Waitsburg/Prescott battles all the way: Comeback charge sends Bulldogs to Tacoma

When tales of the 2010 Colfax football campaign are retold, it will be known as “the drive,” 53 seconds of furious offense which ended with a Colfax score just before the half and swung the momentum of Monday night’s semi-final game on the cold carpet at Martin Stadium. Orchestrated by senior QB Alex Teade, the drive was the start of a Colfax comeback which ended with a 21-14 semi-final win over Waitsburg/ Prescott.

The win sends Colfax back to their second straight championship game in the state’s 2B division. The game will be Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the final game of two days of title collisions at the Tacoma Dome. Colfax will go up against South Bend, 28-12 winner over Orcas Island in the west side semi-final.

Monday night’s drive at the end of the first half came after Waitsburg/ Prescott put Colfax in a 14-0 hole. The big, fast Cardinal team converted on Colfax mistakes and kept the Bulldogs bottled up on their end of the filed.

“We needed that change in momentum,” Coach Mike Morgan said.

Although being in a 14-point hole was something new for the Bulldogs, Coach Morgan said he didn’t detect any panic on the sideline.

“I didn’t see any wild looks in their eyes,” he noted.

The drive in the last minute of the half was a two-minute drill with QB Alex Teade calling all the plays and the Bulldogs playing without a huddle. It’s a mode they practice every week.

It covered 63 yards in nine plays and took just 51 seconds off the clock. Teade started with a sideline pass to Kellen Morgan; the QB rambled for one first down on a QB sneak of the middle and then threw to the other side on a cross pattern to Justin Berarducci. It ended with a 15-yard TD shot to Berarducci in the corner.

Tyler McNannay booted the kick, and Colfax went into the half-time break on a momentum swing.

After the break, the Cardinals started with a crunching ground attack but Colfax stopped it and launched a 59-yard scoring drive keyed by a 16-yard pass to Alvin Li. A 23-yard pass to Kellen Morgan booked the score, but McNannay missed the point kick and WP still had a one-point lead, 14-13.

WP’s Junior QB Zach Bartlow then broke out a TD run, but it was called back on an illegal shift call.

The two contenders went into the last quarter with the Cards still holding the one point lead. Colfax stalled out on their next possession, but McNannay kicked the punt all the way to the Cardinal six.

Berarducci then intercepted Bartlow’s next pass and made a zig-zag return all the way to the six-yard line.

Waitsburg dug in with 6-3 Eshom Estes blocking a Colfax pass on a third-down play after the Bulldogs had sustained a five-year penalty.

Coach Morgan then opted for a field goal attempt by McNannay, but Waitsburg’s Kris Cady charged through on a blitz and blocked it.

Colfax defense held, and the Bulldogs took another shot at the one-point Cardinal lead with 6:45 on the clock. They started on the 45 yard line and picked up first downs on Teade passes to Li, one of them on a fourth-down gamble.

They finally took the lead for the first time with 3:45 left on the clock with a nine-yard pass from Teade to Damon Buck who had an open slot to the corner after two other receivers cleared out the zone by breaking to the middle. Buck played part-time Monday after spraining his ankle in a Friday practice session.

After sustaining a penalty on the point play, Teade hit Berarducci for 16 yards and two more beans. That put the score at the final mark, 21-14.

Bartlow and the Cards had 3:45 left to answer. They failed to get a first down on three rushing plays which put both lines in a battle mode. The Cardinals tried a pass on their last-chance fourth down, and Kellen Morgan intercepted. He and Teade were covering Cady, the intended receiver.

Colfax managed to grind out one more first down to keep possession to the buzzer.

Coach Morgan noted the Bulldogs kept the Cards pinned on their end of the field for most of the second half. That contrasted with the first half when the Cards had Colfax pinned the other way.

“Waitsburg was a very deceptive team. We looked at them on the film, but we didn’t realize how big they were until they were on the field. And they were very, very fast,” Morgan noted. He added the Cady/Bartlow running combination proved tough to stop. Bartlow did a lot of damage by running for yards after breaking out of pass plays. Bartlow had a 9-22-102 passing night, but he was intercepted three times. He rushed for 76 yards.

Waitsburg took advantage of three Colfax turnovers in the first half. They scored first with 4:58 in the first quarter on a 10-yard run by Cady. Cady had a big catch on a crossing pattern for a first down in a key play for the 53-yard scoring drive which started off a Colfax fumble.

The Cardinals hit it again with seven plays in a 32-yard drive with Bartlow hitting Cady for an eight-yard TD. They added two points on a option pass from Cady to Dalton Estes. That put them put up 14-0 until the big Colfax no-huddle drive at the end of the half.

Teade finished the night 15-22 for 178 yards and passed all three of the Colfax TDs. He gave up one interception to the Cardinals.

McNannay, who was stifled by the Card defense on the option pitches, finished with 20-55 yard night.

Bartlow covered 76 yards rushing and was 9-22 for 102 passing but with three interceptions.

Colfax will make 5th title bid

Colfax Bulldogs will depart for Tacoma Friday to make their fifth bid for a state trophy. The Bulldogs will go up against South Bend of Willapa Bay at 7:30 Saturday night in the last championship game of the two-day WIAA show.

The 2B Colfax-South Bend game was moved back to the last slot on the championship schedule after the two east side clubs had to wait for Monday for their collision in Martin Stadium. The 2B title game had originally been set for Friday night.

South Bend qualified for the title game with a 28-12 win over Orcas Island in the west side final Friday night.

Coach Mike Morgan noted the Indians will appear at the Dome Saturday as the team that matured. Colfax last year defeated the Indians in the quarter-final round at Gonzaga Prep. Final score of that sunny day battle was 37-6 with the veteran Colfax line playing a key role in the battle.

Key fact from that matchup was the youth of South Bend’s team. They advanced to the quarter-final round with just one senior starter on the team.

That means all the juniors and sophomores from the Willapa campaign last year returned bigger and stronger this year for another shot at the cup.

South Bend advanced through the playoffs with a 27-10 win over Concrete, 16-7 over Napavine in the quarter-final and the 28-12 over Orcas last week in the dome.

Morgan expects a nose-to-nose ball game Saturday night.

“They are a big, strong team. They like the option and they like to pound the ball,” Morgan noted.

South Bend quarterback Levi Bale, a 190 pounder, lines up under center with two backs behind. The Indians can attack straight ahead or Bale can launch on the option in a grinding offense which can burn up a lot of possession time.

Colfax returns to the dome after last year’s 24-32 loss to Adna in the title game. The 2009 Bulldogs staged a big comeback in the battle and came within two points of erasing an early Adna lead. The charge ended when QB Alex Teade, then a junior, sustained a concussion. Adna came back for a capper TD.

Last year’s finish left the Bulldogs 2-2 for state title action. They defeated Montesano at Seattle’s King Dome in 1981, and bowed to Lynden Christian in 1997. They defeated Tacoma Baptist in 2001.

Nine Colfax seniors who will finish out their CHS football careers in Saturday’s title game will be Teade, Brandon Heiser, Tyler McNannay, Damon Buck, Kellen Morgan, Austin Neu, Lonny Ellis, Tuffy Hickman and Kevin Li.