SE Eights crank up league play this week

After three weeks with a variety of non-leaguers, the SE Eights football teams will start marking down league games this week. Lone all-county matchup will be at LaCrosse where the Tigercats, now 3-0, will host the Garfield/Palouse Vikings.

Colton, also 3-0 after crunching Joseph last week in the Kibbie Dome, will travel south to play Pomeroy, and St. John/Endicott will end a two-week break from varsity play with a trip to Liberty Christian.

Colton sophomore Jake Straughan goes up and over Lucas Staigle of Joseph for a big catch in the UI Kibbie Dome Friday night. Straughan scored two TDs in Colton's 36 point burst in the first quarter.

COLTON lashed Joseph, Ore., for 36 points in the first quarter Friday night in their annual rendezvous in the UI Kibbie Dome. The Eagles, on the brink of a shutdown under the 40-point rule, scored one TD in the quarter.

That set the scene for most of ball game with the Wildcats one or two TDs away from a 40-point gap to shut off the lights in the dome. It finally ended at 75-30 with 10:18 left in the fourth quarter.

Colton senior Josh Straughan passed for 446 yards on 31 shots.

"We actually had eight different receivers on the night, something we like to see," Coach Clark Vining said. The Wildcats also stacked 246 yards rushing.

Josh Straughan hit Jake Straughan for TD passes of 31 and 47 yards in the explosive first quarter. He ran one more TD and passed others to Zach Devorak and Nick Robertson.

Robertson had TD runs of two, 25 and 60 yards.

Feature scorer for the Oregon team was Anthony Smallen, the Eagles big tight end. Smallen, whose running style fell in the locomotive class, booked Eagle TDs on pass plays that went 75 and 52 yards while the Eagles were attempting to avoid the 40-point shutdown. Most of yards on those TDs were on Smallen's power runs after he caught the ball.

"Once he got rolling, we just couldn't stop him," Coach Vining said.

Jake Riedner led the Wildcat defense with 14 tackles, and Tim Tilton rolled up seven tackles and three sacks.

Colton will go up against a Pomeroy team which bested Cove, Ore., 46-34 Friday at Pomeroy.

Coach Vining said the key for the Wildcats will be keeping a lid on Pomeroy's two talented backs, Troy Knebel and Austin Reisdorf. The Pirates are now 2-0 on the season.

LaCROSSE/WASHTUCNA will host the Vikings after dropping Odessa/Harrington 30-14 at Odessa Saturday. The game was knocked out Friday by a field lights failure at the Odessa field, and the T-cats had to make another trip to the midlands Saturday night to get the game in the books.

LW posted a 16-8 lead at the break and iced it with another 14 points in the last quarter.

“Overall, our lines played very well on both sides of the ball,” Coach Jeff Nelson said.

Sawyer Hostetler packed the ball 37 times and rolled up 273 yards, and Johnathan Holdren packed it seven times for 50 yards.

QB Jake Aune hit eight passes with a four yarder to Sam Harder to start the Tigercat scoring in the first quarter. Hostetler scored on a plunger in the second quarter and the T-cats added a pair of two-point conversions.

Odessa/Harrington pulled within two points when they scored their second TD but missed the points try.

LW capped it when they scored twice in the last period. Hostetler rolled through the middle for a 56 yard TD run, and Holdren hit the last one with about eight minutes left. Hostetler ran for the last two points.

Coach Nelson said the Tigercats will face one of the best backs yet when the Vikings bring Riley Hodges to town Friday.

“They also have a big line in front of him,” Nelson noted.

GARFIELD/ PALOUSE will arrive at LaCrosse with a 1-1 mark after being downed 48-24 by an undefeated Almira/Coulee/Hartline team. The Warriors pegged a 36-0 lead in the first half with Derek Isaak booking the first three scores. The second tally was a 70-yard punt return against the Vikings.

Anthony Floyd scored twice for GP after the break with one of the tallies coming on a 75-yard kick return.