Colfax gridiron gang shows flashes of brilliance in loss at Ellsworth

By Cara L. Dempski

ELLSWORTH — Scoreboards can be deceiving creatures.

That certainly was the case for Colfax’s Viking football team last Friday in Ellsworth. They may have lost the game 42-0 in their first match-up of the 2017 season, but head coach Matt DeMoe saw plenty to be pleased during the August 18 non-conference contest.

“We played well last night,” he said. “We were prepared to hit, and we stuffed them a few times for losses.”

DeMoe said this year’s Viking football motto is “do your job,” which bodes well for the young team needing to focus on working as a whole. The Colfax coach indicated the game against the Panthers was exactly what the team needed to move on to Eleva-Strum later this week.

The team remains healthy, and DeMoe is excited about the positive things he saw in the game.

Ellsworth got on the board at 9:45 in the first with a safety after Dalton George brought down Viking QB Noah Albricht in the end zone to tack up two.

The Panthers then put up 27 points in the second quarter with a trio of touchdown passes from Drake Flom to Ryan McGregor and Logan Benson, and scored one more time before the break to take a 29-0 lead into halftime.

The Vikings managed to push inside the five-yard line twice in the first half, but were not able to capitalize on either opportunity to score.

Ellsworth tacked on another seven at 6:16 in the third with a five-yard run from Jared Lansing and a good kick from Ryan Meyer to lift the score to 35-0. Colfax then managed to keep the Panthers in check until the fourth, when Flom again connected with McGregor for a 13-yard scoring drive. The extra kick was good, raising the lead to 42-0.

Senior Treyton Teige proved effective in his first game as a wide receiver, logging over 33 yards to lead Colfax’s receiving corps. Teige’s teammate, Adam Pretasky, was just two yards behind him with 31 total yards of completions.

Brett Schlosser brought his strength and ability to keep driving his legs to the running game, picking up six yards on three carries to lead the rushing game.

Sophomore play caller Noah Albricht connected with receivers on all 16 of his pass attempts for a total of 103 yards in his first game as starting quarterback.

“He did a great job running our offense,” DeMoe said of Albricht. “His hard work will make him very successful this year.”

Logan Benson led the Panther receivers with 72 yards, while Logan Melstrom rushed 53 yards to lead the ground game.

The Vikings will take another road trip August 25 to take on the Eleva-Strum Cardinals before opening Dunn-St. Croix play at Spring Valley September 1. They will be at home September 8 for a meeting with Glenwood City.

COLFAX 0, ELLSWORTH 42
Colfax………………………….0  0    0   0 — 0
Ellsworth………………………2  27  7  6 — 42

First quarter: E — D. George safety.

Second quarter: E — R. McGregor 20-yd. pass from D. Flom (kick fails); E — L. Benson 63-yd. pass from D. Flom (R. Meyer kick); E — L. Benson 9-yd. pass from D. Flom (R. Meyer kick); E — Unk. TD (kick good).

Third quarter: E — J. Lansing 5-yd. run (R. Meyer kick).

Fourth quarter: E — R. McGregor 13-yd. pass from D. Flom (kick fail).

Individual Statistics: Passing (att-comp-yds) — C (16-16-103) — N. Albricht 16-16-103; E (10-17-234) — D. Flom 10-16-234, C. Woodland 1-0-0; Rushing (att-yds) — C (13-1) — N. Albricht 3-(-10), M. Harmon 7-5, B. Schlosser 3-6; E (22-121) — L. Melstrom 8-53, D. Flom 6-47, R. McGregor 2-17, J. Lansing 5-13, C. Woodland 1-(-9); Receiving (comp-yds) — C (16-103) — T. Teige 6-33, A. Pretasky 2-31, Unk. 3-18, B. Schindler 2-10, T. Anderson 2-28, M. Harmon 1-1; E (10-240) — A. Motley 3-86, L. Benson 2-72, R. McGregor 4-55, L. Melstrom 1-27.