Bulldog win at Reardan erases five-loss record

Colfax Bulldogs opened the football season with a come-from-behind win over a veteran Reardan team Friday in a game on the Indians' turf. The game went past the 11 p.m. mark as the teams, officials and fans had to cope with shutdowns due to thunder and lightning.

Colfax made a late-night departure from Reardan with a 20-15 win.

"I think we did a great job. We came from behind to get the win," Bulldog coach Mike Morgan commented.

He noted the Colfax win broke a string of five straight defeats at the hands of the Reardan club in the past four years. He added Colfax stayed on course despite game delays caused by the storm.

"We weren't going anywhere," Morgan commented. He noted he told Reardan coach Eric Nikolai that the Bulldogs would overnight at his house if the need came up.

Colfax dominated early in the game and posted a 12-0 lead. Reardan scored on a 57-yard run by Ethan Landt with 2:34 left in the half and came back after a shortened halftime break to score on a 31-yard run by Justis Anderson, one of six seniors back from the Reardan team which stopped Colfax in the last quarter of its late season league clash last year.

The hosts picked up two points after their second TD to post the 15-12 lead.

Colfax bounced back quickly with Blake Bodey getting a long run on the next drive, Caleb Brown then escaping for 38 yards for a TD to put Colfax back in the lead 20-15.

The five-point lead held up despite a Reardan drive which went all the way down the field in the fourth quarter but was stopped when Reardan could not get the ball in the end zone from the five-yard line.

On a fourth-and-goal play, Reardan, a team which likes to stay on the ground, opted to attempt a pass to the tight end, but Colfax defender Jon Klaveano put the press on the Reardan QB and the play failed.

"That was really a big stop. Usually, with Reardan's offense, they usually can score when they get inside the five-yard line," Morgan commented.

Colfax took over the ball on the five-yard-line and burned more than seven minutes off the clock. Reardan finally stopped the Bulldog drive, but the last chance bid on offense ended when Chris Jones scooped up a Reardan fumble and that was the ball game.

Coach Morgan noted the Bulldogs, working behind a line which averages more than 220 pounds, decided to put the ball on the ground for most of the night. Colfax finished with 15 first downs, with nine rushing and six passing.

Morgan used QBs Brett Kincaid and Brown during the opener, and both had a measure of success.

"I think that's something you are going to see more of through the season," he noted.

Colfax churned for 295 yards in the long game compared to 199 for Reardan.

After the twice-delayed start, Colfax had a running TD by Brown called back on a penalty, but Jones later booked the first score on a two-yard run.

On the next Colfax possession, Jones took a pitch for a long gain down the Colfax side of the field. Kincaid then hit senior Jared Kneale on a nine-yard TD pass for a 12-0 lead.

Colfax missed both extra point kicks, a factor which helped Reardan notch a lead after they scored the next two TDs.

Colfax now faces the Asotin team which stopped the Bulldogs' hopes for playoff action last year in the SE-NE crossover round on the Panthers' field next to the SnakeRiver.

Coach Morgan rates Panther QB Blake Magnuson at the top of the league. Magnuson scored two of Asotin's four TDs in the Panthers 27-0 shutout of Lind/Ritzville/Sprague last week. Magnuson also threw a TD pass for the third Asotin score.

The Panthers jolted LRS, the defending league champs, with a 20-point outbreak in the second quarter. That was the end of the scoring for the game.

The Colfax-Asotin clash will be at Oakesdale because of the delayed progress on the Colfax track project. Colfax plans to have a mid-week practice session on the Oakesdale turf.

Team stats: first downs-Colfax 15 with nine rushing and six passing, Reardan nine, all rushing; passes-Colfax 7-for-9 for 112 yards; Reardan, 0-for-3; Rushing-Colfax 45 for 4.1 average, Reardan 30 for 6.6 average.

Individual passes- Kincaid 5-for-5 for 79 yards, Brown 2-for-4 for 33 yards; individual rushing-Dane Hall 22 for 94 yards, Bodey 14 for 54 yards, Brown three for 40 yards, Jones three for eight yards, Kincaid three for 13 yards.

Receiving: Kneale three for 48 yards, Jones two for 31 yards, Bodey one for 23 yards, Hall one for 10 yards.

Top tacklers: Jones five, Jared Thompson four, Darien Ward, Klaveano and Kneale, each three.