Comeback Cats! Down 18 points in the third quarter, Wildcats rally to beat Bulldogs, 19-18

The Whitefish Bulldogs looked firmly in the driver’s seat against Columbia Falls Friday night. They had an 18-0 lead and it was raining hard—not exactly a recipe for the Wildcats to mount a comeback.

But the Cats wrecked the Bulldogs joyride, scoring 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat the Bulldogs on the road 19-18.

The comeback started when quarterback Banyan Johnston connected with Easton Brooks on a 44 yard pass for the touchdown early in the fourth after the Cats forced a punt.

The point after by Billy Jo West was good and it was 18-7 with just under 11 minutes to play.

The Cats stopped the Dogs again and on their next possession Jory Hill took a five-yard pass from Johnston for 56 yards as he broke multiple tackles and scored the Cats second touchdown. The Cats went for 2 but the conversion failed. It was 18-13.

“He’s really shifty,” coach Kelly Houle said of Hill. “Really good with the ball in his hands.”

The Bulldogs drove down to the Wildcats 38 and the Cats defense held, including a stop on a Whitefish reverse. The Bulldogs had to punt and the snap went over the punter’s head. Columbia Falls recovered at the Whitefish 31 with about 5 minutes left in the game.

They drove down inside the Bulldog 5 and with fourth and goal Trip Ross snared a screen pass from Johnston and scampered into the end zone.

The Cats went for 2 again to make the lead 3, but the effort failed. But the Cats defense held fast as Brooks picked off Bulldog quarterback Luke Dalen to squash any hopes of a Bulldog score.

It was all Bulldogs in the first half, as they racked up 12 points in the first quarter and added a field goal in the second.

The Cats had a nice drive with less than a minute left in the second quarter but couldn’t punch it in the end zone at the half-yard mark as time expired in the half.

Johnston, who took some vicious shots in the game, was 14 for 28 for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Hill had 106 yards receiving and Brooks had 55 yards.

 Houle was pleased with the comeback; it was the first three-score comeback in years, if ever, for the Wildcats.

“We talked about (at half) about staying the course and trusting the process,” Houle said. “Have confidence and courage.”

The Cats managed to hold the Bulldogs to field goals on drives rather than touchdowns, which was huge, too. Houle also made adjustments to the offensive line at the half to give Johnston a little more time.

Columbia Falls is home against Polson this Friday. The win against the Bulldogs was big because it put them in the driver’s seat for the conference title. The Cats are now 3-3 overall and 3-0 in league play with two games left to play.

Polson has struggled this year at 2-4 and 0-3 in league play.