Colfax faces Reardan after wild Bronco battle

Colfax football season will go into a win or shut down mode Friday when the Bulldogs travel to Reardan for a rematch in the NE-SE crossover round.

The Bulldogs will make the trip back to Reardan where three weeks ago they sustained a 8-34 loss to the Indians.

Reardan in last week’s final league round nailed down a number two finish in the league with a 39-12 win over the Davenport Gorillas. The last round game matched the two 7-1 teams in the league race to decide the number two slot and number three playoff slots.

Colfax will depart for Reardan Friday after a full bore attempt Friday to derail the Lind/Ritzville/Sprague Broncos. After a dramatic fourth quarter, LRS left Colfax with a two-point win, 27-25, and their three-year win string notched up to 35.

The two-point loss kept Colfax in fourth place with a 6-3 mark and a slot in the week’s crossover game against second place Reardan.

"I think it was the best ball game we’ve played all year," Coach Mike Morgan said about Friday’s up and down battle with the Broncos.

He noted Colfax rolled up 425 yards during the battle compared to 193 for the Broncos.

"We led them in almost all of the statistics. Unfortunately, one of those was turnovers," Morgan commented. The Bulldogs had six turnovers in the game.

Colfax started the battle by shedding their slow start mode. They stacked a 13-0 lead on the guests into the second quarter to set the tone for the night.

The Bulldogs held off the Broncos early after they sustained a blocked punt and lost the ball twice on fumbles.

Colfax scored first on a short run by Dylan Hall. The defense held off LRS on the next drive and the Bulldogs scored again on a 17-yard pass to Brian Stueckle with 4:32 remaining in the half.

The Broncos answered with a TD pass from QB Jacob Saetre to Andrew Witt for 29 yards. They missed a point attempt and a 13-6 Colfax lead was posted on the board at half-time.

Things reversed after the break when Damien Rouleau took the opening kickoff at the 20 yard line and went all the way for a score. Saetre hit Payton Keil on a two yard dump pass and LRS notched a 14-13 lead.

The next Colfax drive stalled when LRS lineman Alexis Guizar gathered in a tipped pass for an interception. The Broncos converted the turnover with Witt scoring on a 12-yard run. Saetre kicked the extra point and the Broncos had a 22-12 lead.

At the top of the fourth, Colfax came back with a scoring pass down the middle for 12 yards to Jared Kneale with 10:27 left in the game.

Colfax stopped Reardan on the next drive and took over the ball for a chance to regain the lead. Instead, Saetre intercepted a screen pass for LRS and took it into the end zone.

That put the LRS lead at 27-19, and Colfax in the next drive found themselves in a third and 20 situation when Webber hit Keith Gfeller who escaped for the distance, an 82-yard TD.

Colfax again held the Broncos and the Bulldogs got the ball back with 1:49 left, 69 yards away from the end zone.

The drive featured another pass and a first down at the 17. Webber hit Gfeller again, but Saetre, playing the corner on defense, put a solid hit on the Colfax junior that shook the ball loose. Saetre recovered the fumble with 55 seconds left to keep their three-year win string afloat at 35 games.

Other scores for the last NE round were Northwest Christian 41-Springdale 40, Wilbur/Creston 47-Kettle Falls 12, Liberty 40-Tekoa/Rosalia 19.

This week's crossover round offers four state tickets to the winners of the top four matchups. They will be among 16 teams in the first round of the state playoffs.

Because the SE league has just four teams compared to 10 in the NE, the crossover includes all NE matchups, including the Colfax-Reardan and LRS vs. Wilbur/Creston.

Waitsburg/Prescott's 2-1 record puts them in the SE top entry slot. They will host Liberty Friday. Tri-Cities Prep has the other top four slot out of the SE and will host Davenport, the NE number three team, Friday at Chiawana.

Other SE-NE matchups outside of the state qualifying round will be DeSales (SE#3) vs. Northwest Christian (NE #7) and Asotin (SE #4 vs. Springdale NE #8).

Tekoa/Rosalia and Kettle Falls were to play the other NE as the bottom two teams in the NE. However, Tekoa/Rosalia has forfeited. The depleted young team has previously forfeited three varsity games this year, opting to play J.V. instead.

Lind/Ritzville/Sprague 27-Colfax 25: 0/7 6/6 15/0 6/12.

Colfax stats: 425 total yards on 74 plays. Passing: 15-33 for 244 yards, 3 interception. Rushing: 41-181 yards. Penalties 7-65. Turnovers 6 (3 fumbles, 3 int), First downs -26, Third down conversions, 9 of 16, Passes: Mark Webber 15-32 for 244 yards, 3 int., Keith Gfeller, 0-1. Rushers: Cody Fulfs 18-98, Dylan Hall 13-61, Webber 6-16. Receivers: Gfeller 4-119, Jared Kneale 4-54, Brian Stueckle 4-45, Hall 2-14, Bo Claassen 1-12.

LRS stats: 193 total yards on 44 plays. Passing: 5-11 for 103 yards, 0 interceptions. Rushing: 33 for 90 yards. Turnovers 0. First downs, 9 (6 rushing, 3 passing), third down conversions, 4-11, Passers: Jacob Saetre, 5-11 for 103 yards, 0 int., Rushers-Andrew Witt 8-86, Hugh Hennings 13-29, Saetre 12 -minus 25. Receivers: Hennings 1-37, Witt 3-36, Rouleau 1-30.