Broncos looks to climb back into playoff contention

LIND — The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos (2-8) are eager to bounce back from a down year last season, which saw a team finding their way after losing key contributors from the 2024 roster. The silver lining being a lot of young guys last season can carry their new experience with them into this year.  

“We come into a season (in 2025) where I think we graduated about 3,000 yards of offense,” Head Coach Brendan Bermea said. “Then we had a bunch of older kids, but they weren't kids that had ever been in a position where they had to be the production. We did our best, but we struggled scoring, and then we struggled stopping people at times. But we improved towards the end of the season, that was the positive.”  

Playing to their advantage this season is returning quarterback Shane Kubik who is expected to lead the offense again this season.  

“We're going to be good,” Kubik said. “I hope we have a good season. We're going to air it out a little bit.”  

Supporting Kubik on offense this year is Cameron Boness at the primary running back spot, Bermea said.  

“He used to play quarterback. The kid's done everything I've asked of him for basically four years, but now he's going to settle in as the starting running back,” the coach said.  

Bermea is also excited to see Archer Killian score touchdowns this season, who has spear headed a speedier Broncos football team.  

“He is someone who we hand the ball off to, throw the ball to, just one of the faster kids,” Bermea said. “That's a big thing for us as we've gotten a bit older. Our team speed has improved. We test them in the spring, summer ball, we have them run the 40 (yard dash) laser time, and we had some significant improvement from the year before.”  

Increasing the speed of the Broncos roster overall opens up a lot of possibilities on offense, the coach said.  

“We hope to get outside a bit more,” he said. “One of the things we really struggled with last year was we'd even get a good play; we'd block up something really well and then we get caught. Like we didn't get that breakaway score.”  

With improved speed, the Broncos hope to take advantage of their blocking schemes to get back to their roots of an explosive run game.  

While Bermea remains optimistic about this year's team, he isn’t overlooking who they have on their schedule. They anticipate most of the league providing a real challenge to the Broncos, but Colfax, Reardan and Northwest Christian stand out the most, he said.  

“We have great teams in our league,” Bermea said. “To be above .500, to be chasing a playoff spot, you got to actually beat playoff quality teams. I'm not sure every league can say that for their state berths that the teams that are going to go are teams that really should be there. That's the challenge we have to face as we try to climb back up.”  

As the Broncos try to climb back up the ranks this season, he will rely on his senior class to be leaders on the gridiron. In addition to Boness and Kubik, Doug Olson, Marcial Davis and CJ Villanueva are expected to help bring their mission to life this fall.  

“I have a great group of guys that I believe in, that are either going to lead by example or lead with their voice. That I've always been really fortunate to have,” the coach said.  

The Broncos open the season on the road at Kettle Falls on Sep 4 but follow up the next week with their home opener against Newport at 7 p.m. on Sep 11.  

    The Broncos defense runs through tackling drills at practice ahead of the 2026 season.
  

    The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos Head Coach Brendan Bermea (in gray shirt) surveys the field as practice takes place ahead of the 2026 season.
  

    The Broncos offense huddles up before passing drills at practice.
  

    Will Crow drops back during a coverage drill.
  

    The Broncos’ Shane Kubik takes snap at defensive back during coverage drills at team practice ahead of the 2026 season.