(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Avery Kitt finished with three touchdowns for the Chargers. (File photo)

Kitt scores three touchdowns for Chargers…

While not eligible for the postseason play, the Springdale Chargers are certainly playing like they’re ready for it.

On Tuesday, scheduling a makeup game after Hunters cancelled it’s football season due to not enough players, Springdale took on Inchelium in 1B matchup that saw the Chargers come away with a 44-14 victory to improve to 4-4 on the year.

Avery Kitt scoring three touchdowns for Springdale in the matchup and the Chargers finished with 258 yards of total offense. More

(GENO LUDWIG/Chewelah Independent)

Prowling the backfield like a Grizzly Bear, Chewelah’s Jake George pressured NWC’s QB seemingly all night. This photo was taken right before a particularly hard hit that caused the photographer to go “oh my.” (Brandon Hansen photo)

STAGE IS SET: Now 2-0 in league, Chewelah takes on Davenport on Friday for league title…

Jake Jeanneret threw for 241 yards and five touchdowns last Friday night when the Chewelah Cougars defeated the Northwest Christian Crusaders 42-6 as they ramped up their air attack in preparation for this Friday’s encounter with Davenport for the Northeast 2B League North championship. Jeanneret completed 10 of 15 passes spread over four receivers, and the Cougars added a touchdown on the ground to go 2-0 in northern division play.

This Friday’s game will not only decide the northern division title of the Northeast B2 League when the Gorillas invade Merle B. Snyder Field, but it will also resolve seeding for the upcoming crossover games against southern division teams. The winner of Friday’s game will face the fourth-place team from the south. The loser will play number three. The Gorillas beat Kettle Falls 53-15 and Northwest Christian 45-14, so they are also 2-0. More

1. The 2Bs are an absolute mess and we have no idea where Chewelah slots in

Like… what is going on in Eastern Washington? Last week I was singing the praises of No. 4 Colfax, which had to a point shown itself to be the class of our side of the state.

Then they lost to Reardan on Friday 23-22. Unranked Reardan. So you might as well tear up any projections you had for the postseason.

Reardan is a team Chewelah has beaten, but at 4-4, the Cougars aren’t getting any love in the polls.

Throw in that on Friday, No. 7 Asotin barely beat No. 8 Liberty 10-6, which is a team the Cougars can compete with. While they lost to Liberty earlier in the year, they just kind of let their game against the Lancers get away from them this year, and they were missing some kids including touchdown and tackle machine Bowen Middlesworth.

Also in the AP poll is No. 9 Lake Roosevelt, a team Chewelah beat. So where does Chewelah slot in. Three of their losses have come against 1A opponents, so essentially one bad quarter of football against Liberty is what has doomed them from the rankings.

The Cougars downed winless Northwest Christian on Friday, 42-6 and will now face their toughest league foe, Davenport. One caveat is that Reardan downed Davenport 56-34 earlier in the year. Reardan is a team Chewelah has defeated. So by laws of similar opponents, you might give Chewelah the edge in this matchup. But looking at how the east side scores have gone in the past few weeks, all I have to say is… More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

8th grade Kameron Martinez came in under center for Jay Link (left) and finished as the game’s leading rusher for Selkirk.

Rangers set the stage for best 1B football game on the eastside next week…

The Selkirk Rangers bumped their league record to 6-0 with a 50-0 victory over Northport on Friday, and set the stage for a league championship game of sorts against Cusick next Friday.

Selkirk quarterback Jay Link, who played just the first half, threw for 270 yards and five touchdown passes in the victory. In the the first quarter, he hit Zech Curran for a 55-yard touchdown pass, a six yard score to Stephen Davis, a 55-yard touchdown pass to Luke Couch and a 76-yard bomb to Ty Taylor.

In the second quarter, Link hit Aiden Penney for 26 yards for another touchdown and the Rangers rounded out their first-half scoring with an 18-yard touchdown run by Stephen Davis. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

The Chewelah Cougars know the league games are what count when it comes to the postseason, and they’ve left little to doubt so far. After downing Kettle Falls 50-6 last week, Chewelah pounced on Northwest Christian 42-6 on Friday at Riverside, with quarterback Jake Jeanneret dialing up some big passes and throwing for four touchdowns.

Northwest Christian fell to 0-8 on the year, while Chewelah improved to a deceptive 4-4 – with three of those losses coming to 1A playoff teams.

“It feels great we came out we knew we had to take care of business and go out and womp them,” Jeanneret said. “Our league isn’t as good as it has been in the past, so we’re trying to step up and beat these teams as we should and get a good ranking heading into the playoffs.” More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

The Chewelah Cougars celebrate after a point against Kettle Falls on Thursday. (Brandon Hansen photo)

Cougs pick up ninth win of the year…

The Chewelah Cougars used a balanced and sometimes tricky offense to sweep Kettle Falls 25-12, 25-11, 25-16. The Cougars had plenty to be distracted about with it being senior night, but their play spoke for itself as Lilly Kirry and Haven Rainer, both seniors, finished the night with eight kills apiece.

The win boosted Chewelah’s record to 9-4 on the year and 7-3 in league play. The Cougars will go into the District 7 tournament with a No. 2 seed from the NE 2B North. More

(COLIN HAFFNER/Chewelah Independent)

Selkirk trounces Cusick…

Selkirk had things going from the start in their Thursday night match with Cusick (3-7, 3-7), putting in an all-around effort to get a straight set victory 25-19, 25-3, 25-12.

It was another dominant performance that has become commonplace for the Rangers squad that has come away with sweeps in eight of their nine wins on the season. This time waiting until the second set to truly catch fire and riding the hot streak all the way to the win.

Selkirk (9-2, 9-2) players filled out the stats sheet on the night, lead by Aralee Robertson with eight aces and Bree Dawson with 12 kills. Nicol Lyons helped out with 20 assists to aid in the win. Selkirk finishes off their final week of the regular season with a pair of home matches against Curlew and Republic Nov. 2. First match against Curlew begins at 12 p.m.

PHOTOS BY KELLY FLANAGAN

Colville plays strong in loss…

Colville put up a fight Thursday night when they hosted Freeman, but took a tough loss in the end to a very strong team, losing in three sets 19-25, 20-25, 19-25.

Freeman (9-3, 9-2) came in with their only losses top-ten teams in Lakeside and Rogers (Puyallup) and a win against 3A Kamiakin on the year. Though the end result was not what the Indians were hoping for, they managed to push one of the top teams in the state in all three sets and showed they were ready to compete. Brooke Stutzer notched seven kills and a pair of aces to go along with Kiley Power’s 19 assists and a pair of aces of her own on the night for Colville (9-5, 7-4). Mckenna Reggear added five blocks and Katelynn Powers also played hard with 14 digs in the loss.

The Indians wrap up the regular season with a road match against Lakeside, the top 1A school in the league and state, Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m.

(COLIN HAFFNER/Chewelah Independent)

Springdale celebrated senior night with a nice win over the visiting Riverside Rams, getting a straight set win, 25-21, 25-15, 27-25.

It was fitting that a night honoring the seniors saw the Chargers (7-3, 3-1) senior co-captains steal the show in the hard fought win. Andrea Wellhausen dominated with 16 kills in the match, and her co-captain Mattea Gines had 26 digs to go along with four aces to lead the team. Fellow senior Makala Norris tossed up 14 assists to aid in the win over the Rams (7-7, 5-5).

Springdale will next head into districts with their next match still to be determined.

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Is Smokey Abrahamson the greatest thing for sportswriters since a name like Yogi Berra? Yeah probably. (Bobbi Ward photo)

Abrahamson runs and throws his way to Stevens County Fantasy Football Championship…

Wellpinit got off to a bit of a slow start this year with an 0-3 record, but has since evened their mark at 3-3. For two straight games the Redskins running back, Smokey Abrahamson has been on an absolute tear running for 200+ yards each mark.

This week, he is our fantasy football champ with 54 fantasy points thanks to 228 yards rushing, four rushing touchdowns, 50 yards passing, one touchdown pass and scoring a 2-point conversion. Also since his name is Smokey, it makes this whole thing like 1000 times better. Is there a better running back name? You can make so many “Smoke Monster” references for the people old enough to remember the TV series “LOST.” You can also make terrible, terrible article leads like “Wellpinit must be on fire because their running back’s name is Smokey” or “When there is Smokey, there is a touchdown.”

Wellpinit has a big game tonight at Republic where they can get the inside track on third place in the league. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

POWER RANGERS: Selkirk downs state power Odessa and is looking strong heading into the postseason…

Odessa is constantly considered one of the best teams in the eastern part of the state, and it’s hard to ignore with the kind of results they put up.

But NE Washington can put a feather in its cap after the Selkirk Rangers picked up the 25-17, 23-25, 26-24, 25-22 victory over perennial volleyball power Odessa in NE 1B volleyball action on Saturday.

“Winning the game Saturday against Odessa was important for us, but we will most likely play them again in the District Tournament and it will be equally as hard,” Selkirk Coach Pam Zimmerman said.

Bree Dawson had 20 kills for the Rangers, who improved to 8-1 on the year, while Odessa saw their season mark drop to 10-3. Selkirk’s Nicole Lyons had 30 assists and two blocks, while Kaitlyn Chantry had seven digs. More