Eagles shut out Vikings in season open

St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse and Garfield-Palouse's season opener was originally scheduled for Sept. 2 in Palouse but was rescheduled to Sept. 1 in St. John.

This was Garfield-Palouse's first game since the 2018 season where the team went 9-2, an almost four-year gap between the last time the Vikings hit the gridiron, and it showed, with the Eagles coming out with a 55-0 victory.

The Eagles had 20 players listed on their roster (including a player out with an injury) compared to the Vikings' 15. The rescheduling of the game made several players ineligble to play due to not meeting the required number of practices. This increased the numbers advantage for St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse, with Garfield-Palouse only having ten players available for the game.

The numbers issue continued to get worse as the game progressed. Two players were knocked out of the game due to injury, including starting quarterback, sophomore Bryce Pfaff.

"We knew it would be tough with 10 (players) as it was," Vikings coach Garrett Parish said. "You look down the bench and now you're down to eight, your quarterback's out. We just told them 'keep playing.' And they did.

"We have a lot of freshmen, this is everyone on our team's first (high school) football game. So we told them 'Keep battling. This is a process.'"

The fight wasn't enough to overcome the size and numbers advantage of the Eagles, who's two tallest players are listed at 6'3 compared to the Vikings tallest player being listed at 6'0.

Despite the shut out loss, Garfield-Palouse had a couple bright spots, notably the performance of freshman running back Lane Collier, who was the focal point of the offense and broke several big runs throughout the game.

For St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse, they come out of the game with confidence heading into a bye week before facing off against Tekoa-Rosalia on Sept. 16.

"We're preparing for every game week-by-week," Eagles coach John Hergert said. "We're not taking anybody for granted. We know our schedule. We know the guys we have in our league are going to be tough. We're just taking it week-by-week, one week at a time."

St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse was led on offense by freshman Bear Brewer, who had three touchdowns, two from running the ball and one receiving, and another catch for a two-point conversion. Senior Tanner Fleming also put his mark on the game, having two touchdown runs for a combined 94 yards and converting two two-point conversions.

Garfield-Palouse will next play at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9 against Tekoa-Rosalia in Rosalia, Wash.

St. John-Endicott/LaCrosee will next play at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 in St. John, Washington.