12
Wednesday,February24,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
SPORTS
Columbia suffers overtime football loss
on road at Vancouver’s Seton Catholic
Petshow
■ By For Joe
Columbia Gorge News
Host Seton Catholic foiled
Columbia’s come-from-behind,
fourth-quarter effort Saturday and
then scored on its first offensive
play in overtime to edge the Bruins,
28-26, in the Trico League football
opener for both schools.
The comeback win spoiled a
valiant Columbia effort, where
the Bruins overcame a two-score,
second-half deficit. It also soured
an outstanding performance by
Columbia senior Austin Charters,
who accounted for 269 yards of
offense.
“It was really a story of giving
them four extra possessions, and
two of them were on our first
play after taking over on offense,”
Columbia Coach Dan Smith said of
his team’s four turnovers. “You get
down in a hole and you start getting
out of what your game plan is. You
have to claw your way back … we
were really close.
“Like I told my team at the end of
the game, I was extremely proud of
the way they battled back. We could
have hung our heads after going
down 20-7 in the third quarter.”
The game featured five lead
changes, one tie, as well as a
four-touchdown, 249-yard rushing
took a pitch to the left, cut back to
the right, broke an attempted arm
tackle, then shook free of two Seton
defenders at the 24 and continued
untouched to the end zone.
Juan Martinez and Chase
Colloton helped spring Charters by
Coach Dan Smith staying with their blocks 10 and 15
Columbia High School yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Columbia threatened once more
in regulation, but Seton stopped
Charters on a fourth-and-1 at the
effort by Charters (on 22 carries).
Cougar 6-yard-line with a little
His 15-yard TD catch on a fourth-
more than a minute showing on the
and-10 pass from Garrett Hogberg
game clock.
gave Columbia a 26-20 overtime
“Right before that fourth-down
lead. But on Seton’s first offensive
overtime play from the 25-yard line, stop, our kicker, Chase Colloton had
CJ Hamblin threw a halfback pass to hurt his knee,” Smith said. “(Or) we
probably would have kicked a field
Lance Struck to tie the game at 26.
goal in that situation.”
Seton then scored on a two-point
Each team had plenty of other
conversion — a quick pass to the
left flat to Elijah Volk, who was met in-game adjustments, something
Smith said he and his coaching staff
at the goal line by two Columbia
expected — in part, because of a
defenders, but spun into the end
lack of practice time and, also, not
zone.
knowing what to expect from Seton
Seton led 14-7 at the half and
under its first-year Coach Dennis
took a 20-7 lead with 6:40 left in
Herling.
the third quarter on Volk’s 1-yard,
One of Columbia’s adjustments
fourth-down run. Columbia battled
was when Smith switched Charters
back, as Charters broke free for
from quarterback to running back
a 79-yard touchdown with 2:11
remaining in the period, pulling the on Columbia’s third offensive
possession.
Bruins within 20-14.
“Going into (the) game we knew
He scored again on a 28-yard run
early in the fourth quarter to tie the we might be making some adjust-
game, 20-20. On the play, Charters ments,” Smith said. “(Charters) had
“LikeItoldmyteamattheend
ofthegame,Iwasextremely
proudofthewaytheybattled
back."
been my starting quarterback for
the last two years. … We’ve been
trying to find a feature running back
this year.
“Without having any summer ball
… we’re kind of experimenting right
now. And, so, the move (Saturday)
was really to see what we could get
a spark with. And Austin definitely
gave us that spark.”
With Charters receiving the
football, instead of handing it off,
Columbia looked much different
than the jittery team which started
the game — the one coming off
a 475-day layoff (Columbia’s last
contest was Nov. 1, 2019, a 50-7
shellacking of Stevenson).
Seton also took a few possessions
to get its game legs. The Bruins had
shut out Seton 42-0 in 2019, but the
Cougars served noticed early that
this is a new era — with Herling at
the helm.
The Cougars took advantage of
a short field following a Columbia
turnover to open the game’s scor-
ing. Quarterback Noah Carlos con-
nected with 6-foot-3 wide receiver
Lance Struck on a 13-yard slant pat-
tern with five minutes left in the first
quarter. Charters, a sturdy 5-foot-
10, 175-pounder, gave Columbia its
first lead, 7-6, on a 33-yard run late
in the opening period.
Charters took the handoff
Gorge Sports Schedule
Gorge sports schedules for Feb. 23
through March 4 (as of Feb. 21, sched-
ule is subject to change):
Girls Soccer
Feb. 23
Columbia at Seton Catholic
Feb. 25
Columbia at King’s Way
March 2
Castle Rock at Columbia
March 4
Franklin at Hood River; The Dalles at
Riverside; La Center at Columbia
Cross Country
Feb. 27
Columbia at Seton Catholic,
Vancouver.
March 3
The Dalles at Crook County; Hood
River at Pendleton.
Boys Soccer
March 2
Horizon at Damascus
March 4
Riverside at The Dalles; Hood River
at Franklin
running to his right, then cut back
to his left to avoid a Seton defender
in the backfield and kept angling
back against the pursuit en route to
the end zone.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of
us this week,” Smith said, accen-
tuating the positive. “Austin had a
good game, an interception and
led our team in tackles. … Chase
Colloton, playing at cornerback, he
did a really good job of coming up
and helping on the run.
“I’m just really excited that we got
to play a game again. (Although)
one thing that stood out for us:
We’re not in game shape. We’re on
the right track. I think we’ll be able
to right the ship.”
The Bruins are scheduled to play
their next game 7 p.m. Friday at
home against Fort Vancouver. If
Columbia’s field is not available be-
cause the weather, the game might
be moved to Seton Catholic’s turf
field and be played in the afternoon
on Friday or Saturday.
Trico Football Scores:
Week 1
Seton Catholic 28, Columbia 26
(OT)
Castle Rock 52, Goldendale 13
La Center 58, Fort Vancouver 0
Ilwaco 12, Stevenson 6 (3OT)
Hennessy signs to run
at Whitman College
Football
Feb. 26
Fort Vancouver at Columbia
Volleyball
Feb. 23
Columbia at Seton Catholic
Feb. 25
King’s Way at Columbia
March 2
Hood River at Redmond; The Dalles
at Pendleton; Columbia at Castle Rock;
Dufur at Heppner; Dufur at Ione/
Arlington
March 4
Columbia at La Center; Mitchell-
Spray at Dufur; Bickleton at Glenwood
Hood
River’s Lucy
Hennessy
signed a let-
ter of intent
to run cross
country this
fall at NCAA
Lucy
Division III
Hennessy
Whitman
College in Walla Walla,
Wash.
Hennessy finished 30th
in the 2019 Class 5A state
meet in Eugene. She ran 19
minutes, 53 seconds in that
5,000-meter race.
That was a one-minute,
38-second improvement
over the time she ran the
prior week at the district
meet and a personal record
by more than a minute.
Whitman’s women’s
cross country team won the
2019 Northwest Conference
championship.
Whitman College is a
nationally recognized liberal
arts college in Walla Walla,
Washington, that encour-
ages scholarship, creativity,
character and responsibility,
according to their website.