Colfax road saga begins with shutout at Reardan

Chapter one of the Colfax football 2009 road saga ended with a 28-0 shutout at Reardan Friday night. Chapter two will be a trip to Springdale, a place were the Colfax varsity hasn’t played since 1998.

Friday’s action will be the second round of the NE Big B action with the Bulldogs and Davenport pegging the big wins in week one.

Friday at Reardan, Colfax came up with game plan to counter Reardan’s 5-3 up front defense. Quarterback Alex Teade launched an air game over Reardan’s traditional defensive set which is designed to stop the run.

“Reardan has been playing the 5-3 for a long time,” Coach Mike Morgan said. He noted the set means Reardan’s defense on most plays has eight would-be tacklers in the front box to use against a running game.

Teade hit 13 passes for 215 yards for the key launch ingredient in the shutout. The Bulldogs took 20 pass shots at the hosts, and Teade did not give up an interception.

Colfax also picked up rushing yards, 152 total, to balance out the attack.

The aerial tactic combined with another strong performance by the Colfax defense. Reardan finished with under 100 yards of offense, despite some drives which advanced at far as the red zone. Reardan’s speedy QB Chace Bell, top sprinter in the NE during track season, played under pressure for most of the night.

Morgan credited the front four with putting a lot of pressure on Bell and the chiefs’ defense. Tuffy Hickman, Tyler Morse, Sam Mellor and Ryan Conrad to date have reduced the offensive options of the opponents with their solid line play.

Colfax and Reardan started Friday’s action with mutual stops, but the Bulldogs rolled on their second possession and Teade hit Justin Berarducci at the back of the end zone for the first score.

“Berarducci sort of ad libed his pattern to get open, and Alex found him open in the back of the zone,” Morgan commented.

Teade really “dialed it in” on the second scoring drive in the second quarter. Stetson Steiger ended the drive with a two-yard plunger after Teade moved the team downfield on the air game.

“All of that was set up with the passing attack,” Morgan noted.

Leading 14-0 in the second quarter, the Bulldogs scored again after Kellen Morgan picked off a Reardan pass. The turnover ended in a short drive and a plunger by Teade.

Three extra point kicks by Tyler McNannay put the score at 21-0 for the half.

Colfax then pulled off an on-side kick at the start of the second half, and McNannay rambled into the end zone on a 13-yard run to finish out the scoring.

Springdale will host Colfax Friday after being on the short end of the league’s other shutout last week, a 28-0 win by the Davenport Gorillas, a team which looks to be another power club in the league.

Coach Morgan expects the Chargers to be playing it tough on their home turf. Springdale Coach Mark Edwards has plugged in a 3-5-3 defense, a set which provides five linebackers with a lot of hunting range.

“It can be very confusing. They can come up with a blitz on any given play,” Morgan noted.

The Charges offense can be a variation of the I back and the wishbone.

Morgan noted another key game on the league slate this week will be a Reardan-Lind/Ritzville matchup. Lind/Ritzville will get into the league after sustaining a 14-34 non-league loss to Chewelah.

At Colfax Monday, Reardan jayvees booked a measure of revenge when they out-battled Colfax jayvees for a hard fought 20-14 win.