Wildcats take 6-0 to Lyle; Touchet, TCP take toll

Colton Wildcats will hit the road at 10:15 Friday morning for a road trip the Lyle to play a team which has posted a 5-1 record to date. The Wildcats will make the trip with a 6-0 record after defeating Sunnyside Christian, the SE-Eight newcomers, 52-7 Friday night.

Other league action Friday will see the LWK Tigercats play a tough Tri-Cities Prep team at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco, and St. John/Endicott make a trip to Touchet to play the Indians.

TCP vanquished the Eagles last Friday at St. John, and Touchet pulled out a win in the final minutes at LaCrosse.

COLTON Friday stopped Sunnyside Christian 52-7 in the homecoming game at Colton. The Wildcats cracked three TDs in the first four minutes and led 30-0 after the first quarter. Coach Clark Vining called out the reserves before the half so all players got a crack at the action on homecoming night.

“They have some good athletes on that team, but they’re still learning to play football,” Vining noted on SC’s first entry in the league.

Colton senior back Sam Robertson booked just five carries for 106 yards, but he had three of the Wildcats TDs.

QB Josh Straughan had a 7-10-251 passing night. He hit six different Colton receivers for the night. Chase Druffel had two receptions for 104 yards and scored twice.

Straughan also hit Steve Eacker for a TD pass play that went for 50 yards.

SE EIGHT STANDINGS

Colton 4-0 6-0 351-136

Tri Cites Prep 2-0 4-2 300-180

L/W 1-2 4-2 268-144

Touchet 2-1 3-3 166-246

SJE 0-2 3-3 150-206

S. Christian 0-4 1-6 106-328

Coach Vining expects the Lyle-Klickitat-Wishran to be tough hosts in the Friday battle. The Lyle team showed up at St. John two weeks ago and posted a solid win over the Eagles with just 10 players. They are led by the Matai brothers, Henry and Allen.

Colton’s game Friday at Lyle will start at 6 p.m. to allow the Wildcats more travel time on the road home.

LaCROSSE/WASHTUCNA was nipped 28-26 by the visiting Touchet team in the final minutes Friday at LaCrosse. The difference came down to a two-point conversion play which the Chiefs picked up after their last TD in the final three minutes.

Coach Jeff Nelson noted the Tigercats dominated the charts on offense, but Touchet was able to break out the big plays to get their scores.

Before a final keep possession drive in the last two minutes of the game, Touchet had booked just four first downs.

QB Jacke Hodnefield, who was able to break runs under the LW pass coverage, scored three of the TDs for the Indians and threw the fourth TD to Kyle Obrien. Hodnefield scored the last TD on a 45 yard run and hit Gustavo Rodriguez for the two-point conversion which made the difference.

The Tigercats played with Garrett Blauert, their top back, and Justin Aldrich out of the lineup. Their absences also took a toll on the pass coverage.

Garrett Whitney packed the ball 31 times and rolled up 191 yards with two TDs. Jeff Zimmer had two receptions for scores, one for 12 yards at the start of the game and one for 19 yards to spark a Tigercat comeback in the last quarter.

Coach Nelson said the Tigercats will have their work cut out for them Friday when they make the trip to Edgar Brown Stadium. They will be facing all-league QB Will Hoppes.

ST. JOHH/ENDICOTT Friday dropped 40 points to Hoppes and the rest of the TCP Friday in the first half. Both teams decided to put in the reserves in the second half, and the Eagles scored twice, once in each of the last two quarters.

Sam Raynor booked the first score with a kickoff return after the half, and he passed a five-yard zap to Kyle Raynor in the last quarter to finish out the 40-12 score.

Hoppes threw four TDs for the Jaguars and tallied 278 yards.

“They’re just a pretty sound team,” Coach Bob Clements commented on the Jags.

The Eagles Friday will travel to Touchet to play the Indians.

Clements expects Touchet to spread out the field against the Eagles. He also expects Hodnefield and his receivers to take more than one shot at the Eagles’ pass defense, one of the trouble spots for SJE this year.