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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Northeast 1B South: Sophomore QB Colton Hunt leads favored Odessa-Harrington

A year after running the table in the Northeast 1B South league, the Odessa-Harrington Titans are looking to make another run at the state playoffs.

First year head coach Jeff Nelson said he thinks he may have the horses among the 21 players on his roster.

“Like every 8-man school, it depends on how healthy we stay,” Nelson said. “If we get key injuries, we’re in trouble.”

Following an injury, the Titans last year turned to freshman Colton Hunt for the last half of the season at quarterback. This year as a sophomore, Hunt has added about 25 pounds of muscle.

“It’s been an amazing transformation,” Nelson said. “He throws the ball well.”

The Titans also return running back/linebacker Sage Elder. “He’s fearless on both sides of the ball. He absolutely can hit, that’s with the ball in his hands and without,” Nelson said. “He’ll be one of the top athletes on the field.”

Nelson said he’s moved several players, including Dylan Shockley and John DeWulf to increase team speed.

“We are putting our best eight athletes on the field,” he said. “We’d rather downsize and go with the fastest kids.”

After Columbia moved to the Northeast 1B North, the league added Yakama Tribal from Toppenish.

“They didn’t win any games and last year was their first year” Nelson said of Yakama Tribal. “There is going to be some growing pains.”

Wellpinit coach Clark Pauls said his practices have been interrupted by fire evacuations from the Carpenter Road fire and horrible air conditions.

“We didn’t have as many kids turn out as I thought,” Pauls said. “Typically, we’d spread the field and score as many points as we could. But now we are going to focus more on our defense and control the ball and play mistake-free football.”

Pauls agrees with Nelson that Odessa-Harrington is a good pick to repeat as league champion.

“I think Odessa-Harrington is hands above the rest of our division. Then it could be anybody after that,” he said. “ Almira/Coulee- Hartline and Entiat both return their quarterbacks, who are really great athletes.”

Nelson said he expects Entiat to play well.

“I know their numbers are way down, but they do have some good returning starters,” Nelson said. “ACH will be good. Between ACH, Pateros and Entiat it will be a tossup. Those teams on any given night can beat anybody.”

The region’s wildfires have at times threatened Pateros, Entiat and Wellpinit. As a result of the smoke and unhealthy air conditions, Pauls said league officials have talked about turning home games into away games to make sure they get played.

“You don’t want to lose your home games. But to get the games in, that’s what you have to do to keep the kids safe,” he said. “As long as both schools are understanding, you just have to roll with the punches.”