Eagles wrap up top slot; Wildcats-Vikings to clash

St. John/Endicott stacked a 16-point lead in the first half and then traded scores with the Colton Wildcats Friday to book a 44-32 win on their home field and wrap up the top slot in the SE-Eight grid race.

SE EIGHTS

SJE 5-0 7-1 378 222

GP 3-2 4-4 254 196

Colt. 3-2 4-5 393 274

Touch. 3-3 5-3 259 238

Pom. 2-3 3-6 410 316

LW 2-3 3-6 254 382

Sy. Chris. 0-5 1-6 144 345

The Eagles will try to finish out their league string tonight when they host Pomeroy in the last round before they look for the first round collision from the NE qualifier.

Colton and Garfield/ Palouse will collide at Colton tonight with the winner taking the number-two slot in the SE. Both teams go into the final round with 3-2 league marks, and the loser could land in the three-way tie for the third and last ticket to playoffs.

Coaches in the SE will keep an eye on the NE where the two leagues play off this week. Almira-Coulee-Hartline and Cusick, both undefeated, will collide for the first and second qualification slots for the NE.

The NE will qualify five teams for the first round with their number-one team and number five team facing off. The next three NE qualifiers will pair off with three SE qualifiers in inverse order for the first round.

ST. JOHN/ENDICOTT Coach Bob Clements said the Eagles last Friday went to their ground game in the second half to roll up the yards and log ball possession time. The Eagles went into the second half with a 16-0 lead.

“After that, the ball game started,” Clements noted. “We went at it.”

SJE and Colton traded TDs scores down to the final seconds.

Cole McCanna scored six times for the Eagles and rolled up 254 yards on 23 carries.

Ben Harrison logged 130 yards on 14 carries and QB Kyle Raynor finished with 97 on eight carries. Raynor also hit McCanna for 17 yards for the first Eagle score.

Josh Straughan passed for 415 yards on a 28-37 passing night for the Wildcats. Steve Eackers had 11 catches for 183 yards and two of the Wildcat TDs.

GARFIELD/PALOUSE will arrive at Colton tonight after crunching Sunnyside Christian 52-6 on the Vikings’ field Friday. The Vikes had a 40-0 lead at the break and the game shut down on the 45 point rule in the third quarter.

J.B. Lange and Riley Hodges traded scores for the Vikings in the early going. QB Anthony Floyd threw two TD passes to Wyatt Mitchell, one for 45 yards and the other for 12 yards.

Lange finish with 148 yards and Hodges finished with 132.

The Vikings tonight also will have to stop the Colton passing game to get a shot at that second-place finish.

LaCROSSE/WASHTUCNA in the Friday round was hammered 48-0 against Liberty Christian in the league non-league round. The Tigercats will roll to Sunnyside today to play the Sunnyside Christian Knights at Sunnyside High School. Sunnyside will be seeking to bag one league win in the class, and the Tigercats will look to get a third league win.