THURSTON – The No. 14 Thurston Colts football team were expecting an all-out brawl for the Special District 4 title against No. 10 Crater this past Friday. The Comets, after all, were starting to look more intimidating after they upset league favorite, the Churchill Lancers, 37-36 a week before.
Colts fans, however, were put at ease early when Thurston jumped to a 24-0 lead by halftime and steamrolled the Comets 44-7 by the fourth quarter on Senior Night.
“This is what I hoped for – but not necessarily what I expected,” said head coach Justin Starck. “But I have a lot of respect for them. They looked really good on film, and we thought we’d have one heck of a game. Honestly, even though the score was out of hand, they’re really physical and play really tough. I think our kids right now are just playing really well here on this field and our defense is lights out.”
A sea of pink filled the field and stands at “The Barn” last Friday as the Thurston community united to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month. ALL PHOTOS BY ADON ECCLES / THE CHRONICLE
Cruz Gray broke open the game when he scored the first touchdown after a rush from 1st-and-goal. Along with his 9 carries and 38 total yards, he was also a defensive enforcer with 8 total tackles (3 for loss) and 1 sack (10-yard loss).
The dominance ensued, with big contributions and standout performances from multiple athletes.
In particular, sophomore Bentlee Davenport, who hadn’t seen much action until now, intercepted three passes and capped off his night with a return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He was also explosive in the passing game with 2 catches for 57 yards, including a long of 39 yards.
Junior quarterback Emmit Distefano commanded the offense by spreading the ball around and tossing two touchdowns to lead the Colts’ balanced attack. He was 9-of-18 for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns. His longest completion was 39 yards, and he added 13 yards on 3 carries.
The Colts effectively stopped Crater at every turn, and with big plays from several players, the team’s dominance was clear. ALL PHOTOS BY ADON ECCLES / THE CHRONICLE
The Colts have risen to No. 9 with a 7-1 record and are perfect in league at 5-0. With only two games remaining in their regular season, the Colts are inching closer to their 2025 season goal: reclaiming command in Class 5A after their 2018-19 state championship era.
“I was concerned after (Crater) beat Churchill,” Starck said. “Also with the spark I saw on film, too. You could see a team that really believed in that ‘destiny’ motto – they just had that ‘never quit’ attitude. You can tell they were on a dream run and knew that they would really come here and play hard. It was gonna take a great effort for us to put out the flame.”
The Colts’ final test comes next week, when they’ll face Churchill. Last year, Churchill’s offense was rolling through all Class 5A teams and was able to control the line of scrimmage effectively. This led them to their first league title since 2018 and a Class 5A state quarterfinal finish. They extinguished Thurston’s six-year league title dominance. In fact, Thurston’s third-place performance in 2024 was its worst since 2015 in Class 6A.
Starck challenged his team this year, and despite the early season blowout victories the team had against teams like Eagle Point and Caldera, he said the Colts “still have a long way to go before reclaiming Special District 4.”
Starck said he is mostly satisfied with the defense and rushing attack, but is looking for more balance on offense. It’s something they’ve worked on since the first game, he said.
“I want to find more balance,” he said. “We need to be better in the passing game. However, we are running the ball pretty well – happy with that. But in particular I’m very happy with the defense. They’re stopping the run and forcing turnovers.”
ADON ECCLES / THE CHRONICLE
The upcoming Churchill game is at the Lancers’ stadium on Friday. Oct. 17. Starck still is preparing for a fight.
“They had our number last year,” he said. “Regardless of their recent Crater game score, we have a tremendous amount of respect for them. It was an off night for them. There were a lot of penalties in that game and it was just a quirky night for them.
“We believe that they’re a much better team than the one that lost to the Crater. We know that they will give us everything we can handle playing over there and that’ll take a little bit of our juice. We’re gonna have to really be loaded up,” Starck said.
