Columbia River goes long early to beat Ridgefield

RIDGEFIELD — Moments after defeating Ridgefield 52-21 on Friday, Columbia River head coach Christian Swain reassured his 2A Greater St. Helens League playoff-bound squad that they were “peaking at the right time.”

On this night Swain’s quarterbacking play, once a shared role, proved it may be the fastest developing position of the surging Chieftains.

Utilizing the deep ball early and often, Matthew Asplund made sure the visiting Chieftains put the Spudders away by connecting on four first half touchdown passes to three different receivers that averaged 51 yards apiece.

“It started a couple of weeks ago,” Asplund said of the developing chemistry the River offense has been displaying. “We’re trusting each other and the guys up front pave the way for us.”

Perhaps the most impressive of the junior signal callers four touchdown passes included a pump fake before hitting Nathan Kunz in stride for the longest score of the night.

“Fire pump,” Asplund recalled. “I saw one on two and when it’s Kunz, you take advantage of it.”

Swain is confident the growth of his quarterback will continue into 2018.

“He’s going to be special,” Swain said. “He has all the tools. The leadership qualities, he can make all the throws, and he handled some adversity with a lot of character.”

Ridgefield ended up with as many first downs as its high-scoring opponent, but River made life hectic for quarterback Dawson Lieurance, sacking him six times and taking one interception in for an early score.

“They played hard to the very end,” Swain said of the Spudders.

“We’ve been harping on discipline and we have a lot to improve on still.”

Columbia River 52, Ridgefield 21

River 20 19 6 7–52

Ridgefield 0 7 6 8–21

First Quarter

CR — Tristan Hoyer 56 pass from Matthew Asplund (Hoyer kick)

CR — Kanen Eaton 33 interception return (Hoyer kick)

CR — Jarrett Seelbinder 59 run (run failed)

Second Quarter

CR — Eaton 50 pass from Asplund (run failed)

CR — Nathan Kunz 68 pass from Asplund (Hoyer kick)

CR — Eaton 29 pass from Asplund (kick failed)

R — Carter Pankow 20 pass from Dawson Lieurance (Jonathan Flury kick)

Third Quarter

CR — Koben Jamison 3 run (kick failed)

R — Jeremy Martin 9 pass from Lawrence (kick failed)

Fourth Quarter

CR — Isaac Bibb-O’Neil 7 run (Hoyer kick)

R — Connor Lewis 40 run (Jeremy Martin run)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Columbia River: Isaac Bibb-O’Neil 11-69, Koben Jamison 10-45, Seelbinder 2-59, Asplund 3-2, Ridgefield: Martin 11-53, Hunter Abrams 9-68, Lewis 4-53, Lieurance 6-(minus-34), Tucker Roberts 1-5.

PASSING — Columbia River: Asplund 11-15-0-260, Seelbinder 1-1-0-21, Ridgefield: Lieurance 9-18-1-111.

RECEIVING — Columbia River: Will Buss 4-37, Eaton 3-85, Kunz 2-94, Hoyer 1-56, Jamison 1-5. Ridgefield: Martin 3-20, Lewis 2-31, Pankow 2-31, Abrams 1-13, Andrew Rommel 1-16.