Reardan hangs a zero on Davenport

Eric Nikkola should have expected the unexpected.

Nikkola, head football coach at Reardan, expected a defensive battle between his Indians and Davenport on Friday night. He even anticipated his running backs would be the Gorillas’ main targets.

What he didn’t see coming was the end result.

Reardan crushed rival Davenport 32-0, avenging last year’s 29-22 regular-season loss to the Gorillas, in Northeast 2B action at Davenport.

“That was completely unexpected – I never saw it coming,” Nikkola said. “I knew it would be a heck of a defensive game, but this I didn’t think would happen.”

The Indians wasted no time getting on the scoreboard and led 25-0 at the end of the first half.

Jake Ferderer scored Reardan’s first two touchdowns. The senior running back rushed for 87 yards on 14 carries and reached the end zone twice.

After that, Davenport stopped two Reardan scoring opportunities by temporarily shutting down the running game inside the 20-yard line.

Quarterback Jared Wilke answered, connecting with Chance Ackerman for the final score of the first quarter, a 16-yard score.

“I have to give credit to (Wilke),” Nikkola said. “When they tried to shut down our running backs, he really stepped up his throwing game and made some big plays.”

Jon Jayne scored the final TD of the first half on a 13-yard carry. He finished with 80 yards on 13 carries.

The Indians, who improved to 3-0, held Davenport (3-1) to negative yardage in the first half while dominating time of possession. Reardan had 226 total offensive yards in the first half while the Gorillas had negative 11.

“We certainly had the advantage in speed with Jayne and Ferderer,” Nikkola said. “I figured with their speed we could get around the outside and do some major damage.”

The second half went a little better for Davenport. The Gorillas managed 95 total yards on offense and held Reardan to 117. But they missed two opportunities inside the 10-yard line to put points on the board and the Indians held on for the shutout.

“I’m not going to say this was the league championship,” Nikkola said. “We still have Lind-Ritzville and Liberty out there. This certainly was one of our tough games, though, so the win sure is a confident booster.”

•In other Northeast 2B action, John Palmire scored from 5 yards out in the third quarter to give Republic a 6-0 win over Wilbur-Creston in Republic. The Tigers defense had four sacks. Palmire finished with 154 rushing yards on 19 carries. Ben Lembcke led the Wildcats with 81 yards on 28 carries. … Jordan Sonneck scored three touchdowns, including a 50-yard interception return in the fourth quarter as Wellpinit beat Selkirk 35-8 in Wellpinit. Sonneck finished with 102 receiving yards. The Redskins intercepted four passes. …Justin Whitney had 90 rushing yards on just three carries and scored a touchdown as host Lind-Ritzville beat Springdale 34-6.

Northeast A League

Freeman (3-1, 3-1) outscored Colfax (3-1, 3-1) 27-6 in the second half to overcome a 14-0 halftime deficit and beat the Bulldogs 27-20 in Colfax. Chris Davis led the Scotties with 142 rushing yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns in the win. … Luke Fox ran for 179 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead Kettle Falls (4-0, 4-0) to a 32-6 victory over host Chewelah (0-4, 0-4). Brian Strobel added 131 yards on just seven carries for the Bulldogs. …Lakeside beat Newport 20-13 in Newport.

Northeast 1B League

Drake Costlow scored four rushing touchdowns and Jacob Schmidt added two more as Odessa (4-0, 2-0) beat Curlew (1-1, 0-1) 68-18 in Odessa. … Greg Giese had 97 yards rushing on 19 carries as host Almira/Coulee-Hartline defeated Columbia 32-20. … Rory Carmack threw for 187 yards and Cusick’s offense struggled as Pateros beat the Panthers 34-0 in Cusick.

Southeast 1B League

Phillip Luft had 125 rushing yards on just two carries and scored two touchdowns as St. John-Endicott (4-0, 3-0) blanked host Sprague-Harrington (0-4, 0-3) 46-0. The Falcons were held to just seven yards of total offense. The game was called in the second quarter because of the 45-point mercy rule. … Saxon Wolf completed 17 of 27 passes for 299 yards and six touchdowns to lead Garfield-Palouse (2-1, 2-1) to a 60-20 win over host Jubilee Academy (2-1, 2-1). Todd Pinter ran for 101 yards and scored two rushing touchdowns. He also caught five passes for 82 yards and two more scores. Tyson Palmer added 143 receiving yards and 91 rushing yards for the Vikings. … Ryan Sparkman ran for 119 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead host Colton-Pullman Christian to a 34-12 win over LaCrosse-Washtucna. Corey Horstman completed 20 of 25 passes for 226 yards for the Wildcats.

Idaho non-league

Shea Vucinich completed 14 of 20 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns as Coeur d’Alene (4-1) beat Lakeland (3-2) 35-14 in Coeur d’Alene. … Randy Hamilton caught a touchdown and ran for another to lead Post Falls (3-1) to a 28-12 win over Moscow (2-3) in Post Falls.