Colts reverse 2003 drubbing by Hunter

There's a new force to reckon with in Region 3.

Backed by the perfect balance of Alex Cate's passing and Scott Havili's rushing, the unheralded Cottonwood Colts beat No. 5 Hunter 46-41 in a stunning opener to region play.

"This is just a great thing for the kids and a great thing for the program," Cottonwood coach Tom Jones said. "I think we surprised some people."

That may be the understatement of the year.

Even though Cottonwood owned an impressive 3-2 record entering the game, the fact remained that last year Hunter beat the Colts 63-0. That's what made Friday's victory all the sweeter.

"That was embarrassing, and we wanted to play better this year," Jones said.

No one could've foreseen it turning into perhaps the game of the year. Sure, neither team played much defense, and there were 23 penalties, but two potent offenses put on a clinic.

Hunter's Chris Laloni opened the scoring just two minutes into the game with a 15-yard TD run. It didn't take Cottonwood long to bounce back as Cate connected with Cliff Andersen on two long touchdown passes to put the Colts ahead 14-7.

By the time halftime rolled around, Cate had hooked up with Andersen for one more score, while Hunter's Chris Laloni, Matt Asiata and Davie Moeaki all scored. It was 28-28 at the half — hardly the blowout that produced a second-half running clock last year.

Amazingly, the second half of Friday's game began with some defense as Cottonwood forced Hunter into a punt after just three plays. That's all it took for Havili to run for one of his three second-half touchdowns as the Colts went ahead 34-28.

Hunter responded with a 14-play drive, but it stalled at the 19. It merely set the stage for the explosive Laloni again. After the Wolverines' defense forced Cottonwood into a punt, Laloni returned it 63 yards for the touchdown.

The teams traded touchdowns on their next drives, Hunter taking the lead at 41-40 with 11:10 remaining.

The Colts marched down field on a 15-play drive, but Hunter's Matt Asiata halted the drive with an interception at the 4-yard line. With only five minutes remaining, the Wolverines mustered up only two first downs, and were forced to punt with 2:20 remaining.

That set the stage beautifully for Cate, an emerging star in Class 5A. In leading the Colts on the 51-yard game-winning drive, he completed three of four pass attempts and then danced into the end zone on a 10-yard scamper with 45 seconds remaining.

Cate unofficially finished with 307 yards on 19-of-32 passing, while Havili added 162 yards rushing. Hunter's Asiata added 241 rushing yards, his fifth straight game over 200 yards.

---

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com