Colfax-Irish rematch will decide state 2B entry

Colfax and DeSales at Kennewick’s Lampson field in November with the winner advancing in the state football playoff grid. It happened last year, and it will happen again Saturday at 4 p.m.

Lone difference in the matchup is the playoff sequence.. Last year they played in a quarter-final round, and this year they will play in semi-final round with the winner advancing to the Tacoma Dome championships next week.

Colfax will travel to Lampson after eliminating a young South Bend team 37-6 Saturday afternoon in a quarter-final game on the turf at Gonzaga Prep.

DeSales, the SE champions, defeated LaSalle of Union Gap 27-26 in a dramatic finish at Yakima in the other east-side quarter-final. That result reversed a season opener when LaSalle shut out the Irish 20-0.

DeSales then came to Colfax and sustained a 33-14 loss to the Bulldogs at Schmuck Park. At that time the Irish were putting a team together after losing 10 seniors off the 2008 team.

Colfax Coach Mike Morgan, who reviewed the tapes of the DeSales-LaSalle quarter final Monday, noted the Irish have the same lineup and the same offense that they used here in September.

“It’s just a case of a young team which has improved as the season advanced,” Morgan noted. Senior QB Pat Richard, one of the few returnee starters from last year, led the Irish when they played here.

Morgan discounts notions about the difficulty of booking a second win over a team in a single season. He believes a team controls its own fate by how well they perform up to on their ability.

Last Saturday against South Bend, the Colfax power line played a key factor in shutting down the Indians. Morgan believes the Bulldog line will again play a key role in this Saturday’s semi-final game.

South Bend, a team with just one senior starter, moved out to a quick launch Saturday at Gonzaga, but the Bulldog line just wore them out. The two teams traded TDs at the start, but after that South Bend began to give up yards on the line, and Colfax started to pick up the first downs and dominate.

South Bend never put another player in the end zone, and the game ended with a time burning drive by the Bulldogs who finished out with QB Alex Teade kneeling on the last two plays to cook out the clock within range of another touchdown.

The Indians finished with 170 yards passing and 60 yards rushing.

Colfax cooked over 550 yards with 340 rushing and the balance passing.

Teade threw for three TDs against the Indians.

Colfax started the scoring at 5:56 in the first quarter when Teade hit Stetson Steiger on an out pass and the Bulldog back went all the way to the end zone. Tyler McNannay, who was back with his full array of kicking skills, added the first conversion point.

SB quarterback David Lorton answered at 4:09 with a shot down the middle to Terrell Boyes on a second-down play. Boyes took it 53 yards for the score. They missed the conversion and never bumped their side of the scoreboard again.

“I told our players then that I expected our defense to settle in and our offense would take over.

Colfax hit it again at 1:45 in the first quarter when Teade found receiver Will Hatley all alone under the goal post. The score was set up on a 28-yard running gain by Teade.

Colfax added three points early in the second quarter when McNannay booked a 35-yard field goal after a Colfax offensive drive was stalled on a false start call.

The game then went into a wild interchange. The Bulldogs pulled off the onside kick; Ty Lorton intercepted a Colfax pass; Boyes made another big catch at the 25, and Brett Rose caught another SB pass but fumbled. Hatley recovered, but Colfax was stopped and had to punt.

Hatley then stopped the Indians’ next drive with an interception, and Colfax bumped the score to 23-6 with Teade hitting Hatley on a cross pattern with 1:17 left in the half.

The half wrapped up with a field fight after a fumble stack at the 16 yard line.

After the half, South Bend’s Ty Lorton picked off another Colfax pass, this time in the end zone, to erase the next Bulldog drive. The Indians then moved the ball with Boyes getting another big catch, but the drive ended when McNannay made a big stop on a third down play.

Scoring started again in the fourth quarter when Steiger rambled for 12 yards and a score after Hatley gathered in another big catch to set it up.

McNannay capped it with 6:59 left on a 55-yard escape on the SB side of the field. He crossed the goal with Kristian Burger finally latching onto him at about the one yard line.

Saturday’s semi-final at Lampson will be opposite the Adna-Tacoma Baptist semi-final in the Tacoma Dome. Tacoma Baptist was swamped 49-7 by Colfax when the Bulldogs made their last title game appearance in 2001 in the A division under Coach Morgan.

Colfax and Adna have 11-0 records, and Tacoma Baptist is 12-0. DeSales advances to the semi on a 9-3 mark.