The prep football regular season has officially concluded and Montesano’s record remains unblemished. The Bulldogs capped their Evergreen 1A League schedule with a dominant 49-0 win over Elma in the annual East County Civil War.

Monte capped its season with an exclamation point in its traditional rivalry game against the Eagles and accomplished two feats that neither last year’s state semi-final squad or the 2012 state champs achieved – they beat Hoquiam and finished the regular season unbeaten.

The Bulldogs will now host the Trico League’s third-seed, White Salmon, on Friday evening.

For the purpose of comparison by my favorite high school football prediction tool, transitive law, White Salmon and Montesano shared three common opponents this season.

White Salmon beat Elma 54-49, Castle Rock 29-14, and lost to Tenino 15-14.

Montesano outscored those three teams by a combined score of 147-14.

For further comparison, White Salmon is a three seed, which makes them the Trico League version of Forks.

The players and coaches are not allowed to look past this game and assume it’s an easy win, but I am, so I will.

A win over White Salmon would likely send the Bulldogs on the road for a tough matchup against third-ranked Connell, whose only loss this season is to top-ranked Royal.

So, this week, let’s breathe, enjoy the game against White Salmon and take a quick look back at the regular season.

Some salty Hoquiam fans — you know who you are — will try to minimize Montesano’s accomplishments this season by pointing to the strength of schedule.

Is there some legitimacy to that argument?

Yes.

The Bulldogs’ opponents combined for a record of 29-51, while Hoquiam’s tallied a 49-30 mark.

Also notable is the fact that all three of Hoquiam’s losses were to state-ranked opponents – Montesano, La Center and Class 2A W.F. West.

So, yes, salty Grizzly fans, your team’s schedule was more difficult.

However, before we just dismiss Montesano’s non-league opponents as a bunch of cupcakes, let’s take a look at how a couple of them actually finished the season.

Sequim is by far the best example.

Montesano took the long trip to face the Class 2A Wolfpack in week 2 and came away with a memorable 66-34 win in an odd contest that included a seven-touchdown output from Bulldog junior running back Carson Klinger and a kick-return touchdown apiece for three different Sequim players.

Sequim finished second in the Olympic 2A League with a 5-1 record (7-2 overall) with its only other loss coming against undefeated, state-ranked North Kitsap.

Class 2A Aberdeen — against whom Montesano opened the season with a convincing 54-20 win — ended up being a surprising example as well.

Don’t make that face. The Bobcats were actually decent and junior running back Kylan Touch is a next-level talent.

In fact, if Aberdeen and Rochester were in a combined 2A/1A league like they were last year, the Bobcats probably would have finished third in the league behind Montesano and Hoquiam.

The Bobcats finished fourth — just one game out of a playoff spot — in a competitive Evergreen 2A League which contains two state-ranked teams, Tumwater and W.F. West.

Another point to consider is that, although Montesano’s strength-of-schedule was weak, the Bulldogs straight-up destroyed almost every team they faced.

Aside from the 20-14 last-minute win over Hoquiam, Montesano’s closest contest was a 24-point win over Class 2A R.A Long, and the Bulldogs won their regular season contests by an average margin of almost 38 points.

There is a downside to playing a soft schedule.

Most of Monte’s games have been essentially over at halftime, which means the Bulldog starters aren’t playing the full game. Those contests go to a running clock because of the mercy rule and a lot of reserve players see action in the second half.

The other, and probably more glaring, issue is that Montesano will go into a potential playoff game against Connell — knock on wood — having not been challenged for much of the season. The Bulldogs will have to adjust quickly to the sharply increased level of competition.

But in the spirit of enjoying the moment, I’m not going to dwell on those negative thoughts.

I choose to recall the accomplishments of the undefeated Bulldogs, who vanquished their bitterest foe, Hoquiam, in the recently-dubbed Grays Harbor Red Rivalry game.

I’ll consider the fact that Klinger is the likely choice for league MVP and has a legitimate shot at scoring 30 touchdowns by the time this season is over.

Combine that with junior quarterback Trevor Ridgway making some brilliant throws and passing for three scores in the Bulldogs’ win over Elma, the emergence this season of Dakoyta Reninger and Nathan Olson as legitimate offensive weapons and the performance of the unsung heroes in the trenches, including seniors Taylor Rupe, Ben Lopez, Cole Bradbury and Hayden Klinger.

The playoffs are upon us.

Go Dogs.