Broncos’ fine tune, defeat newcomer NWC

Scoring 42 unanswered points in the first half against Northwest Christian, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos spent the game working on the fine points of their game.

The team went on to defeat the newest member of the Northeast 2B League 56-3, relying primarily on junior varsity players to maintain the lead. Head coach Greg Whitmore began subbing in the second quarter. The varsity starters never returned to the field after that.

Whitmore and the rest of the coaches in the northeast 2B League have a history of coming off the throttle if their teams have a 40-point lead. The teams traditionally begin sending in their reserves to prevent embarrassing scores.

With a rule change a couple seasons ago, a 40-point lead in the second half results in a running game clock. The new rule provides a faster end to blowout football games.

Going into Colbert on Friday, Whitmore expected the Broncos to dominate and intended to use the game as a chance to fine tune the starting offense. He wanted to see team improvement.

“With these kinds of games you worry about complacency,” he said. “We wanted to get better somehow. We’ve got to find ways for our first team offense to get better.”

Friday’s game proved to be a good opportunity to work on the finer points and Whitmore came away seeing improvement.

“I’m really pleased with the first team offense,” he said. “They didn’t make many mistakes, scored at will and got better.”

Whitmore said his starters showed good production. Dylan Hartz was perfect at quarterback, going 5 for 5 in passing for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Whitmore said the team’s ability to score on every varsity possession and improved blocking by the offensive line were signs of improvement.

The defense, which has been dominant much of the season also had improvement. The crew picked off three NWC passes, two for touchdowns, winning the takeaway portion of the game. The defense held the Crusaders to just 100 yards of total offense.

Whitmore said he had three things he wanted to accomplish: improvement on offense, a win without injuries and to not embarrass the other team. For the game, all three goals were met.

Whitmore said the Crusaders should hang in there. It’s always difficult starting a football program and the first varsity season is proving to be challenging for them.

“They probably would be better off playing a junior varsity schedule and experiencing some success,” Whitmore said. “Their parents are positive, it was their homecoming and senior night and there was a lot of cheering. We want them to be a strong program in the future.”

The Broncos were electric on the field, scoring 28 points in the first quarter and 14 more in the second before the starters took a rest for the remainder of the game.

On offense the team generated 362 positive yards.

Three different quarterbacks worked the game. Jacob Saetre completed one pass for three yards and Peyton Kiel was two for three for 15 yards.

The ground assault was a collective effort. Junior varsity player Damien Rouleau recorded the most yardage, rushing for 84 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

Senior Connor O’Neill finished the game with 62 yards and one touchdown on three carries.

Andrew Witt carried seven times for 38 yards and a score.

Cort Ruzicka picked up 20 yards and a touchdown on two carries.

Ryan Whitmore led receivers with 84 yards on three catches with one touchdown. Saetre took a single reception 36 yards. O’Neill gathered in one pass for nine yards and a touchdown. Witt’s three receptions provided 18 yards of offense.

O’Neill started the Broncos’ scoring efforts, first hitting the end zone with a Hartz pass in play in the first quarter. He scored again on a running play from 16 yards out.

Ruzicka put points on the board with a 12-yard run.

The defense scored the final touchdown of the game when Hartz hauled in an interception and rambled 33 yards for the touchdown.

In the second quarter Whitmore enjoyed a 50-yard pitch and catch from Hartz for a touchdown.

With junior varsity members of the defense on the field, Witt grabbed an interception and ran 22 yards for a touchdown to end the Broncos’ first half scoring summary.

Matt Leffel added the extra point to each of the six touchdowns.

In the second half Rouleau busted one open for a 57-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Witt carried in the two-point conversion.

Northwest Christian put their only points of the game on the board in the third quarter with a 23-yard field goal.

The contest’s final score of the night came on a seven-yard run by Witt. The two-point conversion pass was no good.

Whitmore’s assessment of the game was filled with positives, something he had hoped for.

“You never know where the kids’ minds are in a game like this,” he said. “I feel great about it. We just didn’t really make any errors. Certainly no errors that showed a lack of focus.”

This week will be another opportunity for the Broncos to continue perfecting their game. Springdale comes in Friday for the LRS homecoming. They have three straight league losses, falling to Davenport, Colfax and Liberty so far this season.

“We want the kids to have fun, and improve,” Whitmore said of the homecoming game. “This is an important part of high school. We want them to have fun this week and still have the goal of wanting to get better.”

Look for the Broncos to give reserves as much playing time as possible. Whitmore plans to use this game to continue to prepare players who will fill in for starters at the end of the regular season when they are gone to compete at the FFA National Convention.