Friday, Sep. 19, 2008

Head north to find best CBBN football games

By Rene Ferran and Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writers

The best games in the CBBN Columbia Division tonight figure to take place up north as Southridge travels to Moses Lake and Pasco heads to the Apple Bowl to face Wenatchee.

The Bulldogs have looked stout on defense in their first two games, giving up an average of 188 yards and just seven points in wins over Richland and Davis.

But coach Steve Graff knows his team will face its sternest test to date against the Panthers, who average 274 rushing yards per game.

"They just line up and say, 'We're running this. You've got to stop it,' " Graff said. "All the backs they put back there run hard, and then they throw enough to keep you off-balance.

"We're going to have to be better up front than we were against Davis. We need to play more like we did against Richland -- tackle better, be where we need to be."

Graff said senior Carlin Andrew will be back behind center for tonight's game after he split time with sophomore Luc Graff, the coach's son, in the 37-0 win over Davis.

"We just rotated them to save some wear and tear on the body," coach Graff said. "We did the same thing with Austin (Wilborn) and Devante Lamb (at running back)."

Suns coach Andy Troxel, meanwhile, says don't read too much into the fact that his team won at Coeur d'Alene 33-17 in Week 1, while Moses Lake lost at home to CdA 23-13 last Friday.

"We're going to Moses Lake. We know it's going to be a war," Troxel said.

The teams run similar offenses, with the biggest difference that the Suns line up in more formations, but both teams want to spread the field and give their athletic quarterbacks -- Andrew Mendenhall for Southridge, Josh Loera for Moses Lake -- multiple options.

"We've got to contain Loera," Troxel said. "He's too good a football player to stop, but we can't let him make big plays with his feet. And we've got to keep their receivers in front of us. If the secondary is chasing people all around the field, that's when they make big plays on you."

In the Tri-Cities, the biggest matchup tonight features Kamiakin playing host to Hanford at Lampson Stadium.

The Falcons bounced back from a Week 1 loss to Moses Lake by crushing Sands of Delta, British Columbia, 51-3 last week.

The Braves, meanwhile, are 2-0 despite having an offense that is 11th in the 14-team league. They are surviving as they have the past two years with a strong defense (200.5 yards per game, No. 4 in the league) and special teams play.

Ethan Morgan is No. 3 in the league with a 37.1-yard average on 10 punts (most in the league), and Gavin Richter has kicked field goals in each of the first two games.

"I never thought we'd be able to find a kicker as good as (Stephen) Gilbert (now at Western Washington)," said Kamiakin coach Craig Beverlin. "And I'm stunned at how well our defense is playing. Because of our lack of size, I thought it'd be a problem, but it's turned out our quickness and speed have made up for it."

The offensive woes have started at quarterback, where junior Corey Hutchison has thrown six interceptions in two games. He was benched for part of last week's win over West Valley, with sophomore Joe Jansen taking over. Jansen was just 3-of-13 for 58 yards but did lead the team on a scoring drive.

"Right now, we have a lot of holes on offense, and we're just trying to plug them up," Beverlin said. "We've got to get our quarterbacks comfortable and move the ball on a more consistent basis."

CWAC: For years, the Othello Huskies were the big dogs of CWAC football, vying with the likes of Connell and East Valley for the league title and qualifying for the playoffs all 11 seasons since the league first formed in 1997.

They won state titles in 1998 and 2004 and were runners-up in 2001.

But two years ago, something happened. The 3A Mid-Valley disappeared, and the Prosser Mustangs -- a powerhouse at any level -- dropped down to 2A.

Since then, the league title has been firmly in the hands of the Mustangs, who are 19-0 in CWAC games, with the closest margin four touchdowns.

Othello hasn't fared much better against Prosser than anyone else, losing 61-0 and 42-7 in their league meetings. The Huskies (2-0, 1-0) hope for a better outcome tonight when the Mustangs (2-0, 1-0) pay a visit.

"It's felt like a playoff week because it's Prosser," said Pete Perez, Othello's head varsity assistant and media proxy for coach Roger Hoell. "There are people in this town who still remember (2003), and Roger hangs on to this game."

That 2003 season was the last Huskies win in a series that is historically even -- 16-11 in favor of Prosser -- but has been lopsided since 1986. That was Othello's last win before 2003. It also was the Mustangs' last losing season and Tom Moore's first as head coach.

"They've got some real strong kids," Moore said. "We're looking forward to a real good challenge out there."

Moore said his team fully expected to play Othello in last year's state title game. Unfortunately for the Huskies, they were knocked off by Burlington-Edison 23-20.

"When Prosser walked off the field after their semifinal win and we walked on, they said go get 'em, represent the CWAC," Perez recalled. "That was a neat deal for us."

For the Huskies to keep it close, they have to find a way to slow down Mustangs QB Jordan Durbin, who already has 10 TDs and a 225 passer rating.