Columbia High snapped a three-game Trico League losing streak last Friday for its first league win: a 42-6 victory over Seton Catholic, in Camas.
Senior tailback Ulices Isordia ran 16 6imes for a career-high 268 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way for the Bruins (1-3 Trico, 5-3 overall), who led the Cougars 35-0 at halftime.
“A great win to get back on track,” Bruins Coach John Hallead said. “We felt this was a challenge game for us to see which team would show up: the 4-0 to start the season team, or the 0-3 to start league play team.”
To the CHS coaching staff’s relief, the former team showed up and put on a show, out-gaining Seton by a margin of 493-173 in total yards from scrimmage.
The Bruins opened with a drive that ended with a Seton stop on fourth-and-goal. The Cougars followed up that stop with successive first downs on their first seven plays before stalling and punting the ball away.
Columbia took the ball down the field on its next possession and finished the drive off with a 7-yard scoring run by Sam Rowlen. Jose Eudave kicked the first of seven successful point-after tries to make it 7-0.
The Bruins really came to life in the second quarter as their defense shut down the Cougars’ offense, and their offense put together four touchdown drives.
Quarterback Austin Bucklin ran 36 for one score, Zach Walker went 15 yards for another, Isordia broke a run for 45 yards, and Bucklin completed a 20-yard scoring pass to Shad Curtis.
Isordia completed the CHS scoring in the third quarter with his longest run of the season, a 75-yarder that gave the Bruins a six-score cushion.
“The second half for us was about getting a lot of our reserves in to play with a big lead, and due to the fact Seton cancelled the jayvee game” that was scheduled for Oct. 26, Hallead said. “When we went up 42-0 in the third quarter, it was full-scale substitution, and Seton scored their only touchdown with about five minutes left in the game.”
Hallead credited the Seton players for battling and resisting CHS all game long.
“They played hard and with a lot of heart,” Hallead said of the Cougars. “But, in the same breath, our kids came out and put this game out of reach in the first half, which was our emphasis coming into the game.”
Hallead was greatly pleas-ed to see Isordia “get out of his three-game funk,” in which he had a combined 111 yards against Kalama, La Center, and Castle Rock. Isordia ran for 251 yards on Sept. 18 versus Fort Vancouver.
Hallead, however, was not thrilled by the number of penalties the Bruins racked up last Friday.
He said offensive penalties cost CHS two touchdowns and about 100 yards. Conversely, defensive infractions helped keep some Seton drives alive.
Coming up: It’s Week 9, the last week of the regular season, which means it’s time for the annual Columbia-Stevenson rivalry game.
This year’s game will be played tomorrow night in Stevenson. Kickoff is at 7. The Bulldogs are coming off a 42-6 loss to Castle Rock.
Hallead is 2-1 against Stevenson. The Bruins beat the Bulldogs here last season, lost to them here in 2013, and ended a four-game losing streak to Stevenson with a win there in 2012.
“On paper, we have the advantage,” Hallead said, noting the teams have had five common opponents, and only CHS beat Washougal. But, he continued, because it’s a rivalry game, all records and statistics can be disregarded.
“Columbia-White Salmon and Stevenson have a storied history of intense football rivalry games,” Hallead said. “Anything can happen in a rivalry game and we expect nothing short of a great high school football rivalry game. With that said, we will be ready and will play our best football of the year against Stevenson.”
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