One down, three to go for Warriors

COULEE CITY - Three times was definitely a charm for the Almira/Coulee-Hartline football team on Saturday night.

The host Warriors took on league rivals Odessa-Harrington for a third time this season and once again ACH threw strikes.

Behind a strong attack on both sides of the ball, ACH defeated Odessa-Harrington for the third time this season by a resounding margin, winning 42-0, to advance to the Class 1B state quarterfinal round.

The Warriors (10-0) now battle another league rival - Wilbur-Creston - with day, time, and site yet to be determined.

On the other half of their bracket is Cusick and Columbia-Inchellium, two other teams, ACH has soundly beaten this year as well.

"It was good to get that first round game under our belts," ACH head coach Brandon Walsh said. "It's not easy to beat the same team three times in one season. They're a well coached team and we always expect a good effort from them so it was good to come away with the win"

ACH led 34-0 by halftime as Derek Isaak scored the team's first three touchdowns on runs of 10, 43, and 15 yards before the defense contributed to the onslaught as well.

Thunder Wellhausen recovered an Odessa-Harrington fumble in the end zone to make the score 28-0.

Isaak then hit Colin Deyarmin on a 10-yard scoring hookup and the win was all but in the bag.

"I didn't think we played quite as well as we could have, despite the outcome of the game," Walsh said. "It's a good place to be though, to be able to win a playoff game and still have room to improve.  This a pretty focused group of guys and I think they'll use this as fuel for the next round."

Isaak, who finished 11-for-18 with 225 yards and four interceptions, added his second touchdown of the game with a fourth-quarter 10-yard hookup with Brandon Boutain.

The junior quarterback added 16 carries for 122 yards while Deyarmin ran 10 times for 107 yards.

Boutain had five catches for 104 yards while Daniel Hardy hauled in four of Isaak's passes for 105 yards.

ACH outgained Odessa-Harrington 459-197 in total yardage.

"We are looking forward to our next game against Wilbur-Creston," Walsh said. "They're one of our big league rivals and it's cool that we get to play each other in the playoffs.  It should be a great game, with both teams being up for the challenge."