Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Coaches work with Colfax Bulldogs during a practice before the season started.
COLBERT – Colfax Bulldogs football players trickled into the game against the Northwest Christian Crusaders from the Palouse Empire Fair.
The rescheduled game began Saturday at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 to accommodate players who were selling livestock at the fair. As the game started, players were still showing up, changing into uniforms, and making their way onto the field.
"From Tuesday on I had half my squad because they were working with their animals," said Colfax Coach Mike Morgan. "We needed to be fair to our young men that had been working on animals for months before the fair ... This is not just about football but about everything that they do."
Younger players started the game and strived to compete with the Crusaders, but they struggled.
"We didn't play our best game in the first half," said Morgan. "Through some miscues from us, a fumble and missed punt, and they led to scores by Northwest Christian."
It was 20-2 after Colfax managed a safety.
"I was really proud of our younger guys ... they held their positions until we could get our varsity guys in there."
Then the game changed. Northwest Christian scored one more touchdown in the second half, but the Bulldogs came back with 20 points of their own to catch up within 3 points by the end of the game. It ended 27-24 in favor of Northwest Christian.
"I couldn't be prouder of how they handled it and came back to almost win the ballgame," said Morgan. "Our offense stopped turning the ball over and made some big plays. We started settling down and running our option offense. Once we did that, we took back control of the ball game."
Quarterback Damian Demler had 8 rushes for 45 yards and two rushing TDs.
Fullback Mason Gilchrist had 20 carries for 85 yards.
Colfax plays the Lake Roosevelt Raiders at 7 p.m. on Sept. 17 in a non-league game.
"They're a big, strong, fast team that is very well-coached, and they are going to spread out and go with four wide receivers," said Morgan. "It's going to be like what we saw with Northwest Christian and the same kind of defense."
But the Raiders won't get the same help from the fair as the Crusaders did.
Bill Stevenson is the former editor of the Whitman County Gazette, Colfax Daily Bulletin and Franklin Connection. He has nearly 30 years of journalism experience covering news in Eastern Washington.
Reader Comments(0)