Hawks defeat Liberty; Vikes bow to Charges

Tekoa/Oakesdale/ Rosalia, a team with a lot of veterans, pegged a 32-6 win over Liberty at Tekoa Friday, while the Garfield/ Palouse Vikings, who graduated a lot of veterans, sustained a 22-7 loss at Springdale.

TOR Coach Ken Lindgren said he was impressed with how his veteran line played against the Lancers, but noted the real test of their prowess begins this week against Reardan.

“There were some things we did really well. But we’re going to have to put it all together if we’re going to do well in our next four games,” said Lindgren.

The ‘hawks open SE 2B league play next week against DeSales, followed by state runners-up Asotin.

“We’re going to find out real quick if we’re a playoff caliber team,” he said.

Lindgren credited the leadership of seniors Zach St. John, Zach Smith and John Kuhn for keeping the ‘hawks focused Friday night.

St. John posted 12-97 rushing and bagged 12 tackles from a linebacker slot. The senior tallied the first two TOR scores of the year on runs of 13 and 17 yards.

Smith grabbed a 22-yard touchdown pass from Kuhn in the third quarter.

Lindgren said he was impressed with the game-management of QB Kuhn, who was starting his first game after converting from receiver.

GARFIELD/PALOUSE showed its inexperience at Springdale.

The Vikings have seven freshmen on the squad this year, and Coach Scott Thompson said they had some trouble adjusting to the pace of a varsity football game.

“We just kind of came out flat,” said Thompson. “We’ve got a lot of freshmen who are still getting used to the speed and physicality of a high school game.”

The Chargers pegged a pair of big second quarter plays. Tailback Taylor Degraff exploded through the line for a 65-yard scoring scamper. A long pass by the Chargers led to a 12-yard TD run by Connor Parker.

“We made a few first game mistakes, and some things went wrong and we caught a couple of bad breaks,” said Coach Thompson. “I really have to give it to our guys. They kept battling.”

The Vikes came back in the third quarter when QB Gavin Burt found paydirt from two yards out to make it 14-7 Burt finished 8-15 for 131 yards passing

GP halfback J.D. Lange rolled for 104 yards, but penalties stalled a GP drive deep into Charger territory, and Springdale shot back with a 57-yard scoring strike.

The Vikes are slated to travel to Davenport for a non-league game this Friday.