Colville’s boys end season with loss to Naches Valley

YAKIMA – The dilemma facing Colville coach John Foulkes was plain to see, yet perplexing.

What to tell his team after they outscored third-ranked Naches Valley 21-5 in the third period of Friday’s boys 1A regional game at West Valley High School, yet still trailed by 10 points?

Such was the hole Colville dug for itself, falling behind 32-6 in the first half of the Indians’ 49-35 loss to the Rangers.

But the Indians didn’t quit.

Instead, they responded well to the challenge put forth by Foulkes and his staff at halftime.

“We told them they owed it to the fans, the community, the school and themselves to be better than they were,” Foulkes said.

“We did a great job of getting back into it.”

At one point Colville had the deficit down to eight points and had the ball after a Naches Valley charging foul.

But the Rangers’ defense tightened up, forcing a shot-clock violation with just less than 3 minutes left and the Indians could manage just one field goal the rest of the way.

The loss ended Colville’s season with a 15-12 record.

The Indians’ hopes of getting back to state for the first time since 1997 were short-circuited quickly.

Colville hit just 2 of 21 field-goal attempts in the first half.

For a team that averaged in the mid-40s in terms of scoring, that dug a hole that they couldn’t escape.

“We did about all we could do to be out of sync,” Foulkes said. “But our kids did a lot of little things right in the second half.”

Matt Hubbard finished strongly after battling illness all week, leading Colville with 15 points.

JR Henry had 11 points, all in the second half.

Naches Valley came into the game hoping to take advantage of Colville turnovers.

That didn’t pan out, but neither did Colville’s height advantage.

The Rangers outrebounded the Indians 23-12 in the first half and finished with a 34-30 advantage.