HOLY HAWKS!

Colville turned the question marks heading into the season into exclamation marks on Fri- day night, Sept. 4, in front of the Crimson Hawks’ home crowd. New quarterback? Still a dual-threat skill player. Five new starters on defense? Two goal line stands. Colville came back from a 21-8 halftime deficit to defeat rival Deer Park 22-21 in their season opener in nonleague play. “I told the team before we started that my goal was to win regardless of what it looked like,” Crimson Hawks Head Coach William Benbrook said. “I felt thankful that my team had so much fight in them.” Benbrook said his team was in a similar situation in a game against Deer Park three seasons ago during his first year as head coach.

In that game, Deer Park led 13-0 through three quarters and ended up winning 40- 7. “I could see players giving up on the field,” he said. “These seniors remember that feeling and have used it to build a culture of toughness and self-belief. After the game, I was just filled with pride in how much our team and these players have grown since that moment.” The game featured grind-it-out style drives, and after a Colville effort in the first quarter ended in an incom- plete pass, the Stags relied on the legs of Carter Criss for a one-yard touchdown score to go up 7-0 as the first quarter ended. While Colville was able to move the ball, they weren’t able to find paydirt early.

Deer Park gashed the defense with a 38-yard pass to reverse the field, and then Criss scored on a 16-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0. Things began to spiral in Colville’s next drive when Deer Park’s Caden Knudsvig took a Colville fumble back for a touchdown and the shocked home crowd found their team down 21-0 with 5:25 left before halftime. But Colville wasn’t done. Quarterback Gunnar Baker composed a 10- play drive that ended with a nineyard touchdown to Elijah Brisby. The two-point conversion was good, keeping the deficit at a manageable size going into halftime. “The biggest difference between the first and second half was penalties and an offensive fumble,” Benbrook said.

“The message at halftime was that they could not stop us on offense; the only thing stopping us was ourselves. Once the players realized this, they were able to lock in and shift the momentum back in our favor.” The second half opened with Deer Park driving down the field and appearing to be poised to deliver a dagger of a touchdown. But the defense stiffened up and stuffed the Stags at the goal line. Baxter Phipps took over on the next drive for Colville, delivering powerful runs to advance the Crimson Hawks close enough to the goal line for Phipps to finish it with a 13- yard touchdown run to make the score 21-14.

“Another difference in the second half was how well-conditioned we were,” Benbrook said. “Our players felt Deer Park wearing down and gained energy from it.” Phipps said while the first half was slow, the Crimson Hawks found their stride in the second. “I think we were slow rolling in that first half,” Phipps said. “I definitely think it was taking some time for us to get our plays going, getting our blocks, and understanding what we were doing, but I think that second half mentality came out and we just kicked butt. We went out there and got it done.”

The Stags took their next drive down the field but stalled when Brisby recovered a fumble on the fiveyard line to give the ball back to Colville in the fourth quarter. “The first stop [at the goalline] was a result of hustle and getting to the ball,” Benbrook said. “Senior Liam Lynn made that stop possible by chasing the ball carrier from the backside and knocking the ball out to make (Deer Park) lose four yards and put them into fourth and goal. The second one also came from rallying to the ball and jumping on it when the opportunity presented itself.

Those stops showed me that no matter how close another team may be to scoring, our guys will always believe they can get the job done.” Phipps and Baker again went to work, with the power back wearing down the Stags defense and the quarterback breaking off an important 20- yard run. With less than a minute in the game, Phipps put the ball in the endzone from three yards out and Baker notched the two-point conversion, crossing the goal line to make it 22- 21. “I told the sideline when the last drive started that we were going to score and win,” Benbrook said.

“We didn’t even consider the thought of overtime. We felt like we had the momentum and didn’t want to give Deer Park a chance to have a break or make any adjustments.” Deer Park’s desperate drive with time slipping away was snuffed out by the Colville defense, and players rushed to the sideline with an energy usually reserved for a big playoff win. Phipps finished the game with 25 carries for 134 yards. “I’m definitely sore,” Phipps said after the game. “But I’m ready to keep going. It was fun.”

Baker threw for 102 yards and a touchdown on 10-of-13 passing while also rushing for 83 yards. “Gunnar showed me that no moment is too big for him,” Benbrook said. “So many returning starting quarterbacks would have folded when we were down 21-0, and he just kept attacking and believing in his teammates. I was so happy for him to do what he did in this game. He has been working hard all summer, and it was great to see him gain confidence every single play.” Sam Sears finished with six catches for 71 yards, including a play where he had his helmet torn off by a facemask and kept battling through tackles.

The line showed up to the game, with the experienced and sizable Crimson Hawk front pushing Stag defenders and keeping pressure on Baker to a minimum. “We had 43 carries for 255 yards,” Benbrook said. “We averaged over five yards a carry because of their hard work.” While 1A Colville played up a classification against 2A Deer Park, they’ll be playing 2B opponent Northwest Christian on Friday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. on the Crusaders’ turf. The Colbert Crusaders are coming off a 42-28 victory over Newport and won seven games last year. The Crimson Hawks defeated Northwest Christian 44-35 last year.