Triumphant, Tragic Colfax Season Ends

TACOMA - It wasn't supposed to end this way for the Colfax Bulldogs, who lost 22-20 to Lynden Christian on a last-second field goal in the Class 1A football championship game yesterday.

The Bulldogs, only the second team to lose on the final play of a state championship game, had dealt with too much tragedy this season.

The Bulldogs wore white stickers with the number "70" in honor of Jesse Person, a teammate who died this fall from a blood clot after being paralyzed from the waist down when struck by a combine.

"This is a small town," Colfax quarterback Tyson Curtis said. "Everybody knew him."

But that was neither the start nor the finish of the Bulldogs' trials. On the first day of fall practice, they learned that Jim Rosenbeck, principal of the K-8 school in Colfax that most of the players attended, had lung cancer. Rosenbeck has had three operations and was in the hospital this weekend receiving his second chemotherapy treatment.

About a month later, Person died and the Bulldogs' longtime bus driver had a heart attack and underwent quintuple bypass surgery.

Then, the night before their quarterfinal playoff game against Cashmere, Christy Berg, a longtime friend of junior running back Josh Robinson, was killed in a car accident.

"This is a special team because every time something bad happens we pull closer together," Curtis said.

DeSales coaching change?

Minutes after his team won its second Class B-11 state title this decade, DeSales Coach Kim Cox hinted that he might not be with the team if it makes its third straight title-game appearance next season.

Assistant coach Pat Graham, a former record-setting quarterback for the Irish who let them to the state title in 1991, is a top candidate to replace Cox.

"Pat's going to take over sooner or later," Cox said. "It'll probably be next year."

Step outside

Either move 'em all inside, or move 'em all out.

That's the attitude of some coaches regarding the state semifinal games. Half are played at the Tacoma Dome. The other half are outdoors in Spokane or Kennewick.

"I wish they'd let the east-side teams play (the semifinals) indoors," Colfax Coach Doug Curtis said after yesterday's 22-20 loss to Lynden Christian in the Class 1A final. "By the end of the second quarter (yesterday), we were very tired. I think it gives west-side teams a big advantage."

Dehydration and fatigue sometimes are factors in indoor games, especially for teams not used to the conditions. Mike Colbrese, Washington Interscholastic Activities Association executive director, said the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho, could be available for east-side semifinal games, but some schools refuse to play there.

"It's not an easy situation," Colbrese said, noting the WIAA tries to balance it by not allowing teams that played semifinal games at the Tacoma Dome to practice there before the finals.

If pressure from Eastern Washington teams grows, Colbrese said the odds of playing west-side semifinals outdoors at various sites are greater than playing the east-side games at the Kibbie Dome.

Luck o' the Irish

DeSales players weren't the only ones playing with lucky Irish charms on their side.

Elma receiver Mark Burbidge, who caught seven passes for 112 yards and a touchdown in the Eagles' 37-34 Class 2A win over Pullman, has a green Irish shamrock tattooed on his right shoulder. He got it over spring break in Las Vegas while visiting his brother.

"I don't know why I got it, but I say it's for good luck," he said. "My mom smiled when she saw it, but my dad just shook his head. He wasn't too happy about it."

Notes

-- Semifinal games won't be played on Thanksgiving next year, Colbrese said. The 1998 semifinals will be the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving at the Tacoma Dome. The dome was not available the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year because of a scheduling conflict.

-- Colfax's Curtis retired after the last time he led the Bulldogs to the state-championship game (in 1981 Colfax defeated Montesano 6-0). But he returned in 1984. "I said I'd do it for one year," said Curtis, who earlier this week said he was considering retiring again. "And look what's happened."

-- Winners of the football academic-champion awards for best grade-point averages: 4A - Gonzaga Prep, 3.267 (out of 4.0); 3A - Capital-Olympia, 3.313; 2A - Elma, 3.410; 1A - Colfax, 3.330; B - Liberty-Spangle, 3.362.

-- Friday's Ferndale-Lakes 3A (previously AA) title game marked only the third time this decade that both finalists have been from west of the Cascades.

Times staff reporters Craig Smith, Sandy Ringer, Melanie Brennan, Tom Fuller contributed to this report.