Asotin comeback ends Colfax season

Kenton Lyman and Keith Gfeller scramble for a loose ball after Asotin punter Chase Kappenbach dropped it Friday at Asotin.

The Colfax football season Friday ended with a 19-24 loss to the Asotin Panthers in the cross-over prelude to the state playoffs. The Bulldogs sustained the defeat after booking their best quarter of the season with all 19 points in the second for a one-point lead at the half. Asotin, the SE champs who were paired against the NE number-six Bulldogs, came out in the third quarter and scored the lone TD of the second half to take the win.

The loss ended the Bulldogs’ season at the same place it ended last year, one win short of making it to the 16-team state playoff grid which starts the week.

Asotin will start the playoff by hosting Brewster in the first round this week.

Colfax Friday sustained an 18-point shutout from the Panthers in the first quarter and then came to life in the second frame with the three scores.

"I really thought that was the best quarter they played all year," coach Mike Morgan said. He noted the Bulldogs came out after the halftime break with the aim of scoring with a long march and discouraging the Panthers from making a comeback.

But Asotin, who went into the game with a 7-2 record, stopped Colfax and picked up the lone second half score for the win.

Morgan credited Asotin QB Blake Magnuson with taking a toll. The Asotin senior hit 13 of 25 passes for 227 yards against the Bulldogs. Collin Jurries snagged three of the passes for 95 yards, and Braden Jagannath had eight catches for 82 yards.

Magnuson hit Jurries for the first Asotin TD on a 64-yard play and then ran an eight-yard TD, later moving the ball on the second series with passes to Jagannath.

Asotin bumped the lead up to 18-0 on a short run by Magnuson with 6:20 left in the second quarter, and then Colfax hit the ignition switch.

"Really, my only regret is that we didn't get started in the first quarter," Morgan noted.

Colfax offense came to life with a quick pass from QB Keith Gfeller to Tobie Warwick who went the distance down the visitors' sideline. The Bulldogs bottled up Asotin's offense on the next series, and their punter, Chase Klappenbach, lost track of the ball after the snap. That led to a wild scramble for possession, and the Bulldogs recovered the ball. Dane Hall booked the second score on a three-yard plunge.

Colfax hit it again with 2:08 left in the first half on a 12-yard shot from Gfeller to Jared Kneale. The score came after Blake Bodey intercepted an Asotin pass. Gonzalvo San Romain kicked the extra point, and Colfax had a 19-18 lead over the Panthers at the break.

Asotin's go-ahead score, the lone tally in the second half, came on a 13-yard run by Colton Ball at 5:52 in the third. Colfax had one last chance at scoring late in the game but the threat ended with a Panther interception in their own end zone.

Colfax football season ended at 4-6 overall with a 4-4 mark in the league.

Morgan said despite the setbacks, this year's Bulldog team, which will lose 11 seniors, were an especially great group to coach. The team during the campaign never bogged down.

"They always kept going, and when things didn't go their way, they were ready to try again," he commented.

Four other NE teams advanced to the state playoff with wins in the crossover. Lind/Ritzville/Sprague defeated Kettle 49-13; Liberty blanked DeSales 48-0; Davenport defeated Waitsburg 32-19; and Northwest Christian stopped Reardan 42-7.