Colfax stakes league lead, awaits Chargers

Colfax Bulldogs surfaced alone atop the NE Big B standings this week after derailing the Broncs at Ritzville 32-9 with a defensive stand Friday night. The loss was the first stop for the Bronco club which ran into a solid Colfax defense.

The win advanced Colfax to 4-0 in the league and 6-0 overall. Colfax now hosts Springdale in the first of two games which will wrap up the league season. After the Chargers come on Friday, the Bulldogs will finish the league by hosting Kettle Falls in a homecoming game Oct. 29.

The undefeated Colfax run to date also means they will have a home slot in the crossover round set for the first week in November. The NE and SE districts have set up the crossover which will send four winners into the first round of the state playoffs.

Coach Mike Morgan said right now the Bulldogs are concentrating on the next two league rounds, one game at a time.

This week the Bulldogs are studying video of Springdale’s 46-6 win over Reardan, a score which probably rates as the top upset for the NE league to date. Springdale last week defeated Kettle Falls 14-7.

Coach Mark Edwards and the Chargers are expected to arrive with an offense that likes to charge. They have a lot of physical power and like to pound the center of the line and mix in options and sweeps.

NE 2B STANDINGS

Colfax 4-0 6-0 260 76

L/R/S 3-1 4-2 132 67

Spring 3-2 3-4 126 175

Liberty 2-2 3-3 133 174

Reardan 2-2 4-2 154 124

Ket. Falls 1-3 1-6 70 152

Dvnprt 0-5 1-5 86 202

Other scores: Reardan 40-Davenport 7, Springdale 14-Kettle Falls 7, Newport 35-Liberty 19.

"They will run that dive play again and again until the cows come home," Coach Morgan said.

Scout tapes also show the Chargers use a 3-5-3 defensive set which loads up the box. Colfax has run into this defense earlier in the season and had success after making adjustments.

Against Lind/ Ritzville/ Sprague last week Colfax put the defensive clamps on the Bronco offense for the 32-9 win. Coach Morgan credited Defensive Coach Craig Culbertson with coming up with the right stuff at the right time.

The Bulldog D completed their number-one assignment which was to stop Bronco QB Jake Eichner and the Bronco option game out of the new pistol formation. Eichner had a net one yard for the game. Colfax defenders sacked him four times and stopped six or seven other plays for losses.

Early in the going, LRS began to go to the passing game, and that played into a strong part of the Colfax defense, their defensive backs.

Eichner finished 3-15-35 passing. Reardan running back Michah Brown finished with 47 yards.

Morgan credited the Bronco defense with using new stuff back at the Bulldogs. The Broncs, who had allowed 35 points all season, sacked Colfax QB Alex Teade three times. They threw line stunts and loops at the Colfax blockers.

"We had to make some adjustments," Morgan said.

He added the 32-9 final score rates as substantial considering how tough the Broncos made the early going.

Despite the pressure, Teade wound up with a 11-20-178 night passing. He hit Justin Berarducci for two TD passes, Tyler McNannay and Kellen Morgan for one each.

McNannay again hit a field goal, this time for 33 yards. Coach Morgan pointed out McNannay also had two long TD runs called back on penalties.

McNannay finished with 123 yards in 12 carries

Kellen Morgan had four catches for 75 yards, and Justin Berarducci with three catches for 52 yards.

Colfax led 25-0 at the break.

Ritzville’s lone TD came on a run by Brown in the last quarter. The Broncos went into the last quarter trailing 2-32 after scoring a safety on a botched Colfax punt snap in the third quarter.