Grizzlies fall to Asotin

NEWPORT – The Newport Grizzlies football team went up against the No. 1 ranked AA team in the state Friday for Newport’s homecoming game. The game didn’t go the Grizzlies way, with Asotin getting a 28-14 win to stay undefeated.

“It’s a tough league and we knew that going into the season,” Newport coach Mark Duxbury says.

He says Newport had trouble on offense. “Friday we just didn’t move the ball consistently on offense,” Duxbury says. “We stalled twice in the red zone, which you can’t do against the really good teams and expect to win. We missed a couple big play opportunities, too.”

Asotin scored a touchdown and extra point kick in each quarter, first with a three-yard rush, then a two yarder, then a touchdown on a 20-yard pass play in the third quarter before Newport got a score, a 21-yard touchdown run by quarterback Hank Kirkwood.

Asotin came back with a 10-yard rushing TD in the fourth quarter.

The Grizzlies scored on a 16-yard Kutter Driver run for the last score of the game.

Kutter Driver rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown on five carries to lead Grizzly rushing. Kirkwood carried 18 times for 92 yards and a TD. Brad Martin carried three times for 36 yards and Brody Driver carried a half dozen times for 10 yards.

Asotin shut down the Grizzlies’ passing game. According to Newport’s statistics, Kirkwood threw seven times and completed four for three yards. Ryder Brown caught two for three yards and Martin caught one for no gain. The stats didn’t list a third receiver.

Duxbury said Asotin was good, but Newport could have played better.

“Asotin is a good football team, but (we) helped them by missing assignments,” he says. “Defensively we didn’t tackle well in space.”

Asotin is ranked No. 1 by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the sanctioning body for the state. The WIAA has Freeman No. 4 and Northwest Christian at No. 7.

“We have faith in our guys, and we’re going to coach them up this week to get ready for Freeman,” Duxbury says.

Newport (1-2, 3-2) travels to Freeman (1-1, 4-1) Friday, Oct. 11, where they’ll play the Scotties at 7 p.m.