Whitefish rolls as local teams open football season

HAVRE — Luke Dalen was special for Whitefish Friday, and so were the Bulldogs’ special teams. 

Dalen ran for two touchdowns, threw for two more and the Bulldogs took three kickoffs back for scores in a 50-20 win over non-conference football foe Havre Friday. 

The host Blue Ponies drew first blood with a Cooper Walton 11-yard touchdown run at 4:29 of the first quarter, but Vlad Shestak took the ensuing kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown for the Bulldogs. 

From there it was almost all Whitefish: The Bulldogs got a safety in the second quarter, and Brody Forthofer took the free kick 60 yards to paydirt. That made it 23-7. 

In the third quarter Dalen found Forthofer with a touchdown pass, then tore off a 75-yard scoring run as the gap grew to 36-7. 

The fourth quarter featured a return TD by each team: Landon Kinsella for Havre, and Forthofer took a kickoff back 84 yards for the game’s final TD with under a minute left. 

Dalen had a huge game: 13 carries for 155 yards; 9 of 17 passing for 157 yards with one interception. Sam Rainford was his top target, with six catches for 129 yards; he also rushed for 33 yards. 

Whitefish    7    16    13    14    -    50 

Havre    7    0    0    13    -    20 

H — Cooper Walton 11 run (Breden Dibblee kick) 

W — Vlad Shestak 83 kickoff return (Owen Aldridge kick) 

W — Luke Dalen 12 yd run (Aldridge kick) 

W — Safety 

W — Brody Forthofer 60 yd kickoff return (Aldrick kick) 

W — Forthofer 32 pass from Dalen (kick failed) 

W — Dalen 75 yd run (Aldridge kick) 

W — Shestak 3 pass from Dalen (Aldridge kick) 

H — Landon Kinsella 80 kickoff return (kick failed) 

H — Koltin Peltier 1 yd run (Dibblee kick) 

W — Forthofer 84 kickoff return (Aldridge kick) 

Polson 29, Corvallis 14

POLSON — Case Cox finished with 166 passing yards and accounted for two touchdowns, leading Polson to their first win. 

Cox completed 12 of 23 passes, including a 65-yard touchdown connection with Luke Horner, who also added a 3-yard touchdown run. Horner finished with 95 yards. 

Kelby DuMont led the Pirates on the ground with 64 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns, scoring from seven and 10 yards out. 

Polson led 7-0 after the first quarter before taking a 21-8 advantage into halftime.  

Polson        7    14    8    0    -    29 

Corvallis    0    8    0    6    -    14 

P — Kelby DuMont 7 run (Roman Sawyer kick) 

C — Ayden Spencer 3 run (2PT run good) 

P — Case Cox 3 run (Sawyer kick) 

P — Luke Horner 65 pass from Cox (Sawyer kick) 

P — DuMont 10 run (2PT pass good) 

C — Spencer 7 run (2PT pass failed) 

Libby 20, Browning 12

BROWNING — Libby turned to its ground game in the second half to rally past Browning in their season opener. 

The Loggers trailed 12-8 at halftime before taking control behind Tristian DeShazer and Hudson Hannah. DeShazer led Libby with 128 yards on 25 carries and scored twice, including an 8-yard touchdown in the first quarter and another score in the fourth. 

Hannah added 121 yards on 18 carries, while James Woody chipped in 49 yards on 12 attempts. The Loggers piled up 298 rushing yards. 

Browning’s Chase Horn accounted for both of the Indians’ touchdowns in the second quarter, scoring on an 8-yard run before returning an interception 90 yards for a touchdown. 

Both teams committed three turnovers. 

Libby    8    0    6    6    -    20 

Browning    0    12    0    0    -    12 

L — Tristan DeShazer 8 run (James Woody run) 

B — Chance Horn 8 run (2PT failed) 

B — Horn 90 interception return (2PT failed) 

L — Hudson Hannah 3 run (2PT failed) 

L — DeShazer 1 run (2PT failed) 

Fairfield 41, Eureka 0 

FAIRFIELD — Brock Peace threw five touchdown passes, two each to Cardell Rosenkrance and Saber Allen, as Fairfield won a battle of Class B powers. 

Peach was 14 of 18 passing for 191 yards for the Eagles, who won three State titles between 2011-18.  

Eureka, which won three of four state championships held the Eagles to 263 total yards and forced two fumbles, but was undone by four interceptions. 

Tyce Van Orden ran six times for 70 yards and was 4 of 11 passing for 37 yards for the Lions. He and fellow QB Hunter Grieve were each picked off twice. 

Kalijay Wieczarek and Teegan Judd got the fumbles. Judd also had a sack and five tackls; Ben Byers had six stops. 

Eureka    0    0    0    0    -    0 

Fairfield    7    21    7    6    -    41 

F — Sloan Giles 4 run (Saber Allen kick) 

F — Cardell Rosenkrance 31 pass from Brock Peace (Allen kick) 

F — Rosenkrance 38 pass from Peace (Allen kick) 

F — Allen 14 pass from Peace (Allen kick) 

F — Brodie Carper 18 pass from Peace (Allen kick) 

F — Allen 10 pass from Peace (kick failed) 

Late Thursday 

Columbia Falls 34, Lewistown 26

MISSOULA — Banyan Johnston and Trip Ross rushed for two touchdowns each and Johnson threw a TD pass to Jory Hill in Columbia Falls win over Lewistown Thursday at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. 

Ross ran 17 times for 171 yards for the Wildcats, who built a 21-6 halftime lead and then held off the Eagles for the non-conference game win. Johnston had 18 carries for 81 yards and was 10 of 17 passing for 139 yards; Ross caught one pass for 31 yards. 

Hill caught six passes for 61 yards. 

Lewistown quarterback Madden Norslien was 11 of 21 for 208 yards and four touchdowns, three in the second half. Kane Lahr had four catches for 128 yards and a score.