Colfax heads for playoffs after two losses

Colfax football team will head for Pasco Saturday to start the playoff portion of the season against Tri-Cities Prep at the Chiawana High School football field. The Bulldogs, who sustained two defeats against the two power teams of NE league in the span of five days, have been booked into the crossover round which matches third-place teams from the NE and SE district.

Lind/Ritzville/ Sprague, the defending champs who completed a sweep on the NE Tuesday when they stopped the Bulldogs, earned the top spot in the NE entry, and Reardan, the yards and clock grinding team which ended the Colfax league win string in the season’s closer at Colfax last Friday, will host as the number-two NE team.

Saturday’s winner of the Colfax/Tri-Cities playoff will get the number-five slot in the next playoff round the following week. The qualifier will face the top team to emerge from the playoff for WIAA districts 1-2-3.

The Jaguars will host Saturday night after sustaining a 41-42 loss to Waitsburg/Prescott in the final SE round.

BRONCOS 39,

BULLDOGS 0

Final chapter for the Colfax league season was a 0-39 loss to the Lind/Ritzville/Sprague Broncos who finished out the league run undefeated at 6-0. The defending league champs have an 8-0 record with a playoff round Friday against Northwest Christian.

The shutout at Ritzville in Tuesday night’s makeup game put the Bulldogs in third place in the league with a 4-2 mark.

After a close first quarter on the cold turf at Ritzville the veteran Broncos erupted for TDs in the second quarter for a 25-0 lead at the half.

Veteran QB Dylan Hartz connected on three TD shots to 6-7 Ryan Whitmore for the scores. Longest score for the Broncos was a 61 yarder to Whitmore.

Their last TD of the half came on a fourth down play with a 16-yard shot to Whitmore. Before that play the Broncos had campaigned all the way to the one yard line but sustained a series of penalty setbacks on procedural calls.

Starting the second half, both coaches activated their reserves, probably with an eye on the playoff rounds which are three and four days away.

Sophomore Toby Warwick did the play calling for the Bulldogs with most of the Colfax varsity on the sideline.

LRS added two more TDs in the reserves half of the game with backup QB Jacob Saetre hitting Bridger Smith on a 24-yard shot in the third quarter and Damien Rouleau escaping a 39-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Top play for the Bulldogs in the second half was a kickoff return by Cody Fulfs who shed a string of Bronco tacklers and went inside the 30- yard line. Colfax offense again failed to cash in the field position and the ball went back to the Broncos who gobbled up the last five-plus minutes on the clock.

REARDAN 37

Colfax 20

Friday night at Colfax, Reardan rolled out a 37-20 win over the Bulldogs with their patented wishbone attack. The Indians this year again proved they have the right players to make the offense work with a solid lineup front the talented back who can roll off the yards.

"Reardan had 415 yards on the ground," Colfax Coach Mike Morgan commented. "You just can’t beat a team that can roll out 415 yards in one night."

The Indians averaged more than seven yards for rushing with 47 plays. Their scant passing total, two completions for a total of 13 yards, also points to the ground bound offense of the Indians.

Colfax, which didn’t have a game last week, started slow and spotted the Indians 20 points in the first half. The Bulldogs sparked in the second half when QB Mark Webber began to hit on passes and cover ground into the end zone.

However, the Bulldogs ignition of offense was blunted by Reardan's ability to keep control of the ball. The possession factor left the clock burning.

The Buildogs’ scramble for possession time prompted two attempts to get the ball via on-side kicks late in the game. Reardan’s front receivers failed to oblige on either attempt.

Webber finished with a 15-29 night passing for 231 yards. Coach Morgan rated that as a solid night, but not enough to offset the ground format established by the Indians in the first half.

Colfax finished with 93 yards rushing with Levi Hardy booking a 16-85 night against the big Indian defenders in his final home game.

All three of the Colfax scores came off passing plays with Dylan Hall booking a zinger at the top of the second half for the first Colfax score. Hall broke past the Reardan defender in front of the Colfax bench and reeled in a Webber shot to go all the way, 62 yards, for a TD.

Morgan noted the Bulldogs had Hall’s pass route figured before the game, but decided to keep it for the second half while checking to see if Reardan’s defenders were making the mistake on covering Colfax screen pass plays.

Keith Gfeller scored the other two TDs on receptions. He totaled four snags for 52 yards against the Indians. Gfeller's first snag in the fourth quarter was good for 31 yards and a score. That came after he made a sideline catch earlier in the drive to keep the action alive. He caught a two-yard TD later in the game for the last Colfax TD.

Reardan's wishbone offense was keyed by QB Wyatt Nieman and advanced by running backs Caleb Kopp, Clinton Jeney and Dan Peone.

Nieman hit Dustyn Rettowski on a five-yard pass for the first score with 5:41 left in the first quarter. The guests scored again in the quarter on a five-yard run by Jeff Bergeron and finish the half with another long drive capped by an 11-yard TD run by Rettowski.

After Colfax broke the ice at the start of the second half, Reardan added a TD on a 20-yard run by Rettowski and kicker Heiko Birkle booked a 31-yard field goal after the Bulldogs stifled another drive.

Jeney, the top running back for the Indians, cut loose on a 30-yard TD run in the fourth quarter again keeping the guests out of range of the Colfax offense.

In other league action Friday, the LRS Broncos kept their string going with a 41-8 win over the Lancers at Liberty.

Waitsburg/Prescott, which sustained its first home loss in five years two weeks ago to Asotin, emerged with the number-one slot out of the tight SE race and will host Liberty. Other matchups in the crossover are Asotin at Reardan, Davenport at DeSales and Northwest Christian at Lind/Ritzville/Sprague. All are booked for Friday.