Colville curbs Huskies
COLVILLE – The Colville football team secured the most important victory in program history Saturday.
Of course, the same will be said next week if the undefeated Indians continue their winning ways.
“It will mean a lot after the season,” said John Roberts, who rushed for 156 yards and a touchdown to power host Colville’s 38-12 victory over Othello in the first round of the State 2A playoffs. “But right now all it means is that we have to take care of Tumwater next week.”
Colville will face Tumwater (10-1) in the state quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be determined. Indians coach Randy Cornwell guessed the game will be held at Joe Albi Stadium.
The Indians are 11-0, a feat never accomplished at Colville. More important, however, is that they advanced past the first round of state for the first time. That the victory came against a Huskies program celebrating its 10th consecutive trip to state meant a lot to Cornwell.
“Like you said, this is history for us,” Cornwell said, noting Colville has qualified for state in five of the past six seasons. “What I’m most pleased about is this is a good record for kids who worked hard for this.”
Colville opened up a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, complementing its punishing ground game with a stout defensive performance that held Othello to three first downs before halftime.
Following teammate Brandon Sager’s 1-yard touchdown run and a 12-yard scoring run by quarterback Cody Yecha, Roberts crossed the goal line at the end of an 18-yard run that gave Colville a three-touchdown lead with just more than 2 minutes left in the opening quarter.
Trailing 24-0 at halftime, Othello finally mustered some offense on its first possession of the second half when Jacob Johnston scored on a 6-yard run to cap a 13-play, 81-yard drive and trim the deficit to 24-6.
Colville answered with a back-breaking drive covering 54 yards in 10 plays. Yecha located Trevor Fox on a 32-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-9 to extend the advantage to 31-6.
Marc Smith replaced Yecha at quarterback in the fourth quarter and added a 17-yard touchdown run for a 38-6 advantage.
Othello scored a touchdown against second- and third-stringers with 1:46 left in the game on Jacob Jahns’ 21-yard pass to Brandon Gomez.
“A big thing in this program is finishing strong,” Cornwell said. “We talk about it in the weight room. We talk about it at practice. All season long and all game long, we want to be the finishers.”