Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Colfax and White Swan locked up in a dramatic football battle for four action packed quarters Friday night at Lampson Field in Kennewick. The quarter-final battle, which actually boiled down to the final play, ended with a 42-37 win by the Bulldogs and a slot in this week’s semi-final round.
Colfax will now play Waitsburg/Prescott at Pasco Saturday for the east side ticket to the Dec. 3 state 2B title game in the Tacoma Dome.
Colfax Coach Mike Morgan credited the Bulldogs with showing a lot of poise against the Cougars.
“They’ve had to show a little poise in the past this season, and they really had it when they needed it Friday night,” he noted.
Morgan also credited the Cougars and Coach Andy Bush with a great game. White Swan started with a wide-open offense, reminiscent of teams Bush led to state titles at Garfield/Palouse, and they finished with their own big comeback in the fourth quarter when other teams would have folded.
Friday night at Lampson the Bulldogs took the five-point win after erasing three leads posted by the Cougars. The go-ahead score came with 37 seconds left in the game. It ended a Colfax drive which rolled the length of the field after White Swan notched a one-point 37-36 lead on an extra point kick.
The Cougars earned their own credits for a dramatic comeback when they scored twice in the fourth quarter. They took the lead after losing their sparkplug running back, Alex Sampson, who rolled up 133 yards on 14 carries. Sampson, a 165-pound junior, had to be helped off the field after he collided with Colfax running back Jaimie Bledsoe late in the third quarter.
The Cougars staged their comeback with two scores by Nathan Nobbs who found a breakout route along the Cougars sideline. Cougar quarterback Joseph Kosik, a sophomore, hit Knobbs for a 38 shot early in the last quarter.
“I think we just didn’t realize that he had that speed,” Coach Morgan said. The Cougars had been rolling out yards with Sampson, but after he was hurt they turned to Knobbs and his speed. Morgan also noted Bush came up with savvy play calls at that point in the game.
Colfax stalled on their next possession and Kosik and Nobbs did a repeat TD shot to tie it at 36-36.
The Cougars then put all their marbles on Junior Alvarado who drilled the extra-point kick for a 37-36 lead with the White Swan fans going wild on their side of the field.
Colfax took the ball on the 20 with 4:21 left and rolled up the field with three first downs. Justin Berarducci hit receivers Jay Hart and Sam Thompson on the drive. The drive kept alive on a spectacular play when Berarducci, wrapped by Cougar tacklers, pitched to Bledsoe who rambled to the 11-yard line with 1:13 left.
Colfax took the final lead when Levi Hardy scored on a plunger with just over 37 seconds left.
Morgan said they wanted to burn the clock down as much as possible before the last score because they didn’t want White Swan’s explosive offense get the ball with any time left.
White Swan took one more shot with a wing ding option pass which was intercepted by Berarducci to end it.
The Cougars started the night’s scoring with just 32 seconds off the clock in the first quarter when Tony Picard, their 300-plus power back, scored on a plunger from the one-year line. Sampson ran for two points for an 8-0 lead.
Colfax came back with Alvin Li scoring on a 16-yard breakout run, but the Bulldogs missed their conversion points.
The two clubs executed another TD trade with Niko Nanez scoring for the Cougars and Li scoring for Colfax. However, White Swan added two more conversion points, and the Bulldogs didn’t.
That put it at 16-12 with 5:37 still left in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs booked the first stop on defense with 2:39 left in the quarter when Bledue made a big hit on a Cougar third-and-seven pla.,
Colfax cracked their first lead with 27 seconds left in the quarter when Hardy reeled in an option pass from Brady Ellis.
Berarducci then hit Ellis for two beans and Colfax led 20-16 with three quarters left.
Early in the second quarter both teams gambled on fourth downs and failed. The Cougars regained the lead with 6:56 left in the half on a run by Nanez. Sampson added two more on a reverse run.
Colfax then staged an air attack in the last 1:36 seconds of the half. Berarducci hit Sam Thompson three times on the drive. He then hit Ellis on the corner of the Colfax side of the field and hit him again on the opposite corner for the TD with 20 seconds left in the half.
After the break, the two clubs battled with Colfax stopping a Cougar drive and getting the ball on the 16. At 1:56 the Cougars lost Sampson when he collided with Bledsoe on a power play to the corner.
The Bulldog drive continued and ended with Kellen McNannay scoring on a run and adding a two-point conversion on a pass reception.
At that point Colfax led 36- 24 and looked like they had a wrap on it with a quarter left.
Coach Bush and the Cougars rallied with the two TD passes to Knobbs and took the lead with Alvarado’s point kick.
That left it up to the Colfax offense and they crunched out the final drive for the win.
Berarducci finished with a 13-18 166-yard passing night and had 18-91 rushing. Li had 15-131 rushing and two TDs. Bledsoe booked a 6-70 night.
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