Reardan controls NWC in final regular season game
Last updated 3/25/2021 at 12:27pm
REARDAN – Despite four linemen being out due to injury, the Reardan Indians didn't have much trouble dispatching of the Northwest Christian Crusaders Friday, March 19. Reardan topped NWC 29-6 to improve to 3-1 this season, while the Crusaders dropped to 0-3.
Reardan's defense pitched a shutout. Junior Wyatt Raczykowski's fourth quarter, 43-yard interception return of his own put the game away for Reardan and ensured the Reardan defense would outscore NWC's offense.
Freshman Aidan Chilson made his first varsity start and tied for the team lead in tackles with senior Kobe Martinez. The pair had 7.5 tackles and 1.5 sacks each.
The Indians held NWC to just two yards rushing while rushing for 169 yards themselves.
“I thought the kids played really well and really hard with a lot of energy, which we were missing last week,” Reardan head coach Eric Nikkola said while referencing the Indians’ 46-6 faceplant at Colfax March 12.
Sophomore Abe Nelson got the scoring going in the first quarter with a two-yard score after a long run the play before, while junior Cody Sprecher, who led the team with 110 rushing yards, added a two-yard rush of his own in the second quarter. Senior quarterback Mahkai Anderson found senior wide receiver Darius Curry later in the second period for a 14-yard touchdown, while Raczykowksi's pick-six rounded out Reardan's scoring during an otherwise-scoreless second half.
“We were able to make our counter work pretty effectively when we blocked it correctly,” Nikkola said. “Overall, I thought we played pretty well offensively. Again, we were down a lot of people. We took our fullback and put him on the offensive line.”
Nikkola said the four linemen missing are expected to be back for the league seeding game.
An Anderson pass in the first quarter was picked off by NWC's Aaron House and returned 20 yards for a touchdown for NWC's only points of the game. The senior slinger finished just 2-7 on passes for 20 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Reardan doesn’t pass the ball much, but Nikkola said he’d love to get to the point where he can count on 10-12 efficient passing attempts per game.
“First, we have to give the quarterback time, which he didn’t have a ton of tonight,” Nikkola said. “Then, we have to catch the ball when we have the opportunity…if we’re throwing the ball 10 times in a game, I want to complete seven or eight of those things.”
Despite the dominance, Reardan still has room to improve heading into its bye week…namely regarding turnovers and penalties. Anderson threw two interceptions, and Reardan lost two fumbles for four ball turnovers total. Both teams committed five penalties that cost 45 yards each.
“We have to clean up some penalties, that’s for sure,” Nikkola said.
Reardan, currently in third place in the NE2B, is off this weekend before league seeding games April 3. The Indians’ opponent for that weekend is very up in the air and depends on this weekend’s results for Chewelah, Liberty, Lind-Ritzville/Sprague and Colfax.
Chewelah and Liberty, both undefeated, face off at Jenkins High School March 26. LRS (2-1) is at Asotin (1-2), while Colfax (2-2) hosts NWC. Full standings can be seen in this week’s issue of The Times.
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