Vikings, Wildcats win

Garfield/Palouse Vikings and the Colton Wildcats booked big wins Friday when SE Eights teams went into the league mode. The Vikings out-paced LaCrosse on the Tigercats’s field for a 50-38 win in the league opener for both teams, and the Wildcats nipped Pomeroy 54-52 on the Pirates field.

St. John/Endicott fell to Liberty Christian 28-70 in a non-league game.

COLTON and Pomeroy rolled out an offensive race Friday at Pomeroy with the Wildcats getting the 54-52 win in the last quarter. They scored the last TD with about six minutes left on the clock, and the Pirate drive for the lead was stopped by Colton’s defense with the clock running out.

Pomeroy had a 24-22 lead at the break, but Colton erased the two-point edge in a wild third quarter which saw six more TDs go up on the board.

Each team scored just one more TD in the last quarter with Colton QB Josh Straughan running in the Wildcat score for four yards. Nick Robertson ran in the two point conversion which turned out to be the difference in the game. Pomeroy’s attempt at two points after their last TD earlier in the quarter failed.

Straughan continued his passing blitz with 292 yards on a 24-42 night. He hit TD slings for 16 yards and seven yards to Jake Straughan and 18 yards yard to Robertson.

Robertson totaled 18 carries for 154 yards and had eight catches on the night.

Tory Knebel rolled up 356 yards rushing and scored four of the Pirate TDs. Knebel had TD runs of 74 and 22 yards in the first quarter when the Pirates posted a 14-0 lead, but the Wildcats came back with two TDs and the points race went in to high gear.

Colton will host LaCrosse/Washtucna Friday in their first game on the Wildcats’ field. Coach Clark Vining said the Wildcats, now 4-0, can expect a battle along the line with Josh Straughan and LW quarterback Jake Aune airing out the ball in another points battle.

Vining also expects a strong running game from Sawyer Hostetler.

Last week at Pomeroy, Jake Reidner again led the Wildcat defense with 13 tackles. Logan Hudson booked 10.

GARFIELD/ Palouse scored 22 points in the second quarter to take a 30-22 lead at the break in their 50-38 league win on the Tigercats’ field.

Riley Hodges totaled 163 yards against the Tigercats and scored four times. Hodges scored on runs of 34, 60, 20 and 3 yards.

The league battle started with LW’s Sawyer Hostetler punching in the opening TD after a drive by the Tigercats.

Anthony Floyd answered for the Vikings with a 75-yard kickoff return. Kevin Knuaff ran in a two-point conversion, and the Vikings had the lead. Hostetler scored the next TD, and Jake Aune hit Sam Harder for a two-point shot to regain the lead for the Tigercats.

The Vikings then took control with two TDs, both runs by Hodges.

Garfield/Palouse this week will host Liberty Christian, a big B school which has elected to play in the Eights. The Vikings now have a 2-1 record with their lone loss to the ACH Warriors, who moved their record to 4-0 last week with a 44-0 shutout of Columbia of Hunters.

LIBERTY CHRISTIAN will arrive at Palouse after a 70-28 win over the SJE Eagles. The Eagles moved back into varsity action after topping the Colton and Pomeroy jayvee teams in games Coach Bob Clements booked to get experience for his young Eagle team.

SJE opened last week’s road game with a 14-0 lead, but five Eagle turnovers took its toll. Two interceptions, a fumble recovery and an on-side kick recovery by the Pats flipped the game momentum over to the hosts.

“We gave them the ball five times, and they converted all those into scores,” Coach Clements said.

Cole McCanna booked 189 yards on 18 carries to top the SJE offense.

SJE Friday will host a Touchet team which took out Sunnyside Christian 52-8 in the other SE league game.