The Whitefish Bulldogs football team shut out the winless Corvallis Blue Devils 45-0 on Friday to notch their first win of the season.

Bulldog Tait Orme got the ball rolling in the second quarter with a 17-yard field goal. The momentum took off after that.   

Quarterback Luke Dalen was unstoppable, racking up 86 yards on 11 carries and clocking in three touchdowns, one from 1 yard out and one from 2 yards out. He then showed some speed in the fourth quarter with a third touchdown from 12 yards out.  

Orme was flawless, delivering six successful PATs throughout the game.   

"He's got a strong leg and was consistent with his kicks," Coach Brett Bollweg said.  

Through the defense’s impressive work, junior Vlad Shestak was able to return two interceptions for touchdowns, one from 50 yards and another from 15.   

Sam Nissen on defense played his best game yet, Bollweg said.  

"It's a huge momentum shift to get a play like that - to get two in consecutive drives is a big deal," he said. "That really blew the game open for us."  

Junior Bear Barker was successful on two passes for 50 yards, including a 42-yard pass to Shestak for what was the sixth touchdown of the game.   

Cole Moses grinded out 85 yards on 14 carries to keep things moving throughout. Barker, Jordan Harmon and Colt Moss each chipped in with short, efficient runs.   

Cooper Akey and Joey Priegel also had catches for 13 and 5 yards, respectively.   

Despite the lopsided victory, Bollweg said there’s room for improvement.  

"We started well, but then had a couple of miscues, a dropped touchdown pass and a fumbled punt," Bollweg said. "We would've loved to be up in the first quarter but weren't because of errors on our end. We have a lot to work on." 

The Blue Devils had 44 yards of total offense and three interceptions.  

Whitefish’s next game is at home Friday at 7 p.m. against the Class B Eureka Lions (3-0). The 2024 matchup saw the Lions on top by one touchdown, 39-32.   

It will be a tough, physical matchup on Friday. The goal for the Bulldogs will to be to focus on themselves, and to continue to polish the details, Bollweg said.  

"If we make mistakes, we put ourselves behind," he said. "Those are things we can clean up on our end and not wait to be dictated by the other team."  

Also scheduled for Friday is a Whitefish reunion of the 2015 state championship team. 

W -  0  17  14  14  45 

C  -   0   0   0   0      0 

Orme - 17 yd fg

Dalen - 1 yd run, Orme pat 

Dalen - 2 yd run, Orme pat 

Shestak - 50 yd int ret, Orme pat 

Shestak - 15 yd int ret, Orme pat 

Dalen - 12 yd run, Orme pat 

Shestak - 42 yd from Barker, Orme pat