Bulldogs ace Reardan test; travel to Eagles nest

Colfax gridders passed a mid-season test with a resounding 32-6 win over the Reardan Indians in Friday’s homecoming game. The Bulldogs and chiefs went into the game with matching 3-0 records and a chance to emerge at the top of the league at mid season.

Now 4-0, Colfax leads the league with three NE wins. Lind-Ritzville-Sprague also has a 4-0 mark with two league wins.

Colfax Coach Mike Morgan Monday said the Bulldogs were allowed approximately one day to savor Friday’s win before turning their attention to this week’s assignment, a trip to Nine Mile to play the Lakeside Eagles in a non-league game.

Colfax last year blanked the Eagles 27-0 in a non-leaguer here.

Morgan said a Bulldog-Eagles matchup in 2011 can’t be compared with past game results when both teams were in the NE-A league. That’s because the sizes of the schools has gone in opposite directions.

“Despite their record, they’re a big team, and a good team,” Morgan said. Lakeside will host after sustaining a 16-20 loss to Colville last week. They have a 1-4 overall record.

Key player for Coach Brian Dunn’s Eagles is again expected to be Jimmy Day, now a senior.

“We knew about him last year, and he brought a lot of talent to the field,” Morgan noted.

Lakeside uses and I-back formation on offense, much like the Bulldog offense, and a 3-5 set on defense.

Colfax Friday launched with 19 points in the first half against Reardan. Overall, the Bulldogs’ big line was the dominating factor on both sides of the ball.

“Our front four on defense pretty well shut them down, and our front five on offense gave our running backs all the room they needed. They just kept pounding, and it wore Reardan down. You could see it before the end of the first half,” he said.

Reardan’s top back, Niko Knezovich, totaled 148 yards for the night, but 87 of those yards came when he escaped on a fourth-quarter TD run along the visitors’ side of the field to erase a Colfax shut out.

Without those 87 yards, the Reardan ground total out of its wishbone offense would have been under 100 yards.

Colfax defense for the most part contained Johnny Kieffer, Reardan top ground gainer.

“We just didn’t let him get outside,” Morgan noted.

Colfax rolled up 19 beans in the first half Friday. Alvin Li, who booked a 14-110 night, scored the first TD on a 24-yard run at 8:28 in the first quarter. Li ran the score after the Bulldogs kept the ball on a fourth-down play that went nine yards. He also ran clear to the end zone after Sam Thompson hit a key block on Kieffer at the corner.

After an exchange of fumbles, Reardan came back with a drive which Colfax stopped when the Eagles attempted a fourth-down play with two yards to go and less than a minute left in the quarter.

Both sides failed to hit a score at the start of the next quarter. Colfax finally broke out with 4:01 left in the half when QB Justin Berarducci hit Jay Hart for the score.

A fumble off the option stopped Reardan’s next drive. Hart recovered the ball for Colfax, and Levi Hardy scored on a 15-yard run four plays later with 2:33 left in the half to make it 19-0.

Reardan took one more shot at it with Kieffer making two catches on passes by Seth Hanson. They landed on the 15 with 1:37 left, but Jake Alteri picked off the next Hanson pass to end the threat.

After the break, Li scored on a five-yard run with 6:44 left in the third quarter after Hardy had an escape run to the 13. Hardy booted a second point kick to put the Bulldogs up 26-0.

Reardan continued to use the passing attack in an attempt to make up points and rolled to the Colfax 30. They were stopped again on a fourth-down gamble. Colfax hit the zone again just before the end of the quarter when Berarducci zapped a shot to Brady Ellis who found a clear path out of a crossing pattern. The last score went for 42 yards.

Colfax coaches began to shake up the lineup in the fourth quarter, and Knezovich broke out the game’s longest score for Reardan with 10:34 left. A Reardan pass for two extra points was deflected by Thompson.

Other NE scores: Davenport 27-Springdale 0, Lind/Ritzville/Sprague 34-Liberty 0; Kettle Falls 28-Oroville 14.