Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Colton quarterback Chris Wolf runs for the end zone in the first half of the Wildcats win at St. John Sept. 27
Colton and St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse met again on the football field for the second time this season last Friday and Colton evened the series 1-1. This game counted in the Southeast 1B league standings.
Playing Sept. 6, in the first week of the year, at Colton, as a fill-in game when both teams had a bye, SJEL won 48-26.
This time, at St. John, Colton put together a victory to lift their record to 2-2 overall, 2-1 in league.
The Wildcats led 20-14 at halftime, before neither team scored in the third quarter. In the fourth, with three minutes remaining, Colton scored on a pass from Chris Wolf to sophomore Jaxon Moehrle, a guard lined up as a tight end. The touchdown completed a 53-yard drive.
SJEL (1-3 overall, 1-2 in league) also scored late in the game on an 11-yard run by Chase Anderson.
In the deciding moments, Colton recovered an onside kick and soon needed a first down to be able to run out the clock and seal the win.
On fourth-down and two yards to go, the Eagles jumped offsides. Colton won 26-22.
"Neither team moved the ball very much in the game," said Wildcats coach Jim Moehrle. "It was a huge improvement for us. We played them much more physical than we did the first game."
Chris Wolf, Colton's senior quarterback playing his first year at the position, threw 12 for 25 for 135 yards and ran for 160 more on 33 carries, scoring three touchdowns.
On defense, Colton switched to a four-man front instead of a three-man as they had Sept. 6.
Sophomore outside linebacker Moehrle led the defense with 14 tackles while Jackson Meyer, a senior middle linebacker, had 12 tackles.
"It was nice to get a league win," Coach Moehrle said.
The Eagles had four turnovers in the game to Colton's one.
"Ball control," said SJEL coach Rich Hallenius, referring to the team's four fumbles, a couple of which came on miscues on handoffs. "Our offense stopped performing like we did before."
St. John/Endicott/ LaCrosse will play next at Yakama Tribal (0-3, 0-3) Friday in Toppenish. Game time is 7 p.m.
Colton has a bye this week followed by a trip to Tekoa/Rosalia for a league game Oct. 11 against the Timberwolves (3-1, 2-0).
"A lot of teams are in the mix right now," Moehrle said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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