A really good start

I was certainly in my element this weekend as high school and college football took off with a full slate of games. On Friday night the Broncos hosted the Colfax Bulldogs in a Northeast 2B opener. There was a time when you had a chance to play a nonleague opponent to test how good the team was but the schedule is what it is. And each year it rotates so the last team you played in the previous season is now the first team you play this season.

Colfax is a well-coached team and year in and year out they will be a difficult opponent to beat. They have some athletes and their tradition is to play physical, tough and proud.

The Bulldogs scored first on Friday after an interception stopped a short Bronco drive. Colfax would score after a mixture of runs and passes to make it 6-0. The Broncos answered with a nice drive of their own and with Chase Galbreath’s extra point it was 7-6.

Bulldog receiver JJ Bodey took the ensuing kickoff and maneuvered through the middle of the field and would score on a nifty 89 yard touchdown return. Colfax led 12-7.

That touchdown woke up the Broncos and they would put together three scoring drives with running backs Brody Boness and Brock Kinch piling up big yards. QB Galbreath threw passes to Hayden Melcher, Hunter Dinkins and Nick Labes for a good mix of pass and run offense.

On defense, Melcher made a touchdown saving play on a receiver that got past the DBs because of a nice fake handoff by the Colfax QB. Melcher’s speed helped him catch up with the receiver quickly and that drive would stall out. Later Cooper Miller forced a Bulldog fumble that was recovered by Boness. The Broncos led at the half 28-12 turning around an early deficit.

The Broncos would take the first drive of the second half in for a touchdown to make it 35-12 which was all of the scoring either team could muster the rest of the way. In the 4th quarter Nick Labes intercepted a Bulldog pass in the end zone putting an end to a nice Colfax drive.

The Broncos and Bulldogs both made mistakes Friday night that the coaching staffs will work to clean up before their next games. Both teams have to be optimistic about where they may end up at the end of the season. And of course their goal is to make the playoffs where anything can happen. Despite the score it was a highly competitive game and there were plenty of great plays by both teams on offense and defense. On Friday Colfax travels to Chewelah and the Broncos head over to Liberty for a 7:00 P.M. kickoff.

On Saturday it was all about EWU Eagle football in Cheney. The Eags were playing Tennessee State Tigers coached by Eddie George the Ohio State and Tennessee Titan running back. George still looks like he could play competitively.

The Tigers took an early 7-0 lead after the Tiger running back freed himself from several tacklers for a 67 touchdown reception. The first quarter was a crazy shootout and TSU would lead 19-15.

New Eagle starting quarterback Gunner Talkington, a player with family ties to Harrington had a great game. Coming into the game the fifth year senior had thrown five TD passes and on Saturday he matched his career total with five more. He also led the team in rushing with 60 yards. Some of those rushes came after scrambling and there were a couple of designed QB draws. Talkington is about 5’10”. He is mobile tough and a bit fearless. He is 24 years old so he has been around the game for a long time. After seeing him play in backup rolls usually late in the game it was difficult to know how he would react to adversity and he passed with flying colors.

After an hour delay because of lightning Tennessee State came out in the fourth quarter and would score 10 points to tie the game at 29 with 6:32 remaining. Talkington took the Eagles on a drive and would hit Efton Chism III for a spectacular TD catch and the Eagles would retake the lead.

Back came TSU and the Tiger QB made it interesting running out of trouble and making plays hitting receivers downfield. As time was running out and overtime looked like it was inevitable Tre Weed intercepted a pass near the 10 yard line and the Eags just needed to take a knee and see the final 43 seconds wind off the clock.

It was a strange day and plenty of people left after a couple of showers and the lightning delay but we stayed and watched a great game and wild finish. So for the teams I enjoy watching the most it was a really great start.