Bulldogs to start with Lancers

Football season for the Colfax Bulldogs will begin with two neighborhood matches at the south end of the NE league.

The Bulldogs Friday will host the Liberty Lancers in the opening round of the NE’s all-league schedule. Second week of action will see Colfax travel to the hill at Rosalia to play the new Timberwolves team which emerged from the Rosalia/Tekoa sports combination. The Timberwolves will make their debut in the NE league this week against Northwest Christian on the field at Riverside.

Liberty arrives here for what will be their debut action of the season.

The Lancers were one of the NE schools which opted to pass on the league jamboree at Ritzville last Friday night, Aug. 29.

Liberty last year had a solid run in the league with QB Match Burnham keying a strong passing game for the Lancers.

Colfax last year battled Liberty early on the east Spangle turf.

Burnham lead a passing attack and posted an early lead on his home field, but the Bulldogs came back and took control of the game.Colfax Coach Mike Morgan credits Liberty Coach Mike Dewey with building up the program at Spangle.

The Lancers in the last few years have made a lot of progress on offense but have had trouble in stopping other league teams with their defense.

Colfax took the win at Spangle last year with a 47-13 final score. The Bulldogs rolled up a total of 371 yards with a balanced attack.

Liberty’s offense last year stacked up just 30 yards of rushing compared to 218 yards of passing.

Starting for the Colfax offense Friday will be senior Mark Webber at quarterback and Cody Gronning at fullback. Both Dylan Hall and Cody Fulfs will alternate out of the tailback slot.

Colfax receivers will be Brian Stueckle, Bo Claassen and Keith Gfeller.

Brian DeYoung will be at center with Tyler Kincaid, Josh Brown, Andrew Becker and Nick McAdams on the front line.

Coach Morgan said the last Friday’s jamboree provided the Bulldogs with a chance to polish some of the plays they plan to use in the fall campaign. The Bulldogs travel to the jamboree with a script of plays they want to run in a game setting. The idea is to get the plays on video and then check out how they work.

Connell, the first foe for the Colfax defense, actually put the ball in the end zone against the Bulldogs witb a tipped pass. However, the play was scratched because Becker put the tag on Connell’s quarterback. The tag is the equivalent of a sack under jamboree rules.

Morgan rated the last round, Colfax defense vs. Tri-Cities-Prep offense, as the most competitive of the four jamboree stints. The Jaguars were expected to be cranked up to notch a little revenge from last year’s match for the NE and SE crossover round.

The four NE teams in the jamboree did not face off against each other, but it did give coaches a chance to check out upcoming league opponents. Coach Morgan said the host LRS Broncos showed a lot of experience on the field and seemed to warrant his prediction that they will again be a big factor in the league race despite graduating a lot of talented regulars last June.

Northwest Christian was also on the grid at Ritzville Friday. The Crusaders are starting their second year of league action and will have more overall experience. They will be the first foe of the Timberwolves who will host Colfax in the second week.

Among teams not present at the jamboree was Reardan, also one of Morgan’s picks to be a top contender in the upcoming NE race.