Broncos, Colfax to play Tuesday in rescheduled league battle

A scheduling snafu between Lind-Ritzville High School and the organization that provides the Northeast 2B league with officials for football games resulted in the cancellation of Friday’s game between the LRS Broncos and the Colfax Bulldogs.

The game will be played on Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m. in Ritzville and will mark the end of regular season play for the two teams.

The Broncos will then turn around and play again on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. in the District 9 Crossover Playoff at home. The opponent has yet to be determined.

At game time Friday, there were no officials at Jimmie Snider Field for the Broncos’ senior night game.

After cancelling the game and meeting with his team, head coach and athletic director Greg Whitmore said he takes part of the responsibility for the lack of officials. While Whitmore said he should have double-checked with the officials’ association last week to confirm that referees had been scheduled, the assigning secretary has had the Broncos’ football schedule since June.

There was a possibility the game could have been played last Saturday, but Colfax head coach Mike Morgan opted to wait for a time when the Broncos’ starting roster was complete.

Several LRS varsity starters got on an airplane early Saturday morning, and departed for the National FFA Convention; including quarterback Dylan Hartz, defensive end Tyler Frederick, receiver Cort Ruzicka, linebacker Hugh Hennings and wide receiver Tyler O’Brien.

Morgan could have requested that the Broncos play last Saturday, knowing they would be without key players.

“He (Morgan), as a competitor, said ‘I don’t want to play you without those guys,’” Whitmore said. “We want to play it. Colfax is a big game. Like he said, we need to go home, take the emotion out of it, look at it and see what happens next week.”

Whitmore and Morgan are fast friends, and spend plenty of time talking football, while keeping their teams’ rivalry alive.

“We are as good of friends as there can be, but we are also fierce rivals as well,” Morgan said. “Once the whistle blows he and I are mortal enemies. On that point, it’s disappointing that we’re not playing the ball game. That’s not in our control tonight (Friday). Things happen. If you stay in this business long enough as a coach or an AD (athletic director) stuff like this happens.”

Whitmore announced the game’s cancellation to football fans from the field. He also told them that they could receive full refunds at the ticket window. Some fans told the volunteers in the ticket window to donate their refunds to Bronc Boosters.