Nighthawks crunch young Lancer

After graduating most of last year’s squad, Liberty brought a team loaded with freshmen and sophomores to Tekoa last Friday night into a mismatch that saw the TOR Nighthawks post a 84-0 win.

Unlike WIAA rules with limit margins for eight-man football, the rules for 11-man action carry no limit.

With no mercy rule, the refs at Tekoa instituted a running clock early in the second quarter when the game was already out of hand.

“It wasn’t anything I expected to see happen, “ said TOR Coach Kaleb Madison. “They’re young. They’re a very young team. They’ll be very good in a couple of years.”

Liberty topped the Nighthawks 7-6 last year, but against this year’s Nighthawks, who have only four freshmen on the roster, the young Lancers were out-matched.

Ahead 41-0 with six minutes left in the second quarter, Coach Madison pulled his seniors for the rest of the game.

“We tried to slow it down, but we also wanted to get our younger kids some work. You also can’t tell a kid to stop playing football out there,” Madison said.

Most of the scores after that point came from the Nighthawk defense picking up loose balls and running them back for scores.

“We’ve been teaching these kids all summer there’s only one gear,” said Madison. “When kids start trying to play slower, that’s when they get hurt.”

The ‘hawks will have to be in full gear Friday when they travel to Asotin.

Madison said the Panthers have a faster club this year than the typical smashmouth style of Asotin’s recent championship teams.

The Panthers were smashed 6-51 last week by Grangeville.