South Bend’s ground machine stops Colfax

South Bend Indians, playing in the school’s first title game, faced off against Colfax Saturday night in the Tacoma Dome without any secrets. The undefeated Indians were billed as a straight ahead team that chewed up the yards and possession time for four quarters and picked up enough TDs in the process to collect wins.

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Despite the all-out efforts of the Bulldogs, the Indians put that game plan in gear Saturday night and ground out a 28-8 win for the 2B title and the last championship celebration in two days of WIAA title playoffs at the Dome.

“For us it was really a story of last year, this year,” Coach Mike Morgan noted. Last year in the quarter-final round at Gonzaga, the Bulldogs managed to derail enough of the SB power game to change up the format against a young Indians team.

A year later, an older and stronger group of Indians were able to keep the ball moving ahead, contain the game to the front seven players and grind it out.

After a 0-0 first quarter, the Indians scored twice in the second quarter. They came out after the half, stifled a Bulldog bid in the end zone and then resumed their grind mode.

“I figured before the game, if we could stop them enough where they had to pass five or more times, we’d have a good chance,” Morgan said. That scenario called for SB’s junior quarterback Levi Bale to put the ball in the air against the Bulldog defensive backs. Interceptions or fourth down punts could have followed and the Bulldogs could have put more offense on the dome carpet.

It didn’t happen. The Indians kept grinding. On the Colfax charts, South Bend covered 348 yards on 50 rushing plays. Bales passed just twice.

“We’d get the ball, but when we turned it back over to them, they kept it for 14 or 15 plays,” Coach Morgan noted.

Colfax at times, particularly at the start of the second half, looked like they could break it open, but the Indians’ defense and clock eating offense remained in control.

After the two title contenders fought to a standoff in the first quarter, South Bend started the Dome scoring lights with a 40 yard TD run by Bale after the Indians booked a long runback on a Colfax punt.

Colfax failed to sustain a drive, and the Indians were back in the red zone again. Ryan Vongmixay, the smallest of the SB backs, made a slashing leap into the end zone with 1:18 left in the half, but the TD was called back for illegal motion. Vongmixay ran it again to the four-yard line, and Shaquille Acrey, a 200-pound senior, crunched it into the end zone with 47 seconds left in the half.

Point kicks by Thomas Perez had the Indians up 14-0 at half-time.

Colfax came out snarling after the break and drove to the 16 yard line. The charges stalled there with the Indians defending against three Colfax pass plays.

South Bend stacked their third TD at 4:15 of the third quarter when Acrey crunched a seven yard run. That score came after Vongmixay escaped through the middle of the Colfax line in a third-and-six play and traveled 47 yards before he was stopped at the seven. Acrey finished it off on the next play, and Perez kicked another point for a 21-0 SB lead with 4:15 left in the third quarter.

Colfax put a drive together on the next possession with a big run by Alvin Li, a shot from QB Alex Teade to Damon Buck and a sneak by Teade. The drive stalled out on the 26 on a Colfax fumble. Bale recovered for SB.

The Indians booked their last TD on a run by Vongmixay with another hammer job by the Indians front line. That and a fourth Perez point kick made it 28-0.

Coach Morgan credited the Bulldogs with battling all the way, and the team booked a score with 7:37 left in the game. Teade, who finished the night with a 20-31 passing night for 240 yards, ripped an almost slingshot to Kellen Morgan for the TD. He hit Morgan again for two points. That put the score at 28-8.

The bulldog TD came after Teade hit passes to Justin Berarducci and Buck, and Alvin Li broke out a run to the six yard line.

Colfax tried an on-side kick to keep possession. They got the ball, but couldn’t keep it because it traveled nine yards down the field on the kick.

South Bend’s offense burned more than four minutes off the clock before they gave up the ball after a failed field goal attempt.

Colfax again battled back with Buck collecting another pass on a fourth-and-11 gamble, and Berarducci reeling one in at the four yard line.

Colfax then landed back on the 21 on penalties. They had a second-and-goal with 1:52 still on the clock. Teade took three shots at the end zone, but again the Indians’ defense shut it down.

With 1:08 left, the Indians got the ball back and drained out the clock while their fans began to celebrate a first ever title.

Although the second loss in as many title games is a bitter pill, Coach Morgan said Colfax and players can look at the overall success of the season. He noted any team in the state would relish back-to-back title shots in the Dome regardless of the outcome.

The nine seniors on this year’s team can look back on a 35-3 record over three years. Beside the title losses this year to the Indians and last year to Adna, the Bulldogs three years ago sustained just one defeat when they were stopped by Asotin in the semi-final round. That was the first season of 2B ball for the Bulldogs, Morgan noted.

Game Statistics

COLFAX BULLDOGS: Rushing total 27-88 yards; Tyler McNannay 13-41, Alvin Lie 7-26, Alex Teade 7-21; passing 20-31-240 with 1 int., all by Alex Teade: Receiving: Damon Buck 7-93, Kellen Morgan 5-60, Justin Berarducci 3-62, Alvin Li 3-25. Punt returns: Berarducci 1-22; Kick Returns: McNannay 2-39, Berarducci 1-33, Buck 1-16. Punts: McNannay 2-75.

SOUTH BEND INDIANS: Rushing total 50-348 yards; Ryan Vongmixay 22-151, Shaquille Acrey 15-100; Levi Bale 14-97; Passing 0-2 with 1 int., all by Bale. Punt returns: Bale 1-25, Kick returns: Vongmixay 1-minus 9; Punts: McDougall 2-62; Kickoffs Perez 5-243.

A reported mayoral wager on the Colfax-South Bend championship football game turned out to be a gift exchange Saturday night in the Tacoma Dome. South Bend Mayor Kirk Church originally put up a bucket of fresh oysters, but instead came up with canned fish from the Willapa Bay area.

Colfax Mayor Norma Becker responded by wagering a commodity from the Palouse Country, a gift basket from Joseph’s Grainery which is operated by Bill Myers of Colfax and daughter Kelli Collins of Bainbridge. The basket contained custom pancake mix, a cookie base, breakfast cereal, lentils and recipe cards.

City Clerk Connie Ellis, who has two sons on the football team, exchanged the grain products for the fish in the Tacoma Dome after the two city officials made contact by cell phone.