Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Was it the 40-28 victory quarterback Carter Dahmen was most proud of, or was it the 87-yard punt?
In a wind-blown game at Colton last Friday afternoon, the Wildcats beat Pomeroy 40-28 to take sole possession of third place in the Southeast 1B league.
The contested game began with a 14-8 Colton lead after which senior lineman Luke Moore stopped Pomeroy running back Cade Gingerich for a loss on fourth down on the Pirates' 25-yard line.
Colton couldn't capitalize, and Gingerich soon got loose on a 51-yard touchdown run to tie the game 14-14.
As the clock neared halftime, Colton drove.
Dahmen, a senior, hit Brady Chadwick for a first down on fourth-and-three on the Pomeroy 10 with 40 seconds left. Dahmen then threw to Grant Kinzer for a touchdown and 20-14 lead with 21 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing kickoff, as the Colton light towers swayed in the wind, eighth-grader Jon Bean held the ball for Moore's kickoff.
Early in the third quarter, Pomeroy quarterback Havin Heytvelt pitched to Gingerich for a 42-yard touchdown to tie the game at 20-20.
Colton drove once more to answer. Dahmen threw wide to Chadwick for a 57-yard run up the Wildcats' sideline to score.
Moore then delivered an onside kick and Chadwick recovered.
Pomeroy later got the ball back and ran a reverse to Jacob Tewalt, who took it 60 yards to the Colton 10 yard-line. On the next play, the clock turned to the fourth quarter, and Heytvelt pitched to Gingerich, who fumbled, and Dahmen recovered.
Holding a 26-20 lead, Dahmen set up in the deep shotgun on fourth down.
He punted from his own 12-yard-line. Many seconds later, Colton downed it at the Pomeroy one-yard line for an 87-yard punt. It was later called a touchback.
With Heytvelt now on his back on the sidelines – trainers working on his left thigh – Colton aimed to hold on to the lead.
They got the ball back on downs, with Pomeroy perhaps not wanting to punt into the wind.
With a quick first-and-10 on the Pirates' 12, Colton's Cameron Bean fumbled and Aidan Dixon ran the ball back 87 yards for a Pomeroy touchdown.
Oscar Morfin then took the point-after-conversion handoff up the middle for a 28-26 lead.
Under six minutes remaining, Dahmen and Colton started a drive to answer, but were halted on third down at their own 43.
Vikings' coach Clark Vining sent in a play to go for it. Dahmen dropped back and threw across the middle to freshman Luke Vining for the first down.
Then Dahmen threw to Reece Chadwick – another freshman – for an over-the-shoulder catch and first and goal.
Dahmen ran it in from four yards out and Colton led again, 32-28 with 4:20 left.
On the two-point conversion, Dahmen ran wide and got it, 34-28.
Pomeroy took possession with dwindling time. Stopped on third down, their fourth-down snap went over the head of freshman Jace Gwinn, who ran after and picked up the ball as Colton chased.
He flipped it to a teammate, who fumbled and the Wildcats' Reece Chadwick recovered, running to the Pomeroy 8-yard line.
Dahmen followed with a run up the middle for 40-28 with 40 seconds left.
Pomeroy's Heytvelt then limped back into the game at quarterback and missed two throws before Colton's Pete Schultheis tackled Gingerich on a run, knocking the ball loose.
Colton recovered to seal the game.
Dahmen went 31 of 43 passing on the day for 354 yards, throwing to an even mix of receivers.
Brady Chadwick had nine catches for 131 yards and and a touchdown while Kinzer caught 10 passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Cameron Bean had 10 catches for 64 yards.
Chadwick led the defense with 12 tackles while Bean had 10. Pete Schultheis had a sack and was in on eight tackles.
Colton now plays at home today at 2 p.m. against Garfield-Palouse. A win will keep them playoff-bound, in third-place. If they lose, the Wildcats drop into a three-way tie for third with Gar-Pal and Pomeroy, for which a tiebreaker would take place next Tuesday at a neutral site.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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