Broncos hold older team to nine points in season-opener

RITZVILLE – The Broncos may not have celebrated a win for their first home game of the season, but they had reason to celebrate with some tough defense under Friday night's moonlight Feb. 26.

The home team, with 26 players, hosted Chewelah's Jenkins High School with a full pack of 40 Cougars and held them to just three points on the board for all but the last five minutes of the game.

Lind-Ritzville's six seniors, backed up by nine sophomores and 11 freshman, faced down Jenkins' team of 13 seniors, five juniors, 13 sophomores and nine freshmen in the frigid air for a game rife with penalties. The Broncos endured 11 penalties for 90 yards, with two turnovers (one interception and one fumble).

"The penalties killed us," Lind-Ritzville Head Coach Greg Whitmore said. "And when you get a big play, and it gets called back...those are things. The holding, and not moving your feet. We're not in great shape. They haven't done anything for a lot of months, and you don't just get that back. We'd have liked to put some points on the board, but it ended up being a winnable game if we could have just made a few plays and made a few less mistakes."

The Cougars' Nick Franks, a senior, intercepted a pass in the end zone and ran it in for a 38-yard return in the last few seconds of the second quarter.

"We played a lot of freshmen tonight, and a ton of sophomores that played as freshmen last year," Whitmore said. "But they played hard. This is a good football team and we just made a few too many mistakes. When we're that young, we don't have that kind of margin of error. So we get behind the sticks after an error, and we can't recover. Good teams; experienced senior-dominated teams can, but not a young team like this."

"It's hard to predict how these things will turn out," Chewelah's Head Coach Jim Fisk said. "Just like the Broncos, we haven't played for a year and a half. We're no different; we've been practicing in frigid temperatures, and this game came upon us all of a sudden. We all need to play a few games to get back in shape."

"We got tired, and we got cramping, and the kids aren't...they're staying home on Fridays because we're out of school, and they're not drinking enough water, so they're cramping; even on this cold night," Whitmore said. "And we have no depth. We're putting an even younger, less experienced kid in. And it affects us, both offense and defense; our kids are playing both ways, obviously. So yeah, we're gonna get worn down."

Still, Whitmore was pleased with the outcome of the opening game.

"All in all, I'm pleased. I'm pleased with the effort. We're really kind of short on practice. We practiced in the gym some, and the snow; in the weather, with sloppy fields out there," Whitmore said. "This is still strange. We never played a game in February, but all in all, a full moon, it felt like a cold fall night, so that wasn't a problem. And the field conditions weren't a problem."

Whitmore was also pleased with the team's captains and seniors Doug Morris, Carson Ayers and Jay Harder.

"They played really well," Whitmore said. "And our young quarterback (sophomore Chase Galbreath), he's learning a lot. It's his first time stepping in. It's a tough position."

"And then you have (sophomore) Hayden Melcher in the backfield; and Brock Kinch, as a freshman, did well," Whitmore said. "We have a lot of young kids playing. We should be playing JV teams, and we'd be rockin' it. But really, it's just about playing. It's really fun to play, I'm glad no one got hurt. It's been a long time."

Standing by with an ambulance were volunteers Margan Lane and Vanessa Grimm.

The Broncos face Northwest Christian Saturday, March 6. Their next home game is scheduled for March 19, against Kettle Falls.

"We haven't played since November 2019. We'll just build on it and see what we can do against Northwest Christian," Whitmore said. "It's a short season and we got some tough teams. We'll just keep our heads up and hope we get a win or two."

Game stats:

Passing -

Chase Galbreath 14/33 for 82 yards and one interception

Rushing -

Chase Galbreath four for 14 yards

Brock Kinch two for eight yards

Hayden Melcher 10 for 24 yards

Receiving

Cooper Miller - one catch 16 yards

Hayden Melcher - six catches 46 yards

Lance Williamson - one catch five yards

Carson Ayers - one catch -two yards

Brock Kinch - five catches 17 yards