Lyncs Remain Upright As Time Expires Game-Ending Field Goal Ends Bulldogs’ Dream For 1a Title

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

As a community and a football team, Colfax has overcome injury, illness and tragedy. But Saturday afternoon its dream of a State 1A football championship was shattered in the worst way.

Rob Dykstra kicked a 19-yard field goal on the last play of the game to give No. 9 Lynden Christian a 22-20 win over the No. 2 Bulldogs. “A state championship game should be like that,” Colfax coach Doug Curtis said. “I’m not disappointed in the kids at all. They played hard. Take away one play and we’re state champs.”

There were a number of plays Curtis could point to after the Lyncs (11-3) got the ball on their 38 with 1:52 to play. One was a deflected pass Kevin Roosma hauled in and turned into a 22-yard gain to the Colfax 45. Another was Greg Dykstra’s deep ball to Rob Dykstra that was almost tipped. The play gained 40 yards, putting the Lyncs on the 5 with a minute to use.

Three running plays couldn’t overcome an illegal procedure penalty, but Rob Dykstra was cool and calm through two timeouts with 3 seconds left and perfect when the ball was snapped.

“We had our goals set, we gave it our all,” Colfax running back Josh Robinson said. “They wanted it more than we did.”

That is unlikely.

It was Robinson’s two-point conversion sweep around left end that put the Bulldogs (11-1) up 20-19 with 1:52 to play. Colfax had marched 53 yards on seven plays, scoring on Kyle Warwick’s 3-yard run.

The Bulldogs took a timeout to decide what to go for on the conversion, the tie or the lead.

“We had them on their heels so we decided to do it,” Curtis said. “(The players) wanted to go for two.”

“Of course we all thought we had it,” Robinson, Curtis’ stepson, said, “but it proves the game’s not over until the whistle blows.”

Tyson Curtis, the quarterback and coach’s son, said, “I thought we had it. They were a good team but we shot ourselves in the foot.”

Colfax grabbed a quick lead when Warwick returned a punt 75 yards less than 2 minutes into the game. The Lyncs responded with a 78-yard drive to go up 7-6. After an LC punt in the second quarter, Colfax ground out two first downs before Robinson went around right end, twice ran over would-be tacklers and raced 34 yards to the end zone.

However, that and one 17-yard scamper on the go-ahead drive was about all the Bulldogs could muster.

“They said they were going to shut down our run and they pretty much did,” Robinson said.

The Bulldogs finished with 157 yards rushing, 82 by Robinson, and were forced to throw 17 times, completing seven for 57 yards.

Coach Curtis said the Bulldogs were worn out.

“They just pounded us; our kids were tired,” he said. “I don’t want to make excuses but maybe we should play the East Side semifinals inside. It’s a big shock to play inside. It’s the heat. Our kids started dragging in the second quarter. They sucked it up for about 5 minutes on that last drive.”

“Lynden Christian is just a better club, by 2 seconds,” Curtis said. “You’ve got to give them a lot of credit.”

Lynden Christian 22, Colfax 20

L. Christian 7 0 6 9 - 22

Colfax 6 6 0 8 - 20

Col-Warwick 76 punt return (kick blocked)

LC-Bajema 19 pass from G. Dykstra (Rob Dykstra kick)

Col-Robinson 34 run (run failed)

LC-Bajema 4 run (pass failed)

LC-G. Dykstra 1 run (kick blocked)

Col-Warwick 3 run (Robinson run)

LC-FG R. Dykstra 19

LC Col First downs 17 12 Rushes-yards 46-190 26-157 Passing 162 57 Comp-Att-Int 10-18-0 7-17-0 Return Yards 75 144 Punts-Avg. 4-38.0 4-30.5 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 8-69 3-15 Time of Possession 33:53 17:07

Individual statistics

RUSHING- Lynden Christian, Erik Vanderpol 13-68, G. Dykstra 13-37, Joey Mellema 12-55, Bajema 8-30. Colfax, Robinson 14-82, Warwick 4-41, Kelly Jones 4-1, Justin Hall 2-17, Tyson Curtis 2-17. PASSING-Lynden Christian, G. Dykstra 10-13-0-162. Colfax, Curtis 7-17-0-57.

RECEIVING-Lynden Christian, Josh Parsons 4-53, R. Dykstra 2-56, Kevin Roosma 1-22, Bajema 1-19, Ben Blankers 1-12. Colfax, Warwick 2-24, Jacob Davis 2-19, Robinson 2-10, Brent Damery 1-4.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo