No. 2 ACH Warriors fall from 1B unbeaten ranks
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Alira/Coulee-Hartline receiver Payton Nielsen (84) makes a one-handed reception against Odessa-Harrington defender Marcus King (32) during Friday night's game at Coulee City. No. 2-ranked ACH suffered its first loss of the season 50-12.
COULEE CITY — The good news is, it's better to lose now than two weeks down the road. The bad news is that Almira/Coulee-Hartline's unblemished record was just trashed in Friday night's battle between Class 1B ranked teams.
No. 4 Odessa-Harrington (8-0) dismantled previously undefeated No. 2 ACH 50-12. Sage Elder stepped in front of a Maguire Isaak pass intended for Payton Nielsen and returned it 25 yards for the touchdown on the first pass play of the third quarter.
The Titans then scored on their first offensive possession of the second half and a strip-sack on the Warriors (8-1, 4-1 NE 1B) second possession led to a 23-yard touchdown run and a 44-6 lead going into the final quarter.
“Odessa is a very good football team and we knew that going in,” said ACH coach Brandon Walsh, whose team is the defending 1B state champion. “We were just out-manned, that's the bottom line. We had a bunch of sophomores and bunch of young kids playing out of position because we're trying to get them ready to play those new positions in a short amount of time.
“I love the heart. I love the effort, but this is the first week with our new lineup and we have some things to fix.”
The Titans took the opening kickoff and scored on their first possession. They ended up losing starting quarterback Colton Hunt midway through the first quarter with a knee injury. They didn't miss a beat with freshman Camden Weber and went right down for a 7-yard touchdown run by Elder on their second possession for a 14-point lead.
“That's a crazy-good football team. (Sage Elder) and (Gaven Elder) are studs and they have a good offense,” said ACH defensive end Payton Nielsen. “They took it right at us, but we played our butts off. We played with great heart and great integrity. We worked harder than anybody I've ever seen. We'll take that loss, but come Monday, we'll be back to work to fix it.”
The 24-point third quarter was just too much for a team already trailing 20-6 at the half.
“A couple of things go different for us in the first half and it's a tie game (at the intermission),” Walsh said. “What happened in the second half was what I was afraid of, we just ran out of steam.”
The Warriors did do some good things, despite giving up 387 yard rushing. Sage Elder (189) averaged 9.9 yards per carry.
ACH sophomore Gage Burchill hauled in 10 pass receptions for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Nielsen made a nice one-handed grab on a 45-yard pass completion in the first quarter and finished with 100 yards on 9 receptions. Isaak was 24-of-41 for 284 and two touchdowns.
“Gage and Payton played phenomenal. You have to have guys step up,” Walsh said. “You have to find out who's going to be the big-game guy for us and (Burchill, Nielsen, Isaak) came up with huge plays for us.”
Score by quarters Odessa-Harrington 14 6 24 6 — 50 Almira/Coulee-Hartline 0 6 0 6 — 12 Scoring summary O — Colton Hunt 5 run (run fails), 7:52 O — Sage Elder 6 run (Gaven Elder pass from Camden Weber), 1:20 ACH — Gage Burchill 6 pass from Maguire Isaak (pass failed), 7:05 O — Camden Weber 25 run (run failed), 4:45 O — Sage Elder 25 pass interception (Brady Walter pass from Weber), 11:45 O — Sage Elder 2 run (Gaven Elder pass from Weber), 7:49 O — Sage Elder 22 run (Josh Clark pass from Weber), 2:45 ACH — Burchill 17 pass from Isaak (pass fails), 10:05 O — Gaven Elder 17 run (pass fails), 4:17