Colfax Outscores Cle Elum, 56-34 Robinson Runs Roughshod As Bulldogs Advance In 1a Play
Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood was anything but friendly.
Josh Robinson rushed for 212 yards and six touchdowns, caught a touchdown pass and keyed the crucial defensive stop as No. 2 Colfax rolled over No. 4 Cle Elum 56-34 in the first round of the State 1A football playoffs Friday night.
“We knew what we had to do and we came out and did it. We followed the game plan,” the exhausted and subdued Robinson said at midfield after the game. “We gave it our all. We’re too tired to get excited. We’ll celebrate in the locker room.”
Then he jumped into Jacob Keck’s arms.
“I think we just came together,” said Keck, who sparked the hard-hitting defense and blasted open huge holes. “The line blew them off the ball.”
The Bulldogs face defending champion and top-ranked Royal, a 43-0 winner over Chelan, next Saturday at Martin Stadium at 1 p.m.
Though they never trailed, the Bulldogs (9-0) didn’t take control until the fourth quarter, when Robinson and friends began bowling over the Warriors (8-2).
In fact, Cle Elum had a chance to take the lead late in the third quarter, but Robinson knocked down a third-down pass, forcing a punt. Robinson then scored four touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
The first came on an 8-yard run on the first play of the quarter and Kelly Jones’ kick made it 36-28.
The Warriors then started on their 42, but Robinson threw Tim Craven for a 9-yard loss. After an incompletion, Robinson sacked Nick Litzenberger, forcing a punt. The Bulldogs marched 58 yards in just five plays to go up 43-28.
On the next play, Litzenberger threw his fourth interception, which Robinson cashed in with a 21-yard scoring run three players later.
“My line had a hell of a game,” Robinson said. “I had a 200-yard game as a freshman, but nothing like this.”
Litzenberger’s first three passes were picked off, allowing the Bulldogs to race to a 21-6 lead. Cle Elum stayed close because Ted Craven went 68 yards for the Warriors’ first score and after a 69-yard drive cut the gap to 21-14, the Bulldogs lost a fumble near midfield. The Warriors cashed in to trail 21-20 at the half.
Colfax scored on the first possession of the second half and then forced a punt, but again the Bulldogs fumbled away the ball and the Warriors countered with a 28-yard drive to cut the margin to 29-28.
That’s when the Bulldogs were forced to punt, giving Cle Elum its one-and-only possession to take a lead. But with all the Bulldogs focusing on Ted Craven, who had 24 touchdowns during the season, the Warriors never cashed in.
“They’re really good; we knew it would be a tough game,” Robinson said. “We keyed on Craven. We had a guy on him all the time. Most of the time it was an outside back, me or Kelly Jones.”
Ted Craven finished with 114 yards on 11 carries. Tim Craven had 108 yards on 17 carries, but the pair had only 47 yards in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs had 206 of their 325 rushing yards in the second half, 136 by Robinson.
Colfax 56, Cle Elum 34
Cle Elum 6 14 8 6 - 34
Colfax 6 15 8 27 - 56
Co-Robinson 27 run (kick failed) Cl-Ted Craven 68 run (pass failed) Co-Robinson 34 pass from Curtis (Jones run) Co-Warwick 2 run (Jones kick) Cl-Tim Craven 18 run (run failed) Cl-Litzenberger 1 run (Ti.Craven pass from Litzenberger) Co-Robinson 5 run (Robinson run) Cl-Graham 10 pass from Litzenberger (Hein pass from Litzenberger) Co-Robinson 8 run (Jones kick) Co-Robinson 8 run (Jones kick) Co-Robinson 21 run (Jones kick) Cl-Te.Craven 73 run (pass failed) Co-Robinson 6 run (kick failed)
B-11 playoffs
Davenport 27, Manson 14
Nick Bergman, Issam Samman and Ben Turner each had 15 tackles and the Gorillas (8-2) forced three turnovers against the Trojans (9-1) in Chelan.
Davenport’s Jeremiah Johnson rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Mark Hall hooked up with Dell Buchanan for a pair of TDs.
Davenport will play Waitsburg at Riverside on Friday.
Hall hit 5 of 6 passes, all to Buchanan, and the Gorillas committed only one turnover.
The Gorillas made a goal-line stand early in the fourth quarter and marched to the Manson 17 but missed a field goal attempt. The defense held and Samman blocked a punt, which he returned for a touchdown, to seal the win.
Davenport 14 7 0 6 - 27
Manson 8 6 0 0 - 14
D-Johnson 15 run (Strate kick) M-McKenna 2 run (Soth run) D-Buchanan 25 pass from Hall (Strate kick) D-Buchanan 3 pass from Hall (Strate kick) M-Haight 16 pass from McKenna (pass failed) D-Samman 17 blocked punt return (kick failed)
Waitsburg 45, Selkirk 0
Ryan Leid rushed for 130 yards on 19 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns to lead the visiting Cardinals (9-1) to a win over the Rangers (6-4) in Ione.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 24-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Waitsburg 24 8 6 7 - 45
Selkirk 0 0 0 0 - 0
W-Ruzicka 22 pass from T.J. Scott (Leid run) W-McCaw 28 pass from Scott (Leid run) W-Leid 40 run (Leid run) W-Scott 1 run (Leid run) W-Erickson 15 run (kick failed) W-Leid 5 run (Pearson kick)
, DataTimes