Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Colfax Bulldogs put their offensive game in overdrive at the start of the second half Friday night for a 49-13 win over Kettle Falls, the last notch on a 6-0 league string in an undefeated season.
FINAL NE 2B STANDINGS
Colfax 6-0 8-0 372- 89
Lnd/Rtz/Sprg 5-1 6-2 204-81
Springdale 3-3 3-5 126-238
Reardan 3-3 5-3 188-164
Liberty 2-4 3-5 159-255
Kettle Falls 2-4 2-7 130-215
Davenport 0-6 2-6 121-252
Other scores: Reardan 34-Liberty 12, Lind/Ritzville/Sprague 44-Davenport 14.
The NE finish left the Bulldogs looking at Pomeroy Tuesday night to see which team among three SE contenders would emerge with the SE league’s number-four ticket to play Colfax in the crossover round here Friday.
Dayton turned out to be the winner. The D-dogs, who had a rough start in the SE league, eliminated Tekoa/ Oakesdale/Rosalia 16-9 in double overtime, and then clipped Tri Cities Prep 8-6 to get the shot at Colfax.
Coaches and athletic directors cooked up the crossover at scheduling time as a means of advancing the best four east side teams into the 16-team round of the state playoff.
“We’ve got a lot of coaches in both of these leagues who just wanted to do it that way,” Coach Mike Morgan explained.
The top four teams from each league will match up Friday in inverse order.
Other matchups in the crossover will sent Asotin to Ritzville, Reardan to Waitsburg/Prescott and Springdale to DeSales. Winners advance.
The fifth and sixth place finishers will also match up Friday to finish out their seasons.
Friday night at Colfax, Kettle Falls came out and played tough for the first half. The Bulldogs garnered 14 points in the half, a tally way under par production.
“Kettle Falls played like Kettle Falls. They showed no fear. They weren’t impressed with our record, and they played old fashioned football,” Coach Mike Morgan said.
Kettle took on the undefeated Bulldogs with just two league wins on the season.
Colfax scored 14 in the first quarter with QB Alex Teade hitting Brandon Heiser on a five-yarder for the first score, and then hitting Damon Buck for 32 yards with 7:49 left in the quarter.
After that, the Bulldogs faltered while Kettle ripped off two key turnovers, one a pass interception in the end zone.
Coach Morgan said things were kept low-key in the locker room at the half, but the team cast a unanimous vote that nobody was happy with where they stood at that point.
After the break Colfax stacked 21 points in 10 plays.
The first was a five-play drive with Teade scoring. They then stopped Kettle’s offense and launched a four-play drive with Teade hitting Sam Thompson on a 34 yard pass for a score in the bus barn corner.
Kettle came back with a solid drive. They gambled for the second time on a fourth-down play and Justin Berarducci picked off a Brandon Thomas pass and returned it to the 20. Next play was a Teade scoring shot to Berarducci.
The score went to 42-0 with 22 seconds off the top of the fourth quarter when Tyler McNannay, who was just off the sick list, broke loose for a 53-yard scoring run.
After that it cooked down to a jayvee game in the last quarter with Kettle winning that segment 14-6, a duplicate of their jayvee win at the start of the week.
Mike Larson, who notched some quick gains against Colfax, broke one up the middle for 36 yards and the first Kettle score.
The north end guests scored again on a reverse run by Brandon Hopkins.
Larson finished with 169 yards rushing, the most any back has booked against the Colfax defense this year.
Kellen McNannay scored the last Colfax TD on a 11-yard run up the middle.
Teade hit 11 of 16 passes for 249 yards and one interception. He threw four TDs passes to four different receivers.
Senior Damon Buck was pulled from the game in the second quarter when he complained of a hyper pulse condition. He was taken to Whitman Hospital and then to Sacred Heart where a surgical procedure was conducted to get the pulse back to normal rate. Buck could get a green light to go back on the field in a couple of weeks.
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