COLFAX — With Friday’s 49-0 victory over GMG at home in the regular-season finale, Colfax-Mingo’s Tigerhawks claimed a spot in the Class A playoffs Wednesday. It’s the first time into the playoffs for the Tigerhawks since 2003.
The Tigerhawks finished 4-3, tied with Lynnville-Sully, in Class A District 7 play. Colfax-Mingo won the head-to-head tiebreaker to head to the playoffs. Colfax-Mingo (6-3) travel to Mount Ayr Wednesday for a first-round game at 7 p.m.
“We got three quick scores in the first quarter and that set the tone for the game. The kids just kept it going,” said Jeff Lietz, Colfax-Mingo head coach. “Jared Myers played well and made plays for us. We had three touchdown passes and four rushing touchdowns.”
Myers led the charge for the Tigerhawks, completed 18-of-29 passes for 373 yards and three touchdowns. Myers also rushed for 38 yards and one touchdown. Myers has passed for 2,411 yards in the regular season on 159 completes in 294 pass attempts.
Lietz said the Tigerhawks got a defensive stop on the first possession of the game, then went to work offensively. Myers’ connected with Blake Summy on a 21-yard scoring strike. On the next drive, it was a 65-yard pass and catch from Myers to Gabe Simpson for a touchdown.
Jake Buehrer punched through to the end zone on a 6-yard run. The Tigerhawks led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Colfax-Mingo scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper by Myers in the second quarter. A 6-yard run by Jake Lietz and Brady DeJoode’s extra-point kick pushed the Tigerhawk led to 35-0 by halftime.
The teams played the entire second half with a running clock by the 35-point lead rule.
Lietz takes on a 10-yard scoring run in the third quarter. Colin Lourens hauled in a 5-yard scoring pass from Myers. DeJoode kicked seven extra points.
“It was good to have Jake (Lietz) back tonight. He had a strong game on both sides of the football,” Lietz said. “We’re really happy for these kids to get into the playoffs. We know its a challenge for us, going on the road against No. 1 seed from another district. We’ll just keep playing and see what happens.”
Senior running back Clayton Brown paced the running attack for the Tigerhawks with 74 yards on 11 carries. Buehrer had 30 yards on four carries and three catches for 44 yards. Lietz had three carries for 20 yards.
Summy led the receiving corps with seven catches for 160 yards. Simpson made two catches for 78 yards and Lourens had three receptions for 50 yards. Senior Jimmy Abell made three catches for 41 yards.
Defensively, Lourens made eight unassisted tackles and one assisted tackle while Alan Wheeler recorded a quarterback sack along with six solo tackles and two assisted tackles. Lietz had five solo stops and four assisted tackles.
Abell, Lane Dunblazer and Summy each had an interception.