Colfax concludes 2021 season with loss to Glenwood City
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ASHER Pecha carried the ball during the Glenwood City game October 15. —photo by Jacob Maes Photography
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
GLENWOOD CITY — It has been a long few weeks for the Colfax football team, culminating in a 55-0 loss at Glenwood City to the Hilltoppers October 15.
The loss left the Vikings with a 1-8 record while Glenwood City became playoff eligible with the win with a 4-3 Dunn-St. Croix Conference record. The Hilltoppers will play a Division 7 game at conference rival Turtle Lake this Friday night with the winner taking on Eau Claire Regis who is ranked number one in the state.
Things went all wrong for the Vikings from the get go when Maxwell Janson took the opening kickoff for the Toppers and raced down the middle of the field for a touchdown. The extra point kick by Marcis DeSmith made it 7-0 with just 13 seconds taken off the clock.
Elijah Entzminger took the kickoff to the Colfax 28 and the Vikings picked up a first down on two runs by Aiden McKee. But the ball was fumbled on the next play and was recovered by the Toppers on the Viking 39. It took ten plays before the Toppers scored on a pass from four yards out and another kick made it 14-0 midway through the quarter.
Much like previous games, the Vikings found some success with the ground game but ended up shooting themselves in the foot again. Starting at their own 20, McKee ran for a 20 yard gain and added six yards on another run. A third-down pass to Entzminger from Bryce Sikora gave the Vikings another first down at the Topper 45. McKee ran three consecutive times for 12 yards and yet another first down to the 33 but back-to-back penalties on the Vikings, one for holding and another for a false start, moved them backwards. Sikora was then sacked and on fourth and 39 Colfax had to punt.
Moving into the second quarter, the Toppers started with the ball at their own 43 and moved down the field by virtue of all running plays, and Janson scored on a two-yard run. Another kick made it 21-0 with 6:44 to go in the half. Earlier in the quarter, Colfax center Ashton Greenwell went down with a knee injury, putting a back up center in the game.
Colfax started at their own 25 on Asher Pecha’s kickoff return and the Vikings went nowhere fast when they lost yardage on three plays.
Another punt resulted and the Toppers ran the ball four times as Janson ran up the middle from 25 yards out for another Topper TD. The kick put the score at 28-0 with 3:37 left in the half.
Three more running plays resulted in two yards and Colfax punted the ball away on their next possession, and with 14 seconds to go in the half, Bryce Wickman scored on a 15-yard jaunt. And yet another DeSmith kick left the score at 35-0 at the intermission.
Colfax Quarterback Bryce Sikora had 2 completions for 13 yards in Friday nights 55-0 loss to the Glenwood City Hilltoppers.
—photo by Jacob Maes Photography
“Again this week we started out on offense moving the ball nicely,” Colfax coach Matt DeMoe said. “But we made one mistake that put us in a hole we struggled to get out of. Losing Greenwell was a devastating blow to us and our offense was challenged to keep up and meet Glenwood at the level needed to compete,” he added.
The Vikings took the second half kickoff to only their 14 yard line, and three plays netted 0 yards and it was another punt, which was a rather short one.
Glenwood City ran four times and Justin Moe finished the short drive with a seven-yard run. And yet another kick put the clock into running time with a 42-0 Topper lead.
Glenwood added another score in the quarter after Brady Klatt recovered a Colfax fumble on a snap over quarterback Brian Tuschl’s head and another kick upped their lead to 49-0 to end the third quarter.
The Vikings went nowhere on their next possession and with 6:53 left, the Toppers added another score on Moe’s nine-yard run. A final kick was missed and that ended the scoring.
Sikora completed two of four passes for 13 yards while Tuschl was 0 for one. Both had one interception. McKee ground out 55 of the Vikings 64 total rushing yards for the game and Entzminger collected two passes for 13 yards. Defensively, two defensive backs led in tackles with Theo Hovde finishing with nine and Entzminger adding seven. Kade Anderson totaled five tackles, McKee and Pecha both had four, Dylyn Hiitola, Camron Moline and Sikora all had three and Nick Jensen and Mark Solberg both had two.
Seven seniors wore the Viking uniform for the last time including Bryce Sikora, Austin Swanson, Colton Lemon, Aiden McKee, Colin Bohl (who was injured in the first game), Josiah Harder and Trystan Lenz.
“This year was a tough year to be a senior for Colfax football,” DeMoe said. “But this group held strong through our Covid quarantines when we had to miss two games, and we played against strong competition in the D-SC Conference. Their perseverance will serve them well for the next steps ahead of them in life,” he concluded.
There is promise for the future as the Colfax junior varsity team finished 4-1 this year!