Pirate football celebrates first win at homecoming
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POLSON – The Polson Pirate football team won its first game of the season in front of a homecoming crowd on Friday evening, revving toward a 37-6 victory over the Libby Loggers.
Three different players found the end zone for the Pirates, which rattled off 37 consecutive points and sent the lumbering Loggers to their fifth consecutive loss.
“I’m very proud of the kids for getting our first win of the season,” Pirate head coach Pat Danley said.
The Pirates are now 1-1 in conference, but the toughest stretch of their season lies ahead as they have Whitefish, Browning and Columbia Falls yet to play.
Boosted by the return of senior running back Colton Cote, the Pirates scored two first-half touchdowns then kept the Loggers off the scoreboard until the late minutes of the fourth quarter.
Cote, who missed Polson’s first four games due to injury, ran for 69 yards on 12 carries and touchdown, while sophomore quarterback Bo Kelley carried the ball nine times for 65 yards and completed 5 of 10 attempts for 174 yards and four touchdowns.
Trevor Schultz caught two of Kelley’s scoring strikes, hauling in a long 85 yarder, and Ryker Wenderoth caught the other two with the longest being 46 yards.
“We were able to move the ball throughout the game,” Danley said. “I was also very proud of our offensive line for not giving up a sack and for opening up holes in the running game for our backs.”
The Loggers played Polson close in the first half, until Kelley’s long strike to Schultz, who made a beeline for the pylon in the early minutes of the second quarter.
“Our defense kept us in it until we could convert the yards into scores starting in the second quarter,” Danley said.
Defenders Noah Humphrey and Haden Smith tilted the field in the Pirates’ favor with hard nose defensive play. Smith recorded a sack, an interception, caused a fumble and had seven tackles, four of which were for losses. Humphrey added two fumble recoveries and three tackles.
For the evening, the Pirates defense tallied ten tackles behind the line of scrimmage on a total of 59 tackles, four quarterback sacks, three interceptions and three recovered fumbles.
The Pirates will be looking to keep their winning streak alive on the road against Whitefish on Friday. The Bulldogs (1-4) (1-1) are coming off a close 24-23 win against Ronan.
Polson 37, Libby 6
Libby 0 0 0 6 — 6
Polson 0 14 23 0 — 37
P: Trevor Schultz 85 pass from Bo Kelley (Connor Lanier kick)
P: Colton Cote 1 run (Lanier kick)
P: Ryker Wenderoth 46 pass from Kelley (kick failed)
P: Wenderoth 20 pass from Kelley (Lanier kick)
P: Lanier 32 field goal
P: Schultz 17 pass from Kelley (Lanier kick)
L: Jeff Offenbecher 31 run (kick failed)
