Colfax crushed by Spring Valley Cardinals, final score 45-6
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PEYTON Hover of Colfax appeared to have a long gain on this pass completion against Spring Valley Friday, September 8 but it was called back on a holding penalty. Hover caught a touchdown pass late in the game from Zach Hiitola for the Vikings only score in the 45-6 loss.
—photo by Marlys Kruger
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
COLFAX — The Colfax football team hosted the defending Dunn-St. Croix Conference champion Spring Valley Cardinals September 8, and for the first quarter and part of the second quarter the Vikings kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard.
But it was just a matter of time before the potent Cardinal offense began scoring points, and they scored plenty of them, resulting in a 45-6 win over Colfax.
The Vikings have now lost three games in a row after their opening win and are 0-2 in conference play. Spring Valley is 2-0 along with Boyceville in the conference and 4-0 overall.
The Cardinals took the opening kickoff to their own 45 and kept the ball on the ground as they moved methodically down the field. But a holding call and a dropped pitch for a nine yard loss slowed them down, and on first and goal from the Viking ten, a fumble recovered by the Viking’s Kade Anderson halted the drive.
Drew Buchner and Zach Hiitola took turns carrying the ball and Hiitola gained enough yards for a Colfax first down at their own 17, but that was as far as they got resulting in a punt from Colton Hoffman. Spring Valley started at their own 46 but Hoffman stuffed the Cardinal runner for a loss on second down and Buchner knocked down a long pass attempt, forcing a Cardinal punt as the first quarter ended at 0-0.
The Vikings battled for every positive yard in the game and managed just six yards on three running plays on their second possession, forcing another punt. The Cardinals broke through the line and blocked the punt, giving them the ball at the Vikings six yard line. But the fired up Viking defense did their job once again, stopping the Cardinal runners four times with Orion Nichols coming up with a huge fourth-down stuff at the two.
Starting at their own two, then the one after a penalty, the Vikings didn’t have much of a chance to gain some breathing room with a host of Cardinals swarming Buchner and tackling him in the end zone for a safety and 2-0 lead.
And in the blink of an eye, that lead increased when Cade Stasiek took the kick from the Vikings and broke about five tackles as he took the ball to the end zone. An extra point kick made it 9-0 with 7:29 left in the half.
COLFAX defensive lineman Christian Ebert dragged the Spring Valley runner down from behind in the first half of the game played in Colfax September 8. —photo by Marlys Kruger
Matt Dachel took the ensuing kickoff to the Viking 35 and on third down, it appeared quarterback Hiitola had completed a long pass down to the Cardinal 30 yard line to Peyton Hover, but a holding call on the Vikings called it back. Colfax ended up punting again and Hoffman’s punt went out of bounds, giving the Cardinals a short field again, starting at the 35. Five running plays later it was another touchdown for Spring Valley and the kick made it 16-0 with 2:08 to go before the intermission.
And that proved to be a lot of time for the Cardinals as they held the Viking offense to just four yards and when Hoffman attempted to punt he was swarmed, giving Spring Valley the ball at the Colfax 28. On second down, Stasiek lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone which was snared by his receiver for a ten-yard score, and the kick made it 23-0 to end the half.
The second half was all Spring Valley as they kept the ball on the ground and scored three more times and didn’t allow the Vikings to get anything positive out of their offense.
The bright spot for Colfax came when Hover snared a 15 yard pass from Hiitola – and this one actually counted – for the Vikings’ lone score of the game with a couple of minutes left. The extra point kick was off the mark, and the Cardinals ran out the clock with a minute to go.
Colfax was held to just 44 rushing yards with Buchner leading the way with 23 yards on 10 carries. Anderson added 15 on five attempts. Hiitola completed one pass for the 15 yard TD to Hover and Anderson returned two kickoffs for 24 yards. Buchner and Anderson led the defense with eight tackles each, Nichols and Hoffman both added six, Grant Cook was credited with five and Hover four.
Spring Valley rushed for 218 total yards and their quarterback, Cade Stasiek, completed two passes for 28 yards.
The Vikings travel to Turtle Lake (1-1, 2-2) this Friday night to take on the Lakers.