Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Passing game opened under new coaching staff
DAVENPORT - Before this season, now-former head coach Justin Young promised that the Gorillas would be leaning on quarterback Jaeger Jacobsen's passing ability more heavily this season. While the passing game was more prominent in the season's first five games than it had been in years prior, it was the first game under new leadership that Jacobsen's right arm was the biggest key to Davenport's victory.
Davenport built a big lead and held on to beat the Colfax Bulldogs 49-24 in the first game after Young's resignation Friday, Oct. 14.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak against two of the league's three best teams, Lind-Ritzville/Sprague and Liberty, that came prior to Davenport's bye week...which preceded the Colfax game.
In those two weeks, Young told the team he was resigning after 12 years at the helm, athletic director Tim Rasmussen stepped in to assist with coaching duties and a new offensive system based on spreading out receivers, quick passes and creating space for running backs was installed.
"It's been rough...definitely something new," Jacobsen said Friday night. "But we're all family and smart guys. We can pick it up quick."
The system took all of two drives to figure out against Colfax. After Davenport was forced to punt on its opening drive, Evan Gunning ignited the home crowd on Senior Night with a 63-yard touchdown run around the right sideline.
Jacobsen then ran in for a five-yard score early in the second quarter to give Davenport a 14-0 lead.
It was Davenport's next drive where the deep passing game effectively began to put the Bulldogs to sleep.
Brody Schillinger made a Randy Moss-esque catch over a Colfax defender on a deep ball from Jacobsen for a 55-yard score. A 33-yard touchdown run from Sam Schneider and a 41-yard zip down the seam from Jacobsen to Brenick Soliday, leaving the Bulldogs stunned and facing a 35-0 halftime deficit.
"I've really wanted to do this for a while," Jacobsen said of the pass-heavy game plan. "Having the other guys help me with amazing routes helped a lot."
Colfax showed some fight in the second half thanks to three touchdowns from Mason Gilchrist and a passing touchdown from Cody Inderrieden, who got the start at quarterback in place of the injured Seth Lustig.
The Jacobsen-to-Soliday connection provided Davenport's first second-half score, a five-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 10:22 remaining. Matthew Wines iced the cake with a one-yard plunge with 50 seconds left.
"We can utilize some of our speed on the outside," Rasmussen said. "It opens up more running lanes when we can spread them out and throw the ball a little."
Colfax head coach Mike Morgan was complimentary of Davenport's efforts and coaching staff.
"Davenport's got a great team, and what Justin Young built from the beginning, you can see that out on the field," Morgan said. "That's his team out there. I thought Tim did a nice job with two weeks of work, but it didn't matter who was running the program. Those kids just played their tails off."
The win improved Davenport to 3-2 in NE2B play and 4-2 overall. The Gorillas host Northwest Christian Friday, Oct. 21 for homecoming in the home finale.
Colfax fell to 1-4 in league and 1-6 overall with the loss, having played a brutal schedule that began with three road games against league leaders LRS, Chewelah and Liberty and 1A matchups against Lakeside and Chelan. The Bulldogs host Asotin this Friday at 6 p.m.
Lawson can be reached at dteditor@centurytel.net or on Twitter
@lawsondrew5
Drew Lawson is a reporter and sports writer for Free Press Publishing, including the Cheney Free Press and Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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