Colfax aims at Reardan after Gorillaville crash

Colfax Bulldogs aim to crank it up a notch this week when they host the Reardan Indians in what is expected to be another tough test near the end to the league run. The Bulldogs will host Reardan after sustaining a 22-48 loss to Davenport on the Gorillas' home turf last Friday. Davenport took control of the game with a 28-point outburst in the fourth quarter.

The loss left Colfax 4-2 in league play and bumped them down to fourth place in the league standings as the NE campaign enters its final two weeks.

“We just have to learn how to finish,” coach Mike Morgan noted. “We actually played three quarters of solid football, but we just didn't finish. We should have left after the first half.”

Reardan Coach Eric Nikkola and crew are expected arrive here Friday with the same grinding format which the Indians have used since before the dawn of the 2B classification. The Indians will run their wishbone offense and attempt to grind out the yards with extended ball possession. They are expected to use the 4-4 stack on defense.

Reardan, now 3-3, ended the Colfax grid season last year when they defeated the Bulldogs in the crossover game after the regular season.

They will arrive here after sustaining a 7-47 pounding at the hands of LRS, the undefeated NE league leaders.

“Reardan lost a lot of players last year, so they are not as strong, but they are expected to play tough. They always play tough,” Morgan said.

Friday at Davenport, the Bulldogs scored 14 points in the first quarter but didn't get into the end zone again until late in the fourth quarter when the game had been decided. The Gorilla defense held Colfax to 153 yards of rushing and 83 yards passing.

Davenport rolled up 515 yards with 444 rushing.

“We just didn't take advantage when we should of,” Morgan commented.

He said some mistakes on defensive coverage, which led to breakout runs for the Gorillas, took a toll. In a few instances, the right defender was not in the right spot and that opened the door for Davenport's runners were able to break for big gains.

The Gorillas scored first when Loran Boggs broke out for 53 yards and a score early in the first quarter.

Colfax answered with two first-quarter scores, one on a four-yard pass from Keith Gfeller to Jared Kneale and the other on a 22-yard run by Gfeller with 1:46 left in the quarter.

Colfax didn't score again until the final six seconds of the game when Dane Hall ran for 12 yards and a TD.

The Gorillas scored the lone TD in the second quarter on a 41-yard drive by Crus Plascencia, but Colfax had a 14-12 lead at the break because Gonzalo San Roman kicked two extra points.

After the break, Boggs scored on a 62-yard escape to put the hosts on top in the third quarter. Colfax had a shot at answering to regain the lead on a pass play, but the ball was dropped.

In the last quarter, Boggs started the 28-point explosion with another long lope. Davenport recovered their own kickoff and scored on a 26-yard run by Plascencia. Those two scores went down within 56 seconds.

The Gorillas hit two more TDs on runs for a 48-14 lead before Dane Hall scored the last TD of the game for the 45-22 final score.

Boggs totaled 216 yards on 18 carries and Plascencia totaled 149 on 15 carries.

Gfeller, who rolled up double 100-plus games running and passing in the prior two rounds, finished 9-44 rushing and 8-20 passing for 63 yards. Hall booked a 14-68 night rushing.

Kneale finished with a 3 of 27 mark to lead Colfax receivers. Six other Bulldogs had one catch each.

Kenton Lyman, Tobie Warwick and Adam Tate each had four tackles to top the Colfax defense.

The 11 seniors playing their last home game Friday will include Gfeller, Warwick, Reggie Jones, Cody Fulfs, Tate, Tyler Kincaid, Zway Erikson, Lyman, Nicholas McAdams, Brian DeYoung and Galen McWhirter.