Pirates hope to bounce back with win at Browning
By JASON BLASCO
Special for the Leader
The Polson Pirates High School football team has a positive outlook after they lost 38-0 to Whitefish during their Homecoming match Friday night.
The Pirates, who are still in search of their first win of the year, did get some good news. Polson has now returned their starting quarterback Bo Kelley, who suffered an ACL injury at the end of last season.
“I think they seemed more down and couldn’t ever get things going,” Pirates coach Pat Danley said. “We’ve had zero running game, and couldn’t sustain the offensive flow. We had some completions, that type of thing, but just couldn’t generate a consistent run game.”
In spite of surrendering a total of 38 points to the Bulldogs, Danley said there were some highlights on defense.
“I guess the only highlight defensively is that we probably played our best half of football in the first half that we played all season,” Danley said. “That was probably the highlight if I was going to say one.”
The return of Kelley allows backup quarterback Boston Goode to return to the position of wide receiver, an area in which he excels.
“Bo played a little bit in the game against Libby, and then he played quarterback in the last game,” Danley said. “In the Libby game, he was off to a rough start, and then he had a really good second half. Kelley did some things that were good against Whitefish.
“We are trying to get a little more consistent. Hopefully, with a little more practice, we have continued to get better the last couple of seasons with the timing of certain receivers, and go on from there,” the coach said.
Danley is also excited to see Goode back at wide receiver.
“I think it allows us to give Boston a break, and we are able to play him at receiver,” Danley said. “He has a lot of athleticism at wide receiver and it was good for Bo to get back there. I know he’ll be itching to play all season, and hopefully with more snaps, he’ll continue to get better.”
The Pirates, who are eliminated from the Class A Montana High School Association playoffs, will hope to get the most of their final two games as they are scheduled to play at Browning this Friday at 7 p.m., then host Columbia Falls on Friday, Oct. 19 for Senior Night.
Columbia Falls rolled past Ronan 64-7 last Friday.
“Browning and us are in the same boat, they only have one win and they are kind of on a slide as well,” Danley said. “They’ve given up a lot of points and against Browning, hopefully we can sustain some offensive and defensive effort. Over the course of the game, that would be helpful too.”
Whitefish 38, Polson 0
Polson (0-3nwa, 0-7), White-fish (3-0nwa, 7-2)
Whitefish 7 7 14 10 – 38
Polson 0 0 0 0 – 0
W – Mark Anderson 20 run (Carver Gilman kick)
W – Gilman 13 pass from Anderson (Gilman kick)
W – Anderson 3 run (Gilman kick)
W – Devin Beale 38 run (Gilman kick)
W – Gilman 54 pass from Anderson (Gilman kick)
W – Gilman 46 FG
RUSH – W50-292 (Jack Eisenbarth 16-104, Devin Beale 12-84, M.Anderson 12-84), P14-(-)42 (Hunter Fritsch 2-4, Corbyn Lund 6-(-)6, Schultz 1-(-)9, Kelley 6-(-)31). PASS – W20-31-237 (Mark Anderson 19-30-230-1), P (Bo Kelley 11-28-117-1). REC – W19-208 (Carver Gilman 5-101), P11-117 (Trevor Schultz 8-78, Parker Toth 2-27, Ryker Wenderoth 1-12). PUNT – P (Boston Goode 8-145). KR – P4-94 (Wenderoth2-49, Lund 2-45). PR – P (Wenderoth 1-8). INT – Wenderoth. 2PD – Schultz, Dugan Davis. 2HURS – Garrett Croft, Davis). 4½TFL – Wyatt Goode 2, Fritsch 1, Wenderoth 1, Trevor Sorrell ½. TKL/ASST (P24t66a) – Croft 3t9a, W.Goode 4t5a, Davis 3t6a, Wenderoth 5t2a, Fritsch 2t7a, Toth 2t4a, Lund 1t7a, Schultz 1t6a, Kenton Sisler 1t4a, Kordell Walker 1t4a, John Marquardt 5a, Caleb Pierre 1t2a, Trevor Sorrell 3a, Hunter Pittsley 1a, B.Goode 1a. (Fr05Oct18)
C-Falls 64, Ronan 7
Ronan (1-2nwa, 1-5), C-Falls (3-0nwa, 6-1)
Ronan 0 0 0 7 – 7
C.Falls 36 21 7 0 – 64
CF – Colten McPhee 32 run (Auguste Emond kick)
CF – Parker Greene 25 pass from Drew Morgan (Emond kick)
CF – Lane Sapa 38 pass from Morgan (Emond kick)
CF – Brad Nieves 21 int return (Emond kick)
CF – McPhee 5 run (Nieves pass from Morgan)
CF – McPhee 45 run (Emond kick)
CF – Morgan 51 run (Emond kick)
CF – Sapa 34 pass from Morgan (Emond kick)
CF – McPhee 85 run (Emond kick)
R – Justin Mays 1 run (Brant Heiner kick)
RUSH – CF 17-314 (McPhee 10-265), R16-22 (Kelsch 1-20, Daniel Bishop 1-13, Zane Walchuk 1-2, Justin Mays 8-(-)1, Dolence 4-(-)12). PASS – CF 9-14-175 (Morgan 7-9-160-2), R8-24-70 (Eric Dolence 7-19-70-2, Daniel Kelsch 1-5-0-1) . REC – CF9-175 (Sapa 2-73), R8-70 (K.Deveraux-Trahan 1-30, Walchuk 2-26, Kane McAllister 2-9, Kelsch 1-5, Bishop 1-0, Kolby Reum 1-0). KO – CF9 (Emond 9-455), R1(Terry Wersonick III 1-52). PUNT – Wersonick 5-yards. INT – CF3, R2 (Dolence, Kelsch). FMBL – R2. SACK – CF4, R3. TFL – R4 (Bush, tm 3). PD – CF13.
TKL/ASST – CF15t60a (McPhee 3t5a, Tanner Gove 3t4a), R15t10a (Walchuk 5t, Bubba Bush 3t2a, K.McAllister 2t, Bishop 1t2a, Mays 1t1a, Dolence 2a, Trapper McAllister 1a, Larz Sorrell, tm 3t)
(Fr05Oct18)
Stat specs derived from Hudl & MaxPreps postings
— John Hedlie contributed to this story.