Bulldogs hit the road after big win over Irish

After a 33-14 home win over DeSales, Colfax gridders will depart Friday for the first of four league games on the road. The first match will be against Reardan, possibly the roughest stop of the four.

The Chiefs will host after pegging a 15-7 overtime win over Tekoa/Oakesdale/Rosalia last week. They are now 1-1 after almost tilting double-A Riverside in their opener two weeks ago.

“Most of the coaches in the league this year figure they’ll be right up there,” Colfax Coach Mike Morgan commented.

Reardan’s offense is keyed by QB Chase Bell, the fastest sprinter on the NE track circuit last year.

“They like to run the option and use his speed to get it out,” Coach Mike Morgan noted.

The hosts are also expected to stack a 5-3 defense, a big front set which is aimed at stopping he Colfax running game.

Morgan said Colfax defense and the kicking game again were the key factors in Friday’s big win over DeSales. The Bulldogs also produced more of a balanced offense which was able to make hay out of what the Irish defense left them on the field.

Colfax pegged a 27-0 lead over the Irish for the first three quarters. DeSales launched a solid drive at the end of the third frame and scored their first TD at the top of the last quarter.

Going into the game, Morgan noted one of the keys would be to stifle the DeSales “gasp factor.” The Irish, he explained, like to run out of a play book which includes the chance of a super result on each chart. If they pull off one or two of their go-for-broke plays, the Irish can crack an early lead and keep an opponent in the hole.

Actually, Colfax broke out its own gasp play early Friday when wide receiver Will Hatley took an option pitch from QB Alex Teade and then passed. He hit Stetson Steiger in the end zone. The first TD was charged at 31 yards.

“We practiced it during the week, and it worked,” Morgan noted.

JJ Robinson, who started in place of Tyler McNannay, scored the next TD on a plunger. Robinson got the call because McNannay, along with other Bulldogs, were hit by the flu earlier in the week.

McNannay had recovered by game night to the point where he could add his kicking ability. Morgan said the length of the kicks and McNannay’s ability to keep them away from receivers are a big factor.

“You don’t realize how much that does, until you look at the films. He keeps the other guys starting at the 10 or 20 yard line. It’s always tougher to put an 80 yard drive together for a score than a 50-yard drive,” Morgan noted.

Colfax QB Alex Teade, after marking a big gain on an option pitch to Robinson, hit Justin Berarducci along the end zone for a 12-yard TD for the third TD of the first half.

After the break, Teade capped another drive by hitting McNannay on a short cross pattern to the corner.

DeSales QB Pat Richard got the Irish moving late in the third quarter on a drive which was sustained by two slant-pattern passes for first downs. The Irish scored in the first seconds of the last quarter when Richard flew across the goal line.

The Bulldogs responded with another drive and a spectacular score when Teade, under the pressure of a DeSales blitz, lobbed a mortar shot to a corner of the end zone.

Justin Berarducci, Kellen Morgan and DeSales defender Mike Matthews parked under the ball. Berarducci and Matthews both latched onto the ball after Morgan made a tip to keep it off the turf. Berarducci was ruled in possession. Distance for the last TD was marked at 21 yards.

Richard scored the last TD of the game on another lunger after staging a drive sparked by a long pass to Tommy Gregg.

The loss for the Irish put them at 1-2 on the season with a trip this week to Rosalia to face the 1-1 TOR club in the SE opener for both teams.

After this Friday’s trip to Reardan, the Bulldogs are booked to make NE league stops at Springdale, Davenport and Liberty.