WHITEFISH — The No. 3-ranked team in Class A has earned that spot with a close win and two blowouts to start off in 2026.
With a deep playoff run last season, coach Brett Bollweg hopes to pick up where the Bulldogs left off last year.
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“Experience matters. Experience will never not matter, especially in Class A football,” Bollweg said. “You know, we get new guys every year, and that's part of the fun of coaching. Some guys that have the experience and played in those big games, and know what it feels like to have to work through stuff.”
One of the players with that returning experience is quarterback Luke Dalen, who was a starter on last year’s team that lost 23-20 to Frenchtown in the playoff semifinals.
After a disappointing ending to 2025, Dalen believes this team has the correct mentality to improve off a great season.
“We lost all three of our games last year by a total I think of eight points,” Dalen said. “So we never got blown out or really gave up on a game. So yeah, levelheadedness and always staying in the game.“
Now in the last season of their longtime home, Memorial Field, the seniors are hoping that levelheadedness can give the Bulldogs another deep playoff run to celebrate the end of an era.
Defensive back Vlad Shestak says the players hope to do that by keeping the chemistry high on the team.
“It's my last year, but every team has been so close to one another personally,” Shestak said. “Everyone is just really tight and they talk to one another, and that translates onto the field.”
Even with high expectations, Bollweg believes his guys will achieve great things in the 2026 season.
“We expect a lot out of our guys, there's no doubt about it, and very little of that has to do with what goes on inside the white lines,” Bollweg said. “We want to challenge them; we have high standards, high expectations for them, and they do a great job of meeting them, and I think that product shows up on the field by the way they act off of it.”
