Bulldog boys will again face off agianst Wahkiakum in grid opener

Colfax Bulldogs will make a short trip to Liberty Friday to open the season against the Wahkiakum Mules in the first of two games on the Lancers’ turf. The Colfax game will be one of two matchups at Liberty where the two NE neighbors will host the same two SW schools that hosted them last year.

Liberty will have a rematch with Napavine in the second game Saturday.

Wahkiakum last year advanced to the state playoffs and bowed 28-35 to Tri -Cities Prep in the first round.

Napavine rolled all the way to the state 2B title game where they were stopped 25-31 by Kalama.

The two non-leaguers have been scheduled on Friday to steer clear of the Palouse Empire Fair’s Junior Market Stock sale which will have some team members selling stock.

The Bulldogs again saw their first action at Ritzville Friday, Aug. 30, They were among six teams to compete on the grid for the jamboree.

Colfax saw action against Northwest Christian, Dayton/Waitsburg and Medical Lake, an A division team.

“Colfax kids and coaches felt really positive on how it went,” said Mike Morgan, Colfax coach.

On offense, Colfax scored four times with the 20 total snaps allowed on offense. They scored twice against Northwest Christian and and twice against Dayton/Waitsburg.

On defense, Colfax allowed one score, but the defense picked off three interceptions.

“It was a good tuneup,” Coach Mike Morgan said. “We’re hoping to carry that energy into Friday.”

Also playing at the jamboree were Lind/Ritzville/Sprague and Davenport, two other NE teams which did not match up against Colfax.

Overall, Coach Morgan credited Davenport with the best showing on the Broncos’ turf Friday.

“I thought we looked pretty good too,” Morgan added.

In response to a pre-season questionnaire, Morgan tagged Reardan to again take the top slot in the NE-South with the Bulldogs second, Asotin third, Lind/Ritzville/Sprague fourth and Liberty fifth.

He pegged Chewelah, the team which last year dropped down from the A division, to win the north side. Both Chewelah, which drubbed Colfax in the crossover round for the two halves of the NE last year, and Reardan went into the state playoff grid.

Reardan was dropped 35-3 in the first round by Toledo, a team which made it as far as the final four, and Chewelah made it to the quarter-final where they were stopped by Napavine.

Coach Morgan sees a lot of NE senior veterans returning from last year and expects them to dominate the league and cap it with a highly competitive crossover round.

Big weakness for the Bulldogs in the upcoming campaign also will be depth. Colfax has 29 players turning out with too few linemen. The coaches have already converted some of the skill position players to the line positions.

The Bulldogs next week will host Freeman in another repeat of a non-league games from early in the season last year.