Reardan surges in second half to defeat Kettle Falls 30-6

REARDAN – Kettle Falls had its chances to snap its three-season long losing streak against Reardan Saturday, but ultimately fell 30-6, after the Indians scored three touchdowns in the third quarter.

Reardan (1-0) and Kettle Falls (0-1) opened both their seasons and battled in a defense struggle through two quarters. The Bulldogs burst out of the gate with a 35-yard run from senior Boomer Prouty and had the ball within the Indian's 25 yard line on their first two possessions, but could not score. The deadlock was broken with a 37-yard field goal from Reardan junior Wyatt Raczykowski with under a minute left in the half.

"On offense we were kind of stymied for a while. It was just a matter of communication and blocking the right players," Reardan head coach Eric Nikkola said. "We were able to fix our mistakes at halftime, but until then we were really struggling to move the ball. Leading only 3-0 at half, we regrouped and walked through our blocking schemes. We fixed our mistakes and were rewarded with some huge holes for our running backs."

Right out of the gate in the third quarter, Reardan got in the endzone on a 49-yard run from junior Abe Nelson on the first play of the half. The Indians then extended their lead to 17-0 with a 25-yard touchdown from junior Cody Sprecher with 7:15 left in the quarter. Sprecher then scored again with a 7-yard run with under a minute left in the third.

Prouty got Kettle Falls into the endzone with 6:48 remaining in the fourth quarter, which was followed two minutes later by Nelson's second rushing touchdown of the game to reach the 30-6 final score.

"I'm very proud," Kettle Falls head coach Justin Carstens said after the game. "Where the program has been the past two years, to play an entire game without a running clock is something our guys haven't experienced. We have a great start to our season and look forward to some of the games where we'll have an even better chance with more even numbers."

Kettle Falls suited up 15 players for the game, while Reardan's sideline had 37.

Nelson rushed for 120 yards with two touchdowns and Sprecher added 76 yards with two touchdowns to lead Reardan, while Prouty rushed for 137 yards with a touchdown to lead Kettle Falls.

This week, Reardan is busy preparing for its rivalry game at Davenport Saturday, March 6. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

"We are going to need to fix our mistakes a lot sooner this week. Against Davenport, we cannot afford to have a half filled with mistakes," Nikkola said. "Most of the varsity kids will be playing both ways, and they will need to play with passion and intensity. Davenport is huge up front and they have good team speed. They lost a tough one to Asotin last week, so I know they will be fired up and ready to play us."

– Editor Drew Lawson contributed to this story.