Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Jude Hahn is tackled by two Reardan defenders during the second half of the game at Reardan Friday. Roger Harnack/Free Press Publishing photo.
Fate for the Colfax football playoff season, which last week seemed to be on track for a top entry slot, was derailed Friday at Reardan when the Indians put together the final piece of a comeback charge with a go-ahead score in the last six seconds.
The win left the Bulldogs holding a 3-1 record while the other four teams in the league booked the last round. Asotin and Reardan go into the last round with 2-1 records and one or both of them could finish with a 3-1 mark to match Colfax.
Liberty, now 1-2, faces Reardan this week, and Asotin plays Lind/Ritzville/Sprague.
A win by Reardan would tie them in the standings with Colfax, and they would get the number-one slot because they topped the Bulldogs last week .
NE playoffs will start Nov. 8 with Chewelah and Davenport set to collide this week to decide the top spot on the north.
Colfax Coach Mike Morgan credited Reardan with fighting out of a 12-point deficit to score 13 in the last quarter for a 23-22 win over the Bulldogs. Reardan, which had players on the injury list for the middle games of the league run, had a full contingent ready when they faced Colfax, and Morgan anticipated a tough battle.
Reardan scored with less than eight minutes left in the last quarter to start their charge, and Colfax kept control of the ball down to the last four minutes.
"All we needed was a first down," Morgan commented.
They gained eight yards on the first play, gained nothing on the second play, and dropped a snap on the third play.
That set up a punt attempt, and a bad snap put the ball in Reardan's hands with about 2:50 left.
Tyler Sprecher, back in the lineup after being sidelined with injuries, scored the winning TD with a one-yard cruncher to cap the Indians' final drive.
Noah Landt scored on a short run with just more than eight minutes left in the last quarter to put Reardan within range of the upset.
Colfax trailed early in the game after Reardan's Wyatt Raczkowkski hit a 32-yard field goal kick and Sprecher scored his first TD on a short run.
Colfax built the 22-10 lead with QB Layne Gingerish scoring on a plunger in the last 38 seconds of the first half and then hitting the second of two TD passes to Brandon Lustig for a 15-yard TD with 7:59 left in the third.
That turned out to be the last TD for Colfax while Landt and Sprecher scored in the last quarter.
The only other loss of the season for the Bulldogs was at Heppner in a non-league game.
Gingerich hit seven of nine passes for 91 yards, and Jacob Brown carried the ball 19 times for 73 yards.
Reardan 23-Colfax 22: 0-7 10/8 0-7 13/0:
Colfax stats: 232 total yards with 7-8 passing for 91 yards, 35 for 141 rushing; penalties 5-46; fumbles 1, first downs 6 with 11 rushing, 4 passing; time of possession 22:47. Rushing: Jacob Brown, 19 for 73; Blake Holman, 4-36: Gavin Hamme. 7-26, Gingerich, 3-11. Passing: Gingerich 7-8 for 91 yards; Receiving: Matt Hockett 1-35; Lustig 2-29. Brown 1-17. Solo tackles; Brown 8, Hockett 7, Anthony Becker 3.
Reardan stats: 243 yards with 8-1 passing for 73 yards, 39 for 179 rushing; penalties 5-30; fumbles 1; first downs, 19 with 15 rushing, 3 passing; time of possession 25:07; Rushing: T. Sprecher 23-118, Zane Perelevberg 6-29, Noah Land 3-13, Ethan Hill 4-10; Recieving: T. Sprecher 3-53, Landt 2-7, C. Sprecher 2-minus 1, Rylan Anderson 1-14; solo tackles: Landt 4, T. Sprecher 4, Caleb Hopper 3, Kobe Martinez 3, Perelberg 3.
Reader Comments(0)