Colfax wraps up grid year with nine seniors

Bulldog gridders earning special awards at Thursday's banquet, from the left are Darien Ward, most improved; Jared Kneale, coaches award and captain; Caleb Brown, most valuable and captain; Dane Hall, most valuable and captain; Chris Aspenwall, scholastic award; Blake Bodey, most inspirational, and Jared Thompson, coaches award and captain.

Colfax football team wrapped up its season with a dessert banquet Thursday night with nine Bulldog seniors concluding their grid careers.

Colfax finished the season with a 6-4 record in an unusual NE race which saw three teams tie for first place and advance to the state playoff grid with matching 8-1 records.

The only losses sustained by Colfax were to the NE's "big-three" teams, Liberty, Asotin and Northwest Christian.

The Colfax season started with the unusual lightning strike game at Reardan and concluded with the playoff entry game at Asotin when Colfax teetered on the brink of upsetting the Panthers in the first half. The second game with Asotin came after Colfax traveled all the way to Kettle Falls to nail an entry win in the play-in schedule over the Kettle Bulldogs.

Along the way Colfax played two home games on the Oakesdale field to accommodate the track resurfacing project which finished up during the fall at Schmuck Park.

Two of the NE league leaders, Liberty and Asotin, advanced to the state semifinal round. After stopping Asotin, Liberty Friday played in the state championship game at the Tacoma Dome and lost 16-34 to Napavine, a team which has been topped by Okanogan in the last two 2B championships.

Colfax seniors graduating off the football team this year are Jared Kneale, Dillon Meserve, Caleb Brown, Darien Ward, Jon Klaveano, Jared Thompson, Connor Pelissier, Trevin Kennedy and Chris Aspenwall.

Banquet format included a review of the season by coach Mike Morgan. Assistant coach Jason Cooper presented letter awards to the defensive backs, and assistant coach Craig Culberton, who returned to the action this year, presented awards to the linebackers. Assistant coach Mark Brown presented awards to the lineman.

Aspenwall received the scholastic award.

Seniors Brown, Kneale and Thompson received the coaches award along with and junior Dane Hall.

Brown and Hall were co-winners of the most valuable teammate award.

Senior Ward was voted most improved, and Blake Bodey, a sophomore who battled injury problems this season, received the most inspirational honor.

Junior varsity players honored at the banquet included Nick Klaveano, most valuable player and scout team player of the year, Matthew Neu, most improved and Hunter Claassen, most inspirational.