Colome is the new sherrif in 9B football
By Rich Winter
Heading into yesterday's games and the possible trifecta for Gregory, Winner and Colome, the toughest path to completing the sweep for the juggernaut that is HWY 18 football appeared to be Colome getting past defending champion, Langford. The Lions racked up 61 points in a semifinal win over Harding County and had been racking up huge point totals all season....
Had been!
A rugged Colome defense and an offense that just got better and better this season dropped the hammer on the defending champions with a 42-23 win.
Couple of things really caught my attention last night.
That Kelly O'Bryan kid is a tough hombre...I saw that first interception yesterday and I came out my chair before the commentators happened to notice that was a wicked, wicked athletic play. One-handed, on the goal-line to thwart what would have been a game-changing, momentum swinging score for Langford. Don't know how I missed this guy the previous time I saw Colome play vs. Hamlin but man the kid has a nose for finding the running lane, edge. That play last night where he waited for Will Cahoy to block the defender out of the way before ducking under for big yards and a first down, that's a patient, seasoned veteran out there with some big-time skill.
The future looks very bright: Announcers pre-game are talking about Layton Thieman and his 24 TD passes coming into the game. Thieman won the 2016 9B Joe Robbie MVP Award. He had 189-yards passing and three passing touchdowns in the game. That Jackson Kinzer kid looks like he's the real deal and ever time he touches the rock, I feel like he's just about to take it to the house.
Both are only sophomores!
Coaching staff deserves a lot of credit: Head Coach: Dale Krumpus...Asst. Coaches: Dave Campbell, Charles Hosford. Interesting that Colome added a new wrinkle to the offense by unleashing the wishbone which just about put the announcers through the roof, almost like they were seeing German come across the prompter. That said, installing a new wrinkle, and one with so many nuances to it, confounds the opponent, but it's also hard to install something like that in a week.
The defense was special last night: That Chance Olson character from Langford is a special player that is fast, shifty and ultimately dangerous every time he touches the ball. Colome got after him last night, aggressively, but they also played assignment football, staying in their lanes, limiting the big play and slowing down what had been an offense that has been tuning people up all season.
The big boys up front deserve some serious credit: Not only did Matt Campbell and company hold up against one of the best running games in 9B history, they really controlled the line of scrimmage on the offensive side of the football. In that second half it seemed Colome made a concerted effort to run between the tackles instead of getting outside so much.
It worked, and that's a lot of man-on-man, punch you in the mouth stuff from Colome.
Classy stuff seeing the injured Colome players, including senior Holden Thieman walking out for the coin toss at the Dakota Dome...
Well done Cowboys...what a ride....
Now let's go Winner, let's do this!
Scoring Summary:
Langford 8 0 15 0 23
Colome 0 14 8 20 42
07:24 Lang - Peter Fazekas 38 yd pass from Chance Olson (Peter Fazekas kick no good) 2-40 0:47 8 - 0
2nd 07:00 Colom - Will Cahoy 1 yd run (Kelly O'Bryan run) 15-79 6:56 8 - 8
01:14 Colom - Kolton Salonen 20 yd pass from Layton Thieman (Kelly O'Bryan run no good) 8-50 1:34 8 - 14
3rd 07:20 Colom - Jackson Kinzer 15 yd pass from Layton Thieman (Jackson Kinzer run) 11-59 4:40 8 - 22
07:07 Lang - Harley Gibbs 60 yd pass from Chance Olson (Mason Larson pass) 1-60 0:13 16 - 22
02:32 Lang - Ryan Punt 38 yd interception return (Peter Fazekas kick) 0-0 0:00 23 - 22
4th 09:56 Colom - Jackson Kinzer 11 yd pass from Layton Thieman (Jackson Kinzer run) 8-53 4:36 23 - 30
04:20 Colom - Will Cahoy 1 yd run ( no good) 9-89 4:05 23 - 36
00:47 Colom - Chase Dufek 19 yd run (Wyatt Cahoy run no good) 1-19 0:08 23 - 42
