Colville rolls to victory
Fifteen minutes can determine a number of things – first place in the Great Northern League among them.
Behind John Roberts’ 128 rushing yards, unbeaten Colville turned its anticipated showdown with visiting Clarkston into a 35-14 football victory determined long before Colville began trotting out its homecoming royalty at halftime.
With the win, Colville (8-0, 5-0) toppled the only other GNL team to enter Friday night undefeated in league play and demonstrated that there is a precipitous drop after the top spot.
Clarkston fell to 5-2 overall, 4-1 in the GNL.
“We came out super focused,” said Roberts, a senior drawing attention from Washington State, Eastern Washington, Oregon State and a number of other NCAA Division I programs. “We had a great week of practice. We just came out and took it to ‘em.”
Roberts never relented after he established the Indians ground attack during Colville’s 13-play, 68-yard drive to open the game. He carried the ball six times for 31 yards on the drive before Brandon Sager punched into the end zone from the 2 for a 7-0 lead.
After a Clarkston punt, Roberts burned the Bantams for a 74-yard touchdown reception to extend the lead to 14-0. Quarterback Cody Yecha hit Roberts in stride the moment the Indians’ standout running back had cleared the Clarkston secondary.
The rout was only beginning to unfold.
Indians fullback Casey Cox bulled his way into the end zone on a 3-yard run for a three-touchdown cushion 3 minutes into the second quarter.
Clarkston failed to field the ball on the ensuing kickoff and allowed Cox’s brother, Tristan, to recover the ball at the Bantams 18.
Casey Cox scored his second touchdown in a 27-second span on another 3-yard run, giving the Indians an insurmountable 28-0 lead.
“It’s not what they do, it’s what we do,” Roberts said. “We have big unity and team building. Everything’s all there.”
When Clarkson finally broke through with Isaac Woodbury’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Dale Entel, the Bantams defense couldn’t prevent Colville from scoring again. Sager’s 16-yard burst gave Colville a 35-7 lead at halftime.
“What I anticipated was for it to go down to the fourth quarter,” Colville coach Randy Cornwell said. “They have good skills, good speed, and they’re always well-coached.”
Cornwell doesn’t expect his players to suffer any kind of letdown after producing such a feel-good win.
“That’s where their maturity comes in,” Cornwell said. “They have goals set for this year, and these next two games are just the next two steps to getting there.”
In other league action, Mike Meines ran for 142 yards on 25 carries and scored two touchdowns to guide host Pullman (7-1, 4-1) to a 28-7 win over Cheney (4-4, 3-2). Greyhounds quarterback J.T. Levenseller was completed 11 of 18 passing for 164 yards in the win. … Jason Moser scored on a 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Deer Park (1-7, 1-4) beat host Medical Lake (1-6, 0-5) 21-14. … Bryan Peterson completed 13 of 17 passes for 198 yards and two TDs as West Valley (4-4, 2-3) built a 17-0 halftime lead and beat Riverside (2-5, 1-4) 24-7.