Eagles advance to SE lead; Vikings, Tigercats win

St. John Endicott jumped to the top of the SE Eights league race last week with a big win over last-place Sunnyside Christian at St. John. The Eagles are one win up on four other teams who will be trying to get through the door for a chance at the first round of the state playoffs.

Garfield/Palouse moved up in the league with a close win over Pomeroy. That knocked the Pirates out of a share of the league’s top spot.

LaCrosse/Washtucna, stayed in contention with a big win over Touchet, and Colton remains in the hunt despite a close loss at Colton Friday to Liberty Christian in a non-leaguer.

SE EIGHTS STANDINGS

SJE 3-0 5-1 274 168

GP 2-1 3-3 168 152

Colton 2-1 3-4 299 198

Pom. 2-2 3-4 340 212

LW 2-2 3-4 232 274

Touc. 1-3 3-3 187 176

S.Christ. 0-3 1-4 106 231

ST.JOHN/ENDICOTT faces three tough tests before they can seal a claim on the top spot. The Eagles Friday travel to LaCrosse to play the Tigercats in a neighborhood matchup which has produced league classics in the past.

Eagle Coach Bob Clements said the LW passing game off the arm of Jake Aune rates on top of the prep work for the Eagles this week. One of the keys will be coverage on the receivers.

SJE last week kicked into gear after a slow start for the 74-24 runaway win over Sunnyside.

"We just started to execute, and finally settled down," Clements said.

When it was over, the Eagles had booked 380 yards rushing and another 178 yards passing over the Knights.

QB Kyle Raynor booked a nine for 15 night passing. He threw for four TDs and rushed for a fifth.

Cole McCanna packed the ball 12 times and covered 172 yards, and Ben Harrison carried it eight times for 93.

McCanna caught four passes for 83 yards, and Harrison caught one for a 53-yard TD play.

LaCROSSE/WASHTUCNA posted a giant offensive night against Touchet Friday at Washtucna on the way to a 52-32 win. The Tigercats finished with 622 yards, a high water mark for Nelson in all of his years as head coach at LW.

They also advanced their defense a notch with much improved tackling, Nelson said.

Jake Aune hit 19 of 29 passes for 327 yards on the night. He scored one of the TDs passing and rushed for three others.

Sam Harder had six catches for 139 yards, and Jeff Zimmer had six for 64 yards. Austin Summers had five snags for 85.

Sophomore Sawyer Hostetler balanced out the LW attack with 260 yards rushing on 21 carries. He booked two scores rushing and one on a reception.

Zimmer led an improved T-cat defense with 10 tackles.

Coach Nelson said stopping SJE’s running game will be one of the key goals for the Tigercat hosts Friday night. The ‘cats advanced a notch in the standing, but they need to keep winning to qualify for a state shot.

GARFIELD/PAL-OUSE remained in contention with at 16-12 clip over the Pirates at Pomeroy Friday night. The Vikings took the lead with Taylor Lange scoring his second TD of the game with about three minutes left. The Vikes launched the go-ahead drive while shutting out the Pirate offense in the second half.

The Vikings picked up both two-point conversions with QB Anthony Floyd hitting Wyatt Mitchell after the first score and Floyd running for a deuce after Lange’s fourth-quarter TD.

Pomeroy posted a 12-8 lead at the half with Austin Reisdorph scoring on a plunger, but the four-point edge failed to hold up in the second half.

The Vikings Saturday will travel to Touchet for a day game.

COLTON Friday trailed Liberty Christian 8-30 at the half, but kicked the offense in gear for the last two quarters and almost upset the big Liberty Christian team in a non-leaguer at Colton. The charge ended when the Wildcats went for a on-side kick and one more shot at the Crusaders with 22 seconds on the clock. Liberty Christian bagged the kick and left town with the 44-40 win.

"I think we played pretty well against them. They are a big, tough team, and undefeated," Coach Clark Vining said.

Josh Straughan topped the league QB marks for passing Friday when he hit 35 of 39 passes for 448 yards. Steve Eacker had 12 catches for 258 yards, and Taylor Spence had seven for 66 yards.

"We had four receivers book TD passes. That’s pretty good distribution," Coach Vining commented.

Spence had 15 tackles for the Wildcats against the rush-prone Crusader offense; Matt Becker had 13 and Jake Reidner had 10.

The Wildcats this week will play Sunnyside Christian on the football field at Granger.