GP Vikings, Wildcats win first league rounds

Garfield/Palouse Vikings and Colton Wildcats booked wins Friday when the SE Eights opened league competition. The Vikings out-dueled the LW Tigercats in a high scoring game at Palouse, and the Wildcats booked a big charge in the fourth quarter to tie Pomeroy and then defeated them in overtime.

St. John/Endicott sustained a loss against a big Liberty/Christian team. They will head south this week to play Touchet Friday afternoon.

SE EIGHTS STANDINGS

League Overall PS PA

Touchet 1-0 1-0 121 54

Gar./Pal 1-0 2-1 106 54

Colton 1-0 2-2 112 120

SJ/End. 0-0 2-1 112 96

S. Christian 0-1 1-2 60 87

Pomeroy 0-1 1-3 156 158

LAX/Wash. 0-1 1-3 112 158

COLTON Friday charged out of a two-TD hole to send the league opener with Pomeroy into overtime on the Wildcats’ field. The Wildcats then scored in overtime and shut down the Pirates’ attempt to take the 30-24 win.

The Wildcats got the first OT possession on the 35, and QB Josh Straughan hit Taylor Spence on the three yard line. Straughan then pushed it across for the go-ahead TD.

Pomeroy took the ball at the 35 for their turn, moved the ball but couldn’t collect the points. Jake Reidner, who had 10 tackles against the Pirate running game, made a key stop on the Pirates.

Coach Clark Vining said the game was a matchup of Colton’s passing power and the Pomeroy ground game. The Wildcats tallied 326 of their 350 yards in the air with Straughan hitting 24 for 38.

Colton trailed 12-24 with 6:30 left. They scored on a 30 yard pass from Straughan to Steve Eacker, stopped Pomeroy’s offense and then tied it up 24-24 with another TD by Straughan.

Pomeroy drove all the way to the three-yard line in the last two minutes of regulation time but couldn’t score.

Eacker had 11 receptions against the Pirates and 16 tackles.

Coach Vining expects the Wildcats and the Tigercats will light up the air lanes Friday when they travel to LaCrosse where the Tigercats will mark homecoming.

GARFIELD/PAL-OUSE, another team making their official debut in the SE Eights, opened up an early 12-point lead on the visiting Tigercats. The two clubs played a game of score and counter-score until the Vikings opened up the gap late in the third quarter and booked a 52-28 win.

The game featured a battle between the GP running game and the Tigercats’ pass prone offense.

J.B. Lange, who ran more than 200 yards on 20 carries, had two quick scores for the Vikings to post the early lead.

The Tigercats got on the board when QB Jake Aune found Sam Harder in the apple tree corner of the Palouse grid for a 26-yard passing TD. Harder finished with nine receptions for 119 yards and had two more TDs. Aune finished with a 15 for 31 passing for 286 yards.

The two clubs then traded scores with GP keeping a 10-point buffer despite missing a string of extra point attempts.

The Tigercats came close to cutting the lead when they stopped a Viking drive and were rolling for a score. The threat ended when GP picked off an interception.

LW Coach Jeff Nelson noted the Tigercats played without receiver Jeff Zimmer who has been sick. They are uncertain when Zimmer will get a green light to return to action.

The ‘cats discovered another runner, John Holdren, who rolled up 71 yards on 10 carries. The Vikings also had a key player, Nathan Cocking, sidelined with a knee injury.

Garfield/Palouse will travel to the Tri-Cities this week to play Liberty Christian.

ST. JOHN/ENDICOTT Friday hosted the big Liberty Christian team in a grinder. The Eagles, who went into the game with a 2-0 record, played the big Pats team even for three quarters but let the guests out of the box to the tune of 20 points in the last quarter. Liberty Christian won 54-34.

“We played pretty even against them, but they just wore us down,” Coach Bob Clements said.

The Patriots, now 3-0, are actually in the state’s 2B division but have opted to play eight-man teams in the SE and write off any chance for being in the playoffs.

Zach Simpkins rolled up 211 yards and scored five of the Liberty TDs.

“He’s a big kid, and they just run him right at you. That’s what it shows on their scout tape, and that’s what they do,” Clements said.

Cole McCanna totaled 86 yards and had two of the Eagles TDs, one on a 15-yard shot from QB Kyle Raynor. Raynor scored twice for the Eagles and hit his brother, Evan Raynor, for another Eagle score.

The Eagle QB had a 17 for 31 passing night for 170 yards. Ben Harrison totaled 85 yards receiving.

Coach Clements expects the Eagles will get a better idea of where they stand in the league when they make the long trip south to play Touchet, a team seen as one of the powers in the SE campaign this year.

Touchet blanked Sunnyside Christian 33-0 in their league opener last week.