New foes for Bulldogs at football jamboree

Launch time for the high school football season starts sooner this year with teams Friday headed for the jamboree at Ritzville. Under a WIAA rule change teams are now allowed to start the season after eight practice sessions.

Friday’s Ritzville Jamboree start will include four of the NE league schools with a mix of other entrants, mostly from the A division.

Connell, Warden and Medical Lake will be the big school factors with Tri Cities Prep also visiting as a 2B entrant from the SE division.

Other NE schools in the mix with Colfax will be Northwest Christian, Davenport and the host Lind-Ritzville-Sprague Broncos. Colfax varsity will not be on the field with any of the other league teams.

Each segment of action will go for 10 plays with matches booked for either offense or defense. The format is designed to provide for a variety of foes during the night.

Matchups for the Bulldogs will include the Colfax defense against the Connell offense at 6 p.m. followed by the Colfax offense against the Warden defense, the Colfax offense against the Medical Lake defense and the Colfax defense against the Tri Cities Prep offense.

Coach Mike Morgan said he welcomes the addition of non-league schools to the jamboree format to provide some different foes, and probably some different looks, for both Colfax units. He added one of the factors in the lineup probably reflects how coaches rate the pre-season progress of their teams under the shorter eight-practice launch rule.

One big goal for Colfax in the pre-season practices is to increase the tempo of the game. Morgan noted players during practice sessions tend to get into a set tempo groove which doesn’t really match the tempo they will face against an actual opponent.

The game has evolved to a point where teams have to call a play, run it, get back to a huddle, call another play and run it with a upbeat tempo. Full use of the 25 second huddle break has become a thing of the past.

Morgan predicted two or three teams along the NE trail this season could come out with a no huddle offense.

“It’s going that way, and I won’t be surprised if we see it in the league at some point during this season,” Morgan predicted.

Colfax in early practice sessions has been alternating senior Mark Webber and junior Keith Gfeller at the QB slot. One reason for the tactic is both Webber and Gfeller are very good receivers and changing them back and forth can be expected to confuse one or two defensive backs on the other side of the ball.

Colfax also has two senior receivers, Brian Stueckle and Bo Claaussen, back in action this year after being knocked out with injuries last year.

Among the lineup of running backs working on the up-tempo offense in the early season are Cody Gronning and Dylan Hall, seniors, and Cody Fulfs, a junior.

After Fridays jamboree stop Ritzville, the Bulldogs will return home and prepare for their season opener, a home opener with the Liberty Lancers next Friday, the first foe in a all-league schedule this year.