Broncos, battling injuries, fall 25-0 to Reardan

RITZVILLE — The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos are battling the injury bug this season, as many players have started in new positions over the past weeks, including in Friday’s 25-0 loss to Reardan.

“We just have to play better, it doesn’t matter who’s in there,” LRS coach Brendan Bermea said. “You have to maximize your opportunity and give it everything you can. We’ve got to do a better job as coaches to get them prepared.”

After a 4-0 start to the year, the Broncos were without running back Brock Kinch in the team’s 30-0 loss to Northwest Christian, and the injuries have begun to pile up. In last week’s 22-20 win over Jenkins (Chewelah), LRS had another handful of players go down with injuries.

“Before Northwest Christian, we lost a couple guys, and it’s just kept building from there,” Bermea said. “Lost a running back in the last game, lost a safety in the last game – even some of the guys playing are pretty banged up. I’m really proud of their toughness to battle through.”

Friday’s game against Reardan saw new starters on both sides of the ball, including senior Travis Redburn shifting from the team’s starting quarterback to its new starting running back. Junior Zach Klein, who had been starting at receiver, lined up under center for the Broncos on Friday.

“You end up asking a lot out of them,” Bermea said. “Travis hadn’t taken a lot of running back snaps, hadn’t really played running back until last year. I thought we needed a guy that could carry the ball for us.”

After a scoreless first quarter, the Screaming Eagles reached the end zone on their first two drives of the second quarter, going up 13-0 with 2:48 remaining in the half. Following a Bronco punt and a Reardan drive stalled by a sack by LRS freshman Riley Skaggs, the Broncos got the ball at their own 45-yard line and a chance to put points up; however, a lateral was fumbled and picked up by Reardan, who remained up 13-0 at the half.

LRS opened the second half by recovering a Reardan onside kick attempt but fumbled the ball five plays later which led to another touchdown by the Screaming Eagles. An LRS punt on their next drive was blocked, picked up by Rearden and returned for a touchdown to go up 25-0.

“We’ve just got to improve in every aspect of the game,” Bermea said. “We had a punt blocked, we had some bad snaps at inopportune times, we had (players) going on the wrong snap count… we have to improve.”

The Bronco offense was able to move the ball down the field with some more success in the second half, but couldn’t manage to put points on the board; LRS’ lone drive to reach the red zone ended with a fumbled snap, recovered by the Screaming Eagles.

There were some positives to be taken from the second half, Bermea said.

“I have a lot of confidence in anybody we put back there,” Bermea said. “We were able to force it downfield a bit better – we probably should have done a better job, the coaches, of adding a more dynamic gameplan for that – but I’m really confident with what (Klein) was able to do.”

Now 5-2, LRS ends its final two games of the regular season at home; a non-league game against Lake Roosevelt on Friday and the regular season finale against Asotin on Oct. 27. While there are benefits to playing at home, Bermea said it won’t matter unless the team comes out strong against Lake Roosevelt and Asotin.

“It doesn’t matter where we go, we have to come out ready to fight,” Bermea said.

LRS kicks off against the Raiders at 7 p.m. Friday.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box Score:

LRS: 0-0-0-0 0

Reardan: 0-13-12-0 25