Nighthawks perched atop league standings

The Nighthawks of Tekoa, Oakesdale and Rosalia have settled into a perch by themselves atop the SE-2B league standings. Friday night’s 34-0 home win over Dayton at Oakesdale gave the ‘hawks a 3-0 league record, 5-0 overall.

TOR is the league’s last unbeaten team after Waitsburg/Prescott’s 16-13 win over DeSales and Tri-Cities Prep’s 20-6 win over Asotin.

“That’s our philosophy. Just go out there like every game is a championship,” said Coach Kaleb Madison.

On Friday, the Nighthawks used their swarming defense to put down the Dayton Bulldogs.

“Overall, our defense has playing really tough, really stout all year,” said Madison.

With the TOR offense struggling in the opening quarter, Tyler Hansen invaded the Bulldog backfield to pluck a bobbled ball from the hands of a Dayton attacker and then scampered 29 yards for the touchdown.

“It just kind of popped into his hands,” said Coach Madison. “He caught it and just kept running straight to the end zone.”

Craig Nelson added the next Nighthawk score with a 54-yard run, one of his three scores on the night. He ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns, his third score coming off a 20-yard pass from Quarterback Ryan Maley.

Nelson then added points while on defense. Lineman Max Mueller stood up the Dayton blockers, which left a seam for the linebacker Nelson to burst through and drop the runner for a safety.

“It was a nice read, he found a seam, shot it and put the runner down,” said Madison.

QB Maley turned in a solid game, hitting on 10 of 13 passes for a career-high 175 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He hit Brock Shelton on a 47-yard touchdown in the third quarter for the final TOR score.

The Nighthawks travel south this Friday to take on perennial power Asotin. Coach Madison said he expects a tough game from the I attack that Coach Sal Lopez has used to great success during his tenure at the helm of the Panthers, now 1-1 in league, 1-3 overall.

“They’re always tough. It’s definitely gonna be a football game,” said Madison.