Vikings, Wildcats hit end of football

Garfield/Palouse Vikings and the Colton Wildcats reached the end of their football seasons Friday in the first round of the eight-man playoffs. The two Whitman County entrants and Touchet were all stopped in the first round when NE teams took a toll.

Only Pomeroy, who drew the top slot for the first round matchups, remains in the running. The Pirates booked a 72-28 over Northport to advance to the quarter-finals.

Odessa/Harrington stopped Colton 46-30, and Wellpinit hosted Garfield/Palouse to a 62-40 crunch.

GARFIELD/ Palouse roared to an early lead on the cold turf at Wellpinit, but they lost speed back Riley Hodges on a hit early in the second quarter. Hodges had already booked three TDs, including a 65 yard run for the first score in the first Viking play of the game. He totaled 10-305 yards before he had to leave the game after sustaining a severe hit along the GP sideline.

The Vikings continued to battle and scored another TD after a four-down goal line series with the Redskins. The power score came after Kevin Knauf booked a big run, and Nathan Cocking made a one-handed snag of an Anthony Floyd pass.

The Vikings had a 34-20 lead with 2:33 left in the half. That turned out to be the high water point.

The Redskins scored three TDs in the remaining two plus minutes of the half with two of them off Viking turnovers. They took a 42-34 lead to the lockers at the break.

In the second half, Wellpinit added two more TDs in the first two minutes, and Floyd also had to leave the game after being downed. He managed to return to the action, but by then the game was out of reach. The Vikes added just one TD in the second half.

Garfield/Palouse had five turnovers in the game.

Coach Scott Thompson credited his crew with a solid season. He noted he hopes to get more of the players in the weight room during the off season with a goal of getting deeper into the playoffs next year.

COLTON traveled to Odessa as the number-three team from the SE and trailed 24-8 at the end of the first half. The Titans scored the first three TDs on runs by QB Jared King who finished with seven of the Titan TDs. King rushed for 191 yards.

Two of the other Titan scores were off King passes.

Josh Straughan threw a 34-yard TD shot to Jake Straughan for the lone Wildcat score in the first half.

Bryce Abdul scored on a two-yard plunger, and Josh Straughan hit Matt Becker on a seven yard TD.

Josh Straughan finished his career with a 26 yard scoring run and a two-point conversion pass to Jake Straughan.

Josh Straughan, one of the few four-year QB in the eights, finished his Wildcats football career with a 24-32 passing night for 267 yards. He hit seven different receivers.

Three turnovers took a toll on the Wildcats.

Colton finished 9-2 with their lone loss to Touchet in the three-way tie for the SE Eights league lead.