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Wildcats Dominate Whitefish, 33-14

By Beacon Staff

Maybe it should rain at every home game.

On a soaked field Friday night, the Wildcats showed convincingly that the “home field disadvantage” (all losses at home this year – before tonight) is gone. For anyone from Columbia Falls, there was no better time to shed the disadvantage than against Whitefish.

The Columbia Falls Wildcat football team put together a strong performance for the hardy fans who showed up for a rainy Senior night on the football field, pummeling the Bulldogs 33-14 and earning a home rematch with Hamilton next Saturday morning.

While standout Whitefish back Daniel Simmons has dragged would be tacklers upfield all season, on this night he was upstaged by CFalls’ John Woody (#24). Woody ended the night with 211 total yards of offense on 21 yards receiving and 190 yards rushing. That total doesn’t include a long run that was called back on a penalty.

Mitchell Wassam had another strong night with 1 touchdown pass and over 200 passing yards. While the offense was fun to watch, the entertainment for me came from the defense, which had struggled a bit lately. Every time it seemed like Whitefish had a shot to get back in the game, the Cat defense was stepping up at the right time, or just getting a little luck at home for a change.

But none of that would have seemed so easy without a home defensive performance stronger than we’ve seen all season. Among others, #64 Mike Macijunas was either in someone’s face, on top of them in the backfield, recovering a fumble, or simply causing trouble for Whitefish all game long (see photo below, causing then recovering a 2nd half fumble). Matt Triplett and Kyle Howell also made several standout plays at critical moments.

All in all, a good performance to leverage before Hamilton comes to town next Saturday.

#64 Mike Macijunas causes, then recovers a 2nd quarter Whitefish fumble.
#3 Kyle Howell successfully defends a Whitefish pass attempt.
#19 Kaleb Johnson outmaneuvers two Bulldog defenders and gathers in a long pass from Mitchell Wassam.