Goldendale scores early, often against young Bruins

Columbia quarterback Jace Greenwood had a good debut, rushing 13 times for 148 yards and completing eight of 16 passes for 94 yards, including a seven-yard TD strike to Avery Schalk. Greenwood accounted for 242 of Columbia’s 255 yards of offense. Freshman Kai Brasuell had five catches for 87 yards in his high school debut to lead the Bruin receivers.

Sophomore Petey Schlegel led the Bruin defense with 7.5 tackles and sophomore teammate Wesley White had 6.5

White and Greenwood scored Columbia’s other two touchdowns on runs.

Goldendale snapped a six-game losing streak with the win. The Timberwolves lost to Columbia 28-14 this past COVID-shortened spring season.

Last Friday, the Timberwolves (1-0) took advantage of good field position after a 51-yard Caleb Smith kickoff return and caught Columbia off guard on the first offensive play with little razzle-dazzle pass that covered 34 yards. Quaterback Kade Bomberger handed off the ball to Smith, who was running left on an apparent inside counter. Instead, Smith pitched the ball to Austin Neil who was running back to the right. Meantime, Tyler Wells had slipped behind the Columbia secondary and caught Neil’s slightly underthrown pass for an easy 34-yard opening score.

Columbia went three and out on its first offensive possession and Goldendale quickly went back to work. On a second-and-six from the Columbia 36, Bomberger hit Wells on a slant pattern across the middle and the receiver went untouched to the left corner of the goal line. Wells scored on Goldendale’s next possession on a quick out pass where he juked inside and cut to the outside and again outran Columbia’s defenders down the left sideline.

Columbia has another non-league road game Friday, when it visits its neighbor the west, Stevenson, for a 7 p.m. contest. Stevenson opened its season last week with a 30-14 road loss at Morton/White Pass.