Undefeated Pirates still without a blemish

For those anticipating a quick tone-setter during a pivotal Northwestern A football battle between Polson and Whitefish Thursday night, they didn't have to look further than Kevin Owen's first carry of the night.

Owen darted about 40 yards on an off tackle play to send a resounding message to both the Bulldogs' defense and to a statewide television audience. From there, Owen and the rest of Polson's running attack clicked like clockwork to the tune of a 42-13 drubbing of its conference nemesis.

The victory secured a conference championship for Polson, which improved to 8-0 overall and 4-0 in Northwestern A play. Polson concludes the regular season Friday against Ronan.

iWe had several key returning seniors and a senior oriented team, so we felt we could contend this season,i Polson coach Scott Wilson said. iBut we did not expect to be as dominant as we have been.

iWhitefish is banged up this season with injuries and I really believe if they weren't missing some key players, it would have been closer.i

Outside of a narrow 14-13 win over Libby, conference play hasn't provided much of a challenge for the third-ranked Pirates. During their last three victories, the Pirates have outscored opponents 113-34. In that span, Polson has racked up more than 900 yards rushing.

iI felt our ground game played a huge part in our success with controlling the football against Whitefish,i Wilson said.

That it did. The Pirates ran for about 310 yards, including another spectacular performance from Owen. The Polson fullback scored four times and rambled for a game-best 176 yards on 21 carries.

In the past three games, Owen has rushed for nearly 550 yards and has scored nine touchdowns.

iThe off tackle and the trap are the two base plays we use with Kevin and we kept with that against Whitefish,i Wilson noted. iKevin was able break off a couple of big runs.i

Included in that list was a 40-yard run that came the first time he touched the football.

iThat one kind of set the tone for us,i Wilson said.

Owen scored on runs of four yards and two one-yard plunges in the opening half. He added a one-yard TD in the fourth quarter for his fourth score.

Polson's defense came in prepared to clamp down on the Zach Fennelly-to-Chris Hicks connection that had been working so well for Whitefish the past few games. However, Hicks, the Bulldogs' leading receiver, didn't play due to injury.

Whitefish also played without all-state runner Jolly Righetti and quarterback Taylor Ferda, who both went down with season-ending injuries early in the campaign.

iThe Hicks kid was our concern going into the came, but he didn't play,i Wilson said. iStill, (Fennelly) did a nice job throwing the ball. We were trying to pressure him and not give him all day to throw. Whitefish throws a lot of deep stuff, but we did a pretty good job defending it.i

Fennelly did complete eight of 11 passes for 113 yards, but he hurt Polson deep just once on a 31-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Overcast in the third quarter.

That score cut Polson's lead to 28-13, but the Pirates countered with a Owen's one-yard TD and a 41-yard touchdown scamper from Andy Nelson in the fourth quarter to secure things.

Early on, it appeared Polson was going to run away with the game. The Pirates recovered a fumble on Whitefish's first series and made it hurt on the first of two Owen's TD runs in the opening quarter.

The Bulldogs pulled to within 14-6 on Brad Kuntz's four-yard TD scamper, but the Pirates quickly answered when quarterback Joe Locke connected with Mac Gordon for a 33-yard touchdown strike.

Owen added a one-yard score to make it 28-6 at the intermission.

Locke completed five of 11 passes for about 100 yards. Gordon hauled in two passes for 51 yards. Whitefish was led offensively by running back Tim Lehner, who had 86 yards on 16 carries.

POLSON 42, WHITEFISH 13

First quarter scoring

P-Owen 4 run (Locke kick)

P-Owen 1 run (Locke kick)

Second quarter

W-Brad Kuntz 4 run (kick failed)

P-Mac Gordon 33 pass from Locke (Locke kick)

P-Owen 1 run (Locke kick)

Third quarter

W-Kenny Overcast 31 pass from Zach Fennelly) (kick good)

Fourth quarter

P-Owen 1 run (Locke kick)

P-Andy Nelson 41 run (Locke kick)

Rushing: Polson-Owen 21-176, Nelson 3-53, Ted Morigeau 4-30, Terry Lundeen 5-17, Locke 1-15.

Passing: Locke 5-11-1 97.

Receiving Gordon 2-51, Brandon Couture 1-37, Owen 1-14.