Colfax football coaches work to fill grad gaps

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Bulldog football players execute a quick stamina drill during their practice routine Monday at Schmuck Park. Riders changed to packers at the end of each length.

Another Colfax Bulldog sports season started Friday with the turnout of football players who will have their first game at home Sept. 1 against Reardan.

Coach Mike Morgan, who starts his 20th season as head coach, and his veteran coaching crew greeted 32 grid recruits to start the new season. The troops assembled again after making another trip to Boise State during the summer for football camp.

Again, Morgan faces a task of putting a team together with parts of the prior year’s 6-4 campaign absent via graduation and parts of it back on the field.

Colfax graduated nine seniors off the team from last year, seven of them starters.

Among the missing will be QB Caleb Brown and receiver Jared Kneale. Kneale was the lone Colfax player from last year who made the all-league listing for offense after the season.

Brown and Kneale were key parts of a Colfax option and passing attack which had some big night’s in the NE campaign.

Colfax also sustained a big graduation hit on the line with Jon Klaveano, Jared Thompson, Connor Pelissier, Trevin Kennedy and Chris Aspenwall graduating. The Colfax line was a big factor in the team’s ability last year to move the ball on the ground and stuff running games from opponents.

Dillon Meserve and Darien Ward were the other grads off last year’s team.

Brett Kincaid, a senior, will move into the starting QB position. Coach Morgan noted last year Kincaid actually had the best passing attack for Colfax, but Brown was better at running the option offense.

Kincaid has worked on his option game in the offseason and had a strong showing with the team at the Boise camp.

Some moves have already been made to build up the line. Dane Hall, an all-leaguer at linebacker last year and the player who anchored the rushing game, and Blake Bodey, another back, are moving into the line to fill some of the gaps left by last year’s seniors.

Riley Wuestney, now 6-3 and 290 pounds, will be back on the line as a senior. Other senior linemen back are Tucker Gleason and Dylan Nails.

Augie Allenbach, a junior at 270 who wrapped up last year on the golf course, has returned to the team this year and could help bolster the line.

Christopher Jones, who stacked up yards last year as a junior at running back, will return to that role this year. Ben Ahmann, who was hurt last year, will also be back as a senior. Ahmann returns after clocking state success as a hurdler last spring on the Bulldog track team.

One lingering problem for the Bulldogs is the 32 count for the total football turnout. That count is close to last year when the Bulldogs had to forego most of the junior varsity season campaign because of too few players.

The situation leaves 14 or 15 players at the junior varsity level with possibly limited field action for the season.

Coach Morgan believes last year’s “big three” teams in the NE race will be the powers in the race again this year.

Colfax football last year finished with a 6-4 record. The Bulldogs were stopped by Asotin in the league crossover round which ended their bid to nail entry in the state playoff grid. Last Colfax entry into the playoffs was four years ago.

Liberty, Asotin and Northwest Christian advanced to the playoff grid, with matching 8-1 records. That ranked as one of the most unique league finishes on the WIAA books.

All three of the NE entrants landed on the same side of the state playoff bracket, and that limited the chances for the 2B title to be brought back to the NE.

Asotin stopped NWC in the quarter-final round, and Liberty stopped Asotin in the semi-final round.

The Lancers bowed to Napavine 16-34 in the championship game at the Tacoma Dome to end the three-pronged NE entry in the state playoffs.

Tyler Haas and Chase Burnham have also graduated off the league.

Morgan tags the same three teams to be on top of the league for this year’s campaign with Asotin as the first-place finisher. The Panthers will launch without Blake Magnuson and Colton Ball, two stalwart Panthers who also graduated last spring.

Morgan noted one of the top players expected to be back in the league will be NWC’s Silas Perreiah who rated on top of the league last year as a sophomore. He is expected to be better this year as a junior.

Colfax will start the campaign with the Reardan Indians visiting here Friday, Sept. 1. The opener will be a rematch for the two NE teams who endured the ill-fated lightning game with its long delays on the Reardan turf early last season.

Assistant Coach Craig Culbertson goes over assignment options for the defense during a team drill at Monday's football practice session. Culbertson is defensive coordinator for the team.