Bulldogs take aim at Broncos’ 34-game win string

The Colfax Bulldogs Friday will finish their home season with what they hope will be a NE league shocker when they host the undefeated LRS Broncos in the final league round.

The last league game will also be the finale of the three big collision rounds among the league’s top teams.

After rolling out a 6-0 record at the start, Colfax was stopped two weeks ago by Davenport and stopped again Friday on the road at Reardan 34-6.

The Broncos will bring an 8-0 league mark to Colfax Friday. Bulldog coach Mike Morgan notes the 8-0 run this year follows two 13-0 championship seasons for the Broncos. That puts the Broncos’ win string at 34 games.

LRS lost nine of their key players to graduation last year, but Morgan noted at the start of the season that the Broncos figured to have a lot of returnees - players who learned the game over the last two years with the extended seasons.

"They’ve had two championship seasons, and they’ve learned how to play the game," Morgan commented.

He said Friday he expects the Broncos to use a ground attack which has worked very well for them all year. The Broncos’ offense works behind the top rated line in the league, and a lot of what happens in Colfax Friday night will evolve from what happens on the line.

The line battle was decisive two weeks ago when the Broncos notched a 7-6 win in a ground fight with the league’s other ground power crew, Reardan. Friday, the Broncos hammered Kettle Falls 51-7. They held Kettle to just 49 yards of total offense.

Hugh Henning rates as the top running back for the defending champions, and Jacob Saetre keys the offense at quarterback.

Morgan said Friday at Reardan that the Bulldogs put together a lot of positive plays. Colfax’s defense made some key stops against Reardan’s ground crunch offense, but the breakdown came on a series of third down tests.

"We’d work hard on getting great stops on the first two downs and they let them get away on third down," Morgan said. He noted one instance where Colfax had the hosts in a third-and-19 hole on the 41, and the Reardan QB escaped for a 20-yard run.

Both teams Friday booked 53 offensive plays, but Reardan had a lot better mileage with 298 total yards. The juggernaut factor in the equation was the 222 yards of rushing offense for Reardan.

Colfax tallied 184 yards with most of it through the air. Senior QB Mark Webber hit 13 of 33 passes for 107 yards.

He allowed one interception to Daniel Peone, a steal that set up the first score by the hosts.

Dustyn Rettkowski scored twice for Reardan in the first quarter and added one more TD on a pass from QB Zach Wynkoop in the second quarter. They then added a 25-yard field goal boot to take a 22-0 lead.

The Bulldogs scored on a short pass to Brian Stueckle before the half. The score came after Stueckle reeled in a long pass on the red zone.

Colfax was held out for the balance while Reardan added two more TDs in the last quarter for the 34-6 tally.

Regardless of the outcome of Friday’s last league round, the Bulldogs already know part of the lineup for the following week.

At 6-2 Colfax now stands in fourth place in the league. That slot is not likely to change in the final week which has the two number-two teams, Reardan and Davenport, playing for the number-two slot.

The playoff grid for the crossover round next week matches the NE number four finisher against number two, which will be either Reardan or Davenport with an 8-1 finish. A win in the crossover advances the team into the first round of the state playoffs the following week.

Friday’s game at Colfax will include a senior night observance at 6:45. The eight seniors on the squad this year include Webber, Stueckle, Dylan Hall, Bo Claassen, Cody Gronning, Andrew Becker, Josh Brown and AJ Garcia.