Bulldogs face Liberty, the other NE leader

Colfax quarterback Caleb Brown tries for another yard with an assist from Cal Gregory, who attempts to discourage NWC’s Brett Mackenzie.

Northwest Christian rolled up a 53-15 win over Colfax at Oakesdale Friday night to advance its NE league record to 5-0. After the two teams posted a 7-7 tie in the first quarter, the Crusaders rolled out 27 unanswered points in the the second and third quarters. They totaled 549 yards with top back Silas Perreiah booking 173 yards on 20 carries and scoring twice.

Blake Bodey scored the first Colfax TD in the first quarter to tie it up at 7-7, but Colfax did not score again until late in the last quarter when Hunter Claassen hit a TD pass to Nick Klaveano after the reserve players went into action in the last quarter.

Colfax Bulldogs face another NE top challenge this week when they hit the road north to play the Liberty Lancers after battling Northwest Christian on the Oakesdale field Friday night.

Friday Colfax will face a Liberty team which also has a 5-0 mark after a 42-14 win over the the LRS Broncos in the Friday league round.

The two 5-0 league leaders are booked to collide in two weeks.

Northwest Christian, Liberty and Asotin, now 4-1, are all rated in the top 10 for the state 2B division.

"It's really going to be interesting to see how this all plays out over the rest of the season," Colfax coach Mike Morgan said.

Colfax Friday at Oakesdale had a solid start against the undefeated Crusaders and posted a 7-7 tie after the first quarter. After that the challenge went off the tracks with NWC scoring 27 points during the second and third periods.

The Crusaders' charge included long range scores of 72, 48, 63 and 63 yards again. Turnovers dealt a big blow to the Bulldogs. They had four for the game, and three of those derailments came after they worked to move the ball into the red zone. One statistic that told the tale for the game was the possession time. Colfax had the ball for more than 30 minutes, and NWC had it for just more than 17. Colfax also had a 20-19 edge in first down, but all the possession time and first downs didn't net points.

"We really helped them a couple of times, and a team like that really doesn't need any help," Morgan commented.

The Crusaders scored first on an 83-yard pass from Simon Williams to Jon Perry.

Colfax failed to move on its first posession, but punted the ball to the three yard-line and kept the Crusader offense bottled. The Bulldogs took the ball on the 41, executed a quick reverse play down to the 20 and scored on a plunger by Bodey who was back in the lineup this week.

Colfax stopped NWC again and started another drive which ended in a fumble. Northwest launched its mid-game point run with three carries by Perreiah who escaped for 72 yards and a 14-7 lead for the guests. Two TD passes by QB Chris Carey and a 63-yard gallop by Ryan Ricks put NWC out of range for the balance of the game.

The second Colfax score finally came midway through the fourth quarrter when the coaches called in the reserves.

Number-one assignment for the Bulldogs this week at Liberty will be to keep track of Chase Burnham who can score from a variety of sets out of the Lancers' pistol formation.

Burnham in the 42-14 win over LRS last week caught four TD passes. QB Garrett Rogers booked a 13-16 passing night with for 169 yards.

Coach Morgan noted Liberty had 14 seniors on this year's team and they have been targeting their senior season since the seventh grade.

In other games around the league, Davenport defeated Wilbur/Crestson 44-20, Kettle Falls topped Readan 20-7 and Asotin crushed Springdale 54-8.

Team statistics: Colfax: rushing 50 -248 yards, passing 9-111 yds-2 interceptions; penalties 6-30 yards, turnovers four, first downs 20, 12 on rushing 6 on passing, two on penalties; possession time 30:41.

Northwest Christian: rushing, 32 for 329 yards; passing 7-220 yards; penalties 7-60 yards; first downs 19, 13 rushing, 6 passing; possession times 17:18.

Colfax individual stats: passing-Caleb Brown 6-15 61 yards; Brett Kincaid 1-2 33 yards; Hunter Claassen 2-2 17 yards; rushing-Dane Hall 16-114, Matthew Neu 7-41; Brown 10-25, Darien Ward 1-23, Evan Henning 3-12, Blake Bodey 11-17, Christopher Jones 2-7; receiving-Jared Kneale 2-14, Bodey 1-22, Hall 1-16, Nick Klaveano 1-13, Gaven Hammer 1-4; solo tackles-Hall 4, Brown 3, Bodey 3, Riley Wuestney 3, Jones 2, Kneale 2.