited to compete and show what I can do at a different level than high school.”

Ridgeway passed for 6,010 yards and 51 touchdowns in four seasons at Whitefish, helping the Bulldogs go 24-14 and into the Class A playoffs three times.

His rushing numbers increased each year, and he was one of the state’s top rushers with 1,308 yards last fall. He finished with 1,855 career rushing yards and 24 touchdowns. Eighteen of those TDs came in 2022.

In Ridgeway’s final season in the pocket for the Bulldogs, Whitefish strung together a winning season, 7-4 overall, and won a playoff game against Havre before falling to Hamilton in the quarterfinal.

Ridgeway says as he moves on to play at the next level, he is glad to have had a great time on the field as a Bulldog.

“It was awesome, the (2022) season was pretty special. We did go pretty far for, we didn’t know what we were going to do, there were a lot of question marks starting the season,” he said. “The past few years, it went by fast, but it was really special.”