THURS., 10-8 RESULTS

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Whitefish 9,

Columbia Falls 2

COLUMBIA FALLS - The Whitefish Bulldogs are now in control of their Class A playoff destiny after beating Northern A foe Columbia Falls handily.

The Bulldogs improved to 5-1-1 in conference and 7-3-1 overall and play on the road in Libby on Saturday in the regular season finale.

If Whitefish wins, it claims first place and moves into the playoffs. If it ties and Polson beats Bigfork on Saturday, Whitefish still claims second place. But if the Bulldogs lose and Polson wins, the Pirates take the playoff reins. If both teams lose, Whitefish still moves on.

"It's too much stress for a coach to handle," joked Whitefish coach O'Brien Byrd.

"We just want to take the steering wheel and control our own destiny. We don't want to leave it in the hands of others. We're going down (to Libby) to win a game, not to eke out a tie or see what happens."

Whitefish 2 7 - 9

Columbia Falls 2 0 - 2

WHITEFISH - Anto Daoud (Tanner Hosek), 13:00; Jack Steele (Matty McCrone), 40:00; Joel Bacher (Steele), 53:00; Travis Adams (John Joern), 60:00; Bacher (Daoud), 71:00; Adams (McCrone), 74:00; Cristian Saavedra (Adams), 75:00; Curran Edland (Taylor Thompson) 79:00; Sean Janni (Curran Edland), 80:00

COLUMBIA FALLS - Nate Holt, 9:00; Trevor Brown (Matt Hensley), 38:00

Shots on goal - Whitefish 25, Columbia Falls 3

Goalie saves - Whitefish 2 (Alex Whitaker), Columbia Falls 16 (Jacob Calderwood)

Corner kicks - Whitefish 8, Columbia Falls 0

Fouls - Whitefish 16, Columbia Falls 13

Cards - Whitefish, yellow

Libby 2, Polson 1

LIBBY - Libby clinched a spot in the upcoming playoffs by topping Polson in the late going.

Cree Maloney, with Crawford Dinning assisting, scored with a minute to play to give the Loggers a thrilling Northern A victory.

"We were playing well, I was confident we were going to still win the game," Libby coach Charlie Webster said.

"It was a hard-fought game. Polson played great, Libby played a little better."

Patrick Valentine gave Libby (9-2 overall and 6-1 league) the early lead 21 minutes into play.

Libby concludes regular-season action on Saturday hosting Whitefish, 4 p.m.

Polson 0 1 - 1

Libby 1 1 - 2

POLSON - Peter Hansen (Sean Hart), 77:00

LIBBY - Patrick Valentine (Nick Reny), 21:00; Cree Maloney (Crawford Dinning), 79:00

Shots on goal - Polson 7, Libby 7

Corner kicks - Polson 0, Libby 2

Goalie saves - Polson 4 (Clay Frissell), Libby 6 (Lewis Brossman)

Fouls - Polson 11, Libby 22

Cards - Libby, 2 yellow