Non-league football: Columbia River 47, Fort Vancouver 12

Nic Briggs watched from the sidelines in street clothes last week as his Columbia River teammates lost for the first time this season.

On Friday night, the senior made his mark early in the Chieftains’ 47-12 victory over Fort Vancouver, scoring two first-quarter touchdowns as River showed no after-effects from its 62-6 loss to Tumwater a week ago to win its 3A Greater St. Helens League opener.

“It felt really good to be back,” said Briggs, who finished with a game-high 69 yards on 11 carries after serving a one-game suspension for a helmet-to-helmet hit two weeks ago vs. Black Hills. “This is like our family. I felt that bond again.”

Briggs capped River’s first two drives with TD runs of 2 and 4 yards as the Chieftains (5-1, 1-0) scored on all four of its first-half possessions to lead 27-0 at halftime.

“Nic worked real hard all week and didn’t pout about the situation he was in,” said River coach John O’Rourke. “That’s tough sometimes for kids to accept, and personality-wise, you wouldn’t expect him to be one to get a penalty like that.”

O’Rourke liked how efficient his offense was in the first half, putting up 27 points despite having the ball for only 6½ minutes. He was more pleased with his defense, which held Fort (1-5, 0-3) scoreless until the game was long decided.

“It’s easy to start relaxing at the wrong time in these games,” O’Rourke said.

There was little chance of that, said senior linebacker Hunter Graham, who led River with a pair of sacks and six tackles.

“We are just looking toward the future, preparing for the playoffs, winning a league championship,” he said. “We didn’t talk about (the Tumwater game) all week in practice. Nothing before this game matters.

“Tonight, we just came out wanting to stop the run, make them pass, and then flush the quarterback and make him have happy feet.”

Just as River turned the page after its debacle of a week ago, Fort coach Cal Szueber thought his young team may have turned a corner in defeat.

He pointed to a 15-play, 8½-minute drive in the first half in which the Trappers converted twice on fourth down before stalling in the red zone thanks to a chop block penalty.

Jorge Regalado’s 34-yard field-goal try was blocked by Jack Skantel, and River needed only six plays to put the game out of reach. Gabe Evenson’s second TD pass of the night, a 7-yarder to Jacob Bystry, pushed the lead to 27-0 with 4:02 left before halftime.

“We were able to move the ball against the best team in the league there,” Szueber said. “Physically, they just manhandled us, and we also had a few bad breaks, but I really can’t complain. Our kids put up one of their better efforts of the year.”

Evenson finished 9-of-13 for 112 yards and also ran for a score, and Holden Fielding also scored a pair of touchdowns for River.

Jordan Suell was 12-of-22 for 111 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception. David Bishop had a game-high four catches for 40 yards before leaving late in the game with a knee injury.

COLuMBIA RVIER 47, FORT VANCOUVER 12

Fort Vanc. 0 0 0 12—12

Col. River 21 6 14 6—47

First quarter

CR — Nic Briggs 2 run (Garrett McKee kick)

CR — Briggs 4 run (McKee kick)

CR — Holden Fielding 19 pass from Gabe Evenson (McKee kick)

Second quarter

CR — Jacob Bystry 7 pass from Evenson (kick blocked)

Third quarter

CR — Evenson 4 run (McKee kick)

CR — Carson Bassett 21 pass from McKee (Nathan Pyles kick)

Fourth quarter

FV — Jorge Regalado 25 run (kick failed)

CR — Fielding 47 kickoff return (kick blocked)

FV — D.J. Owens 20 pass from Jordan Suell (kick blocked)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Fort, Suell 11-20, Owens 9-27, Mitchell Cooper 4-14, Thomas Shields 3-21, Regalado 1-25, Cody Loyer-Hiebert 1-5. River, Briggs 11-69, Evenson 3-(minus 1), Nathan Hawthorne 3-22, McKee 1-41, team 1-(minus 16).

PASSING — Fort, Suell 12-22-1-111. River, Evenson 9-13-0-112, McKee 1-2-0-21.

RECEIVING — Fort, David Bishop 4-40, Cooper 3-28, Owens 2-26, Regalado 1-5, Paul Martinez 1-6, Loyer-Hiebert 1-6. River, Bassett 3-50, Fielding 3-41, Bystry 2-20, Hawthorne 2-22.