Colville falls short of 1A title

TACOMA – With a state championship hanging in the balance, there was no decision to make.

Colville coach Randy Cornwell already knew the call. The Indians were going for two.

One play earlier, in overtime for the State 1A title, Colville had handed the ball over the left side to their go-to power guy, Colton Vining. The senior scored to pull the Indians within a point of Cascade Christian.

Cornwell’s hand immediately went up, showing two fingers.

Going for the win, Vining got the ball again on a power pitch. This time, going to the right side, the Cougars’ interior defense stuffed the try to preserve a 27-26 victory at the Tacoma Dome.

“We’ve been going for two all year,” Cornwell said. “It took the gut-wrenching decision out of the play. We knew we were going for two.”

Saturday was Colville’s first championship game appearance. It is the Cougars’ second title in seven years and the school’s fifth title game over that span.

Initially, it looked as though there was a crease on the two-point conversion run. Vining took the short pitch and barrelled into the mass.

“They did a great job of plugging the hole right where it needed to be plugged,” Vining said. “From then on, it was just a battle.”

Vining kept his legs driving. The pile did move from the 1-yard line to near the goal line.

But Vining finally went down just outside the end zone.

“It was close, that’s all I know,” Vining said.

The 5-foot-7 senior carried the ball 23 times for 136 yards and all four Colville touchdowns.

His effort offset a dominating offensive performance from Cascade Christian (13-0), which nearly doubled the Indians offensively, 336 yards to 175.

Jaelin Goldsmith led the charge for the Cougars. The senior quarterback led everybody with 137 yards rushing on 15 carries. Robert Terhune bulled his way to 133 yards and a TD on 21 carries.

All that rushing offense limited the possessions of the game.

Cascade Christian ran 7:16 off the clock with the game’s opening drive to take a 7-0 lead on Riley Ramos’ 5-yard run. Vining responded with a 7-yard scoring run with 27 seconds left in the quarter.

In all, Colville got only two possessions in the first half and scored on one. Cascade Christian had three, scoring twice to take a 13-8 lead at the half.

“We knew it would be limited possessions,” Cornwell said. “We knew we had to take advantage of them.”

Vining got Colville its first lead on the first drive of the second half, culminating a six-play, 63-yard effort with a 2-yard plunge. The Indians extended the margin to 20-13 on Vining’s third TD of the game, with 11 minutes to play.

Goldsmith responded with a 59-yard scoring run down the right side and with 8:17 to go, it was tied at 20-20.

In overtime, Cascade Christian got the ball first and scored in six plays to take a 27-20 lead, setting up the final sequence for the Indians.

“It came down to a couple of inches,” Cornwell said.