Loggers roll over Wildcats
Libby High School quarterback Joel Fuller eyes the end zone while scrambling early in first-half action Friday in a Northwestern A football game against Columbia Falls at Columbia Falls.Garrett Cheen/Daily Inter Lake
Chumley, Fuller combine for 344 rushing yards in Libby's 42-21 victory
COLUMBIA FALLS - The unsung heroes got the credit.
The Libby High School football team's skill players were the first to praise their offensive line Friday night in a 42-21 Northwestern A smackdown of Columbia Falls in the steady rain of the Wildcats' homecoming.
Libby senior running back Jeremy Chumley rushed for 196 yards and caught five passes for another 77 yards - giving him 273 yards of total offense with three touchdowns - and junior quarterback Joel Fuller rushed for 107 of his 153 yards in the first half and threw for all 118 of his passing yards in the first half.
"I have an awesome offensive line," Chumley said. "They were giving me at least 5 or 6 yards each time and I was able to break past the linebackers once I got past the line. Then it wasn't too hard after that. We were most worried about our inside running game against their defense. But our linemen just blew them off the ball.
"Then I had my quarterback giving me a bunch of those little hitch passes. With that great arm of his, I can't do better than that."
The Loggers totaled 359 yards on the ground on 53 carries. Fuller's 118 passing yards gave the Loggers a whopping 477 total yards on 76 plays. And center Ryan Stapely (180 pounds), guards Justin Brickey (250), Justin Graham (200) and Brandin Mills (240), and tackles Matt Schad (250) and Jordan Gragert (230) were all anybody could talk about.
"I thought we were going to come out and throw a lot more than we did, but I guess coach saw that we were able to get outside on them a lot and stuck with it," said Fuller, who rushed for two touchdowns and gouged C-Falls with shotgun-draw, read-option runs. "I knew that with our linemen, they were going to open up holes everywhere. But I was able to read them and get out there even farther."
On the flip side, the Wildcats ran only 34 plays and were held to 105 total yards. Two of their three touchdowns came on special teams. Scott Palmer returned a kickoff 98 yards for his second return touchdown of the season. Mitchell Wassam ended up on the lucky end of an interception in the end zone off a Loggers' punt attempt when C-Falls defensive end Ben Wells spun punter Zack Rowan around to make him lose control of the ball.
"With all the freaky things that happened in this game, I was just happy to come out of here with a win," Libby coach Neil Fuller said. "Our line has done such a great job. (Coach) Tim Hodel has done such a great job with them. C-Falls put a lot of pressure on us with strong and quick kids (in the trenches). It was a good test for us."
The Loggers marched nine plays for a touchdown on their first drive of the game, held C-Falls to a three-and-out on the Wildcats' first possession, then Rowan returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown just 4 1/2 minutes into the game and they never looked back.
"Their line got off the ball real well, Chumley ran tough and (Joel) Fuller caused us a lot of problems," Columbia Falls coach John Thompson said. "I was real disappointed that they were able to break contain as easily as they did (on Fuller's shotgun draw read options).
"We tried to mix it up as good as we could on offense to get back into it, but when you run half as many plays as they do, they're going to make you pay. It's tough when you're down by 20 because there are no 20-point plays."
The Loggers improved to 2-0 in Northwestern A play and 5-1 overall with a forfeit loss to Kellogg, Idaho.
C-Falls fell to 1-1 in conference and 3-2 overall.
In a game featuring the top two running backs in the league (and Chumley leading C-Falls' Josh Wilson by just 17 yards), Wilson - the defending rushing champ - was held to 85 yards on just 13 carries. Chumley now has 687 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns on the season. Wilson has 559 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
Libby hosts Whitefish next Friday. Columbia Falls hosts Polson.
Libby 21 6 7 8 - 42
C-Falls 7 0 14 0 - 21
First Quarter
L-Jeremy Chumley 3 run (kick blocked), 9:48.
L-Zack Rowan 65 punt return (Joel Fuller run), 7:23.
CF-Scott Palmer 98 kickoff return (Mackie Nolan kick), 7:04.
L-Chumley 15 pass from Fuller (Rowan kick), :11
Second Quarter
L-Fuller 2 run (kick failed), 3:49.
Third Quarter
CF-Nolan 14 run (Nolan kick), 8:03.
L-Chumley 2 run (pass failed), 7:04.
CF-Mitchell Wassam interception in end zone (Nolan kick), 1:13.
Fourth Quarter
L-Fuller 5 run (Rowan pass from Fuller), 4:30
TEAM STATISTICS
Lib CF
First Downs 18 4
Total Net Yards 477 105 Rushes-Yards 53-359 19-67
Passing 118 38
Punt Returns 3-75 0-0
Kickoff Returns 3-49 6-143
Int. Returns 0-0 1-0
Comp-Att-Int 9-23-1 2-5-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 2-14 5-42
Punts 2-30.0 6-42.3
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 5-1
Penalties-Yards 9-53 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Lib, Jeremy Chumley 33-196, Joel Fuller 18-158, Josh Chumley 2-5. CF, Josh Wilson 13-85, Chase Fairbank 1-11, Michael Hader 2-2, Steven Brennan 1-(-4), Mackie Nolan 10-(-2), team 2-(-25).
PASSING-Lib, Fuller 9-22-0-118, Colton Cannon 0-1-0-0, Zack Rowan 0-1-1-0. CF, Nolan 2-5-0-38.
RECEIVING-Lib, Jer. Chumley 5-77, Rowan 1-23, Jo. Chumley 1-8, Seth Wright 1-6, Loren Nelson 1-4. CF, Hader 1-27, Fairbank 1-11.
MISSED FIELD GOALS-none.