Columbia football loses at home to Culver

With four practices to adjust to nine-man play, the Bruins, led by head coach Shawn Friese, lost 72-18 to Culver on Friday night.

“I think that it was a tough week, and we knew going into it, and the players knew that we’re preparing for a nine-man game, and we’re not used to that,” Friese told the Columbia Gorge News after the game in White Salmon on Sept. 19. “That’s not something that we do, but I can’t say enough about our guys that they took that and decided that we’re going to make it our mission to learn this and to execute it as best as we can on the football field.”

“Hats off to them. That’s a really good nine-man football team. They are a good team, and I thought what we were able to do in this game, and I’m really proud of what we were able to do. Especially in the second half, I mean, it’s really easy to go out into halftime and you just fold because you’re down by that many points, and we didn’t, we came out and we really responded in the second half. I’m really proud of our guys.”

Culver dominated early and often in this one as Tyler Rahi took the opening kick to the house, which started the offensive onslaught. The Bulldogs went for two but were unsuccessful, which made the score 6-0, Culver.

The Bulldogs got the ball back quickly, and Max Dickson scored on a misdirection play in the red zone with 6:31 left in the quarter. The two-point try was successful, and that made it 14-0 Bulldogs.

Culver used misdirection all night, and used it again on the fringe of the red zone as Carter Worley ran into the endzone with 3:47 left in the quarter. The two-point try was no good, which gave Culver a 20-0 lead.

The Bruins got some momentum later in the first quarter as quarterback Hunter Wang took off for a 39-yard touchdown run with 2:57 left. The point after was no good, and Culver now led 20-6.

The Bulldogs stalled this momentum as Joe Taylor took off up the middle for a 55-yard touchdown run with 1:55 left. Point after was no good, which put Culver up 26-6.

The offensive dominance for Culver continued in the second quarter as Kapp Novelli scored on a two-yard run with 8:42 left in the half. Culver’s two-point attempt was good and put the Bulldogs up 34-6.

The Bruins put together a solid drive that started with a 34-yard throw and catch from Hunter Wang to Brody Landgren and finished with a touchdown from Wang to Caleb Reynolds.

The two-point try for CHS was no good, and Culver led 34-12 with 6:45 left in the half.

Culver responded as Noah Cory and Tyler Rahi scored back-to-back touchdown runs, with successful point-after tries to give the Bulldogs a 50-12 lead at halftime.

The Bruins made some progress on offense at the start of the second half as Hunter Wang found Brody Landgren on a scramble drill down the sideline for a touchdown pass with 10:41 left in the quarter. The two-point attempt was no good, and the score was now 50-18, Culver. 

Culver scored again with 3:14 left in the quarter with a successful two-point try and now led 58-18.

The rest of the game was played with a running clock, and Culver would score twice more with a successful two-point try on the first score.

The Bulldogs ultimately came away with the win, 72-18, in White Salmon.

The Bruins will face the WIAA Class 1A Medical Lake Cardinals (0-2) next week at 7 p.m., Sept. 27, at Medical Lake High School.