Broncos suffer tough loss to Kettle Falls, face Reardan Friday

An on the road battle proved unsuccessful for the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos on Oct. 21 when they faced Kettle Falls in league competition.

The Broncos traveled to the game with only 22 athletes, due to injuries and sickness, which prevented them from posting a competitive effort against the Bulldogs.

Head Coach Greg Whitmore said the 12-33 loss began with the lack of experienced athletes traveling to the match, and ended with a lack of effort by the Broncos. The Broncos were without their primary lineman, kicker and receiver.

Whitmore said the Broncos did not play well in the game, partially because of the drastic change in positions and also because of the inexperience of the athletes.

Whitmore added he could see the Broncos’ youth from the way they reacted to the loss of key players, instead of working to overcome the disadvantage.

The game went in favor of the Bulldogs from the start, and Whitmore said the Broncos did not take away their momentum and struggled to stop plays.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, and while the Broncos would post a strong effort in the second, they fell short of the victory because of turnovers and penalties, Whitmore said.

Throughout the game, the Broncos had three fumbles, losing two to Kettle Falls, and racked up nine penalties, resulting in the loss of 75 yards.

Whitmore said the penalties came at crucial moments in the game, and were the reason the Broncos did not post more points or earn more first downs.

“Every time we moved the ball, we had timely penalties,” Whitmore said. “We couldn’t convert first downs and we gave up too many yards.”

The Broncos posted their first touchdown of the game early in the second quarter on a 35-yard pass play from Bryce Kelly to Damien Rouleau. Whitmore said that Kelly had a solid game as quarterback, completing the touchdown play, but he faced a lot of pressure that put the Broncos at a disadvantage.

With the low numbers of athletes available for the Broncos, Whitmore said conditioning became a large factor in the Broncos’ loss later in the game.

Many of the athletes had just returned to the team following sicknesses, and Whitmore said the Broncos lacked the energy and physicality needed to upset Kettle Falls.

The Broncos earned their second touchdown of the game from a Bulldogs error. The Bulldogs fumbled in the end zone and Mason Brausen recovered the ball. Because of the lack of a kicker, the Broncos went for the two point conversion but fell short.

The Bulldogs rallied from the mistake and converted a last second touchdown to go into halftime up by two touchdowns over the Broncos, 27-12. Whitmore said Kettle Falls would continue to run through the Broncos line and keep the LRS team chasing the Bulldogs for the remainder of the evening.

The Bulldogs posted 449 offensive yards during the game, and Whitmore said they earned most from running, though they had some good conversion passes. The Bulldogs were successful in keeping the Broncos off balance all night, Whitmore said, and did a good job at finding the weaknesses in the LRS line up.

Kelly ended the night with 78 yards on 10 completed passes, while Rouleau led the Broncos in receiving yards with 35. Chandler Widman led the Broncos in rushing yards with 124, followed by Rouleau with 70 yards.

The Bulldogs’ McKay Knowlton racked up 208 yards for Kettle Falls, and his teammate Wyatt Moss posted 105 individual yards. Whitmore said the high rushing yards accumulated by these two players showed the Broncos inability to stop the run on Friday night.

Whitmore said the previous two games before Kettle Falls had been steps in the right direction for the Broncos, but the Kettle Falls game was a step backwards.

With a long trip, small roster and a motivated home team, the Broncos needed to execute on the field but did not. Whitmore added at the end of the day, Kettle Falls was the simply the more physical team.

The Broncos match up against the Reardan Indians in the final league game of the season. The Friday, Oct. 28, game also serves as senior night when the Broncos host the Indians.

Whitmore said the two teams are even in the standings, recording the same losses against league teams. Reardan also lost to Kettle Falls recently, and Whitmore said the Broncos will need to be at full strength to earn a win.

The winner of the game moves into the Crossover game and keeps their playoff dreams alive. The winner will continue on to face Northwest Christian, while the losing team will be eliminated from the playoffs, but will host a non-standing based game against Davenport.

Whitmore said the Reardan game is a tough game to make it to playoffs, and he is hopeful more athletes will return to the gridiron on Friday for the Broncos. The Indians are also a young team, but they are still a strong and fundamentally solid group.

The Friday night battle for playoffs will come down to turnovers and mistakes, Whitmore predicted. Whichever team is able to reduce their amount of errors should come out victorious and move on to the playoffs.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Jimmie Snider Field, and the Broncos’ senior athletes will be recognized prior to the start of the game.