Nighthawks roll in debut for new coach

The Nighthawks of Tekoa, Oakesdale and Rosalia gave new coach Kaleb Madison’s a remarkable debut, downing Mary Walker of Springdale 49-6 Friday night at Oakesdale.

“Overall, it was impressive,” said Coach Madison, who took over this year for long-time coach Ken Lindgren. “These kids have really come in ready to play.”

The Nighthawks are looking to rebound from last season, when they finished at the bottom of the SE 2B league with a 1-4 league mark, 4-6 overall.

Topping the attack was sophomore tailback Craig Nelson. Nelson accounted for four of the Nighthawks seven touchdowns, scoring on runs of 5, 8 and 3 yards, and taking a swing pass from quarterback Micah Pittsley 35 yards for paydirt.

“He did a great job running the ball,” said Coach Madison. “He made some pretty big, some pretty athletic plays for us.”

Pittsley, too, turned in an impressive debut, airing it out for more than 200 yards and passing for two TDs in the rout.

“He didn’t make any mistakes. That’s what we asked of him,” said Madison.

Fullback David Littleton added to the TOR ground attack, racking up 116 yards on 10 carries, including a 25-yard scoring scamper in the third quarter.

Defensive star of the game was Will Dedic. Dedic racked up 10 tackles and tipped a Charger pass to force an interception. Dedic added a touchdown of his own after taking a swing pass from Pittsley and breaking several tackles on his way to a 67-yard touchdown reception in the fourth.

TOR faces its next test Friday when it hosts Liberty in a non-leaguer on the Tekoa gridiron.

“They’re a good, well-coached team,” said Madison. “But you never know what can happen any given Friday. We’re preparing like every week is a championship game. Our goal is to go 1-0 every week.”

The Lancers were shut out 55-0 by Newport last week.