Nighthawks’ ground power ends Cards’ win string

With a barrage of big plays, the Nighthawks of Tekoa, Oakesdale and Rosalia stayed perfect Friday night with a 32-22 home win over defending 2B state champions Waitsburg/Prescott at Oakesdale.

Waitsburg arrived at Tekoa with a 3-0 mark on the new season after last year’s title run which included a 35-0 league win over TOR and a shutdown of Colfax in the semi-final round.

Waitsburg QB Zach Bartlow and nine other seniors graduated off the title club last spring.

The TOR defense locked down the potent Cardinals attack in the first half, not giving up a point. The Nighthawk ground game kept WP off the field long enough in the second half to seal the deal.

Junior tailback Craig Nelson put up a monster game for the ‘hawks offense, toting the ball 30 times for 200 yards. Nelson scored twice, punching it in from the one-yard line in the first quarter and sprinting 67 yards for a fourth quarter touchdown.

Coach Kaleb Madison put the win credit on his defense, noting especially the tough play of his defensive line of Max Mueller, Jesse Johnson and Josh Roe.

“They did a great job busting it up inside,” said Coach Madison. “That kept our linebackers free to roam and help out in the secondary.”

Up 14-0 in the second quarter, the TOR line blew up a WP run play and the ball came out at the Cardinals’ four yard line. Brock Shelton picked up the fumble and ran it back 96 yards for the payday six.

Zane Brown dropped back from his usual outside line backer post to play suffocating defense on the cornerback island against the Cardinals’ top receiver, Dalton Estes. Estes finished the game with six catches off 12 targets, but all were limited to short yardage.

“Zane was phenomenal,” said Madison. “He’s just one of those athletes that you ask to go do something, and he can do it.”

TOR defense also held potent WP halfback Billy Brown to 44 yards rushing.

With a 20-0 lead at the half, the Nighthawks switched to a power ground game to keep the clock ticking. Nelson picked up most of that duty. Clay Shelton added 60 yards rushing, with most of those coming when he busted a 48 yard score up the middle in the third quarter.

Quarterback Ryan Maley put up a strong, safe game from under center, hitting on seven of 15 passes for 90 yards and a scoring pass to Brown.

The Nighthawks pressed the Cardinals into five turnovers without giving one up themselves.

Now 4-0 on the season, and 2-0 in league play, TOR hosts winless Dayton Friday night at Rosalia. The Bulldogs lost 34-6 to DeSales last weekend and come into the game with an 0-4 record overall, 0-2 in league.

In other SE action last week, Tri-Cities Prep fell 20-21 in an overtime thriller with the LRS Broncos, and Asotin was smoked out of a non-leaguer at Grangeville.