Broncos drop season opener to Davenport

The 2019 season got off to a rocky start for the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos football team, falling on the road 34-19 to the Davenport Gorillas in a non-league matchup on Sept. 6.

The Broncos' run defense took punch after punch from the Gorillas' ground game, giving up 435 rushing yards on 37 attempts, an average of 11.8 yards per carry.

The Gorillas struck first early in the game, capitalizing on a Broncos interception in their own territory to score a touchdown less than 90 seconds into the game to go up 7-0.

LRS responded in kind, though, as junior quarterback Drew Kelly led the Broncos down the field and punctuated the team's second drive of the game with a three-yard touchdown run. A muffed field goal attempt kept the score at 7-6 early on.

Davenport started the next drive at their own 35 yard line, and it took all but one play and 17 seconds for the Gorillas to find the end zone again, as running back Alex Plasensia ripped off a 65 yard run for the first of his two rushing touchdowns on the night.

Both team's defenses held steady the rest of the first half, partially aided by miscues from the opposing team's offense. Davenport recovered its own fumble at least three times in the opening half and were called for three consecutive illegal motions and a false start late in the second quarter.

The Broncos came out of the gate fast in the second half, as senior running back Spencer Gering capped off a scoring drive with a four-yard touchdown run. The Broncos opted to go for two points to try and tie the game at 14, but Kelly's pass to Carson Ayers fell incomplete.

The rest of the third quarter belonged to Davenport, holding LRS to zero points after their opening drive and ripping off two long touchdown runs of their own, one for 27 yards by Skyler Henry and another for 44 yards by Gavin Boggs. It was Boggs' second touchdown run of at least 40 yards in the game.

The Broncos got within one possession of the Gorillas early in the fourth quarter, as Kelly passed for his first touchdown of the season, a 20-yard completion to Gering. Chase Galbreath made the point after kick to put the Broncos down just 27-19.

Like each time before, though, Davenport responded to an LRS scoring drive with one of their own, this time by Plasensia on a 20-yard run with 6:03 left to play to put the Gorillas back up 34-19, in what would go on to be the game's final score.

"They were just too big and physical for us," said Broncos head coach Greg Whitmore, who liked the effort his team gave in the loss. "We hung in there and hung in there, and had some chances to maybe tie the game. But we just kept giving up too many big plays ... and that's kind of what they rely on."

Kelly finished the game 8-17 through the air in his first ever varsity start, passing for 129 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Kelly also rushed the ball five times for 40 yards and a score. Gering caught four of Kelly's eight completions, finishing with 83 yards and a touchdown catch.

The Broncos' ground game was led by senior Austin Thompson, who took 16 of the team's 26 total carries for 77 yards, an average of 4.8 yards per carry. On the flip side, both Plasensia and Boggs rushed for at least 140 yards for the Gorillas, with Plasensia averaging 13.1 yards per carry and Boggs averaging 11.1 yards per carry.

On offense, LRS displayed a balanced attack, passing for 135 yards and rushing for 131.

"We try to be balanced, and I always love it if we can run the ball," said Whitmore, who added that the team was playing without senior offensive lineman Spencer Miller due to injury. "We couldn't get a lot of movement on their defensive line. But it was ok to be balanced, I wasn't unhappy with the either phase of [the offense]."

Both LRS and Davenport were abysmal on third and fourth down, with the teams combining to go 5-20 (25%) on third down conversions and 0-3 on fourth down conversions.

The Broncos will play host to the Northwest Christian Crusaders this Friday in their home-opener, a team LRS faced off against in the Ritzville Jamboree two weekends ago. Whitmore noted that both teams have a trim depth chart, and that a lot depends on which team is worn down first.

The non-league game is scheduled to kick off at Jimmie Snider Field in Ritzville on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m.