Irish will test Colfax with wide open attack

Colfax junior Kellen Morgan puts the stops on Pomeroy back Ethan McGee during one of the Bulldogs' defensive stands Friday night.

Bulldog back Tyler McNannay sheds Pomeroy's Tyler Reisdorph at the corner Friday in the big win at Schmuck Park. Damon Buck (9) gets ready for added escort service.

DeSales Irish, a team Colfax defeated twice last year, can be expected to arrive with a wide open offense and a veteran QB to test the Bulldogs at Schmuck Park Friday night. Coach Mike Morgan said he expects the Irish attack will be in direct contrast with the ground prone attack used by the Pomeroy Pirates in the season opener here Friday.

Colfax shut off the Pomeroy ground game for a 38-6 win Friday in the Schmuck Park opener. The Bulldogs won it with field position off a strong kicking game and a solid defense.

Colfax and DeSales last met in the big B quarter-final playoff round at Lampson Field in Kennewick last November. The Bulldogs pulled out a dramatic 14-6 win in that game to advance to the semi-final round the next week.

The quarter-final win followed up on a non-league win over the Irish on their home field early last season. Morgan noted he wouldn’t be surprised if the Bulldogs this year also clash with the Irish a second time along the playoff trail.

DeSales graduated 10 seniors off the team last seen at Lampson Field, but they have QB Pat Richard back to key their offense. Richard rated as a solid QB as a junior and is expected to be that much better.

Also, the Irish have a new head coach in Pat Graham, a DeSales grad who returned home to Walla Walla and came over from the Wa-Hi staff. Mike Spiess, who wrapped up his head coaching career after the Colfax game last year, remains on the Irish staff as an assistant.

DeSales will arrive with a 1-1 record after shutting out Mac Hi of Milton-Freewater 26-0 last week. The Irish bowed to LaSalle 0-20 in their opener two weeks ago.

Coach Morgan said DeSales has been running its offense out of the shotgun formation. The whole object of the Irish offense is to open up the field for running and passing games. The Colfax pass defense can be expected to face a lot tougher test in the second game out, Coach Morgan predicted.

In Friday’s opener, Colfax started on a fast track against a Pomeroy team which was experiencing its first live action after missing jamboree action last week.

The 38-6 win came off a game which saw Colfax bottle up Pomeroy for most of the game. The Pirates couldn’t get out of their end of the field, and the Bulldogs collected a series of turnovers to launch most of their offense on the Pomeroy side of the field.

“I’d like to think it was our offense, but most of it came from our special teams and our defense,” Morgan noted.

Colfax stacked a 23-0 lead with less the two minutes gone in the second quarter Friday. After the half, they scored two more TDs by the middle of the third quarter for a 35-0 lead.

Tyler McNannay, who has a 13-86 night rushing, booked the first score on a 21-yard pass from Alex Teade to end a four-play blitz drive. The first TD came at 10:26, and the Bulldogs hit it again at 9:05 when Pomeroy’s punt was blocked and McNannay recovered it in the end zone.

Kellen Morgan added two more points on safety when the next Pomeroy drive sputtered. Sam Mellor and Austin Neu had big stops before Morgan collected.

The Pirates again couldn’t move it and punted. Will Hatley booked a great return and two plays later the Bulldogs were back in the end zone on a plunger by McNannay.

That put it at 23-0 for the half.

Pomeroy received the kickoff after the break, went three-and-out and then had another costly bad snap on a punt attempt. Colfax took the ball, and Stetson Steiger scored his first game TD on the first play off a 28-yard run.

Pomeroy came back for their best drive of the night which was capped by a big pass to Justin Bingman. The Pirates advanced to the Colfax 31, but they were stopped there, and their punt snap again went over the head of kicker Issac Lueck.

Colfax got the ball on the 15 and McNannay drove it in on an 11-yard run two plays later. That put it at 35-0 with 5:35 in the third.

Colfax finished with McNannay capping his kicking game with a 44-yard field goal that looked like a baseball line drive. McNannay had missed a shorter shot earlier in the quarter.

Pomeroy put together a long drive against mostly Colfax reserves after the next kickoff. The Pirates hit their lone score with Ethan McGee pushing it the end zone after QB Trevor Koberstein again linked up with Bingman for another big gain.