Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Reardan's Kobe Martinez dives after a fumble March 12 against Colfax.
COLFAX – Jacob Brown ran up the middle for another Colfax touchdown to put the score at 38-0.
"One touchdown before the half, guys," said a Reardan player afterward in the huddle at the sidelines.
It took until the third quarter, a bungled Colfax snap and an Indians recovery on the Bulldogs' 5-yard line, to put Reardan into scoring position. Quarterback Mahkai Anderson threw to Cody Sprecher for their only points and Reardan lost to Colfax 46-6 Friday, March 12.
"The sting's still there, let me tell you," Reardan head coach Erik Nikkola said. "But it's unfortunate that there's no playoffs this year because that is a Colfax team as good as we've seen around here in a long time. I think they'd be a top eight, top-four team in the state."
The outcome was a stark contrast to particularly close games between Reardan and Colfax for nine of the past ten years.
"I think we were pretty prepared," Colfax head coach Mike Morgan said. "We jumped on them early, our defense shut them down and our offense got rolling. I've never been part of a win that big over a Reardan team, ever."
Brown scored three touchdowns on 12 rushes in the game for 148 yards. The Bulldogs only passed seven times.
A 29-yard run by Brown put the score at 28-0 in the second quarter before quarterback Damian Demler threw to the endzone on the two-point attempt. The ball bounced off Garrett Dingman and Kolby Slate caught it for 30-0.
"Our front line just dominated up front for the second week in a row," Morgan said, referring to a 44-0 win over Asotin March 5.
Quarterback Layne Gingerich started the scoring with a long touchdown pass to Kyle Dail on a deep post in coverage in the back of the zone. A five-yard touchdown run from sophomore Mason Gilchrist soon followed before a 48-yard escape up the sideline by Brown for another score.
"It wasn't a surprise that they beat us, but it was that they handled us like they did," Nikkola said.
Into the third quarter, Brown's nine-yard run up the middle and a two-point conversion from Gilchrist put it beyond reach.
"(Linebacker/Offensive Lineman) Kobe Martinez, he played tremendous, our two running backs (Sprecher and Abe Nelson), they worked their butts off to get us what we could," Nikkola said. "We were just not a match for their defensive line."
Reardan has just six seniors on its roster with 14-15 kids playing varsity downs.
"That's just 2B football," Nikkola said. "We've got a lot of juniors and sophomores getting some playing time, there's no doubt about it. We don't have a lot of depth."
Reardan will play at Northwest Christian at home Friday night at 7 p.m.
"We're gonna be in a dogfight," said Nikkola. "Thankfully, it's at home."
Garth Meyer is a reporter and sports writer with Free Press Publishing, based in Colfax, Wash., at the Whitman County Gazette.
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