Friday, Oct. 02, 2009

Winning in style -- Suns style

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

KENNEWICK -- It was yawn-inspiring football at its finest.

And that's just the way Southridge likes it this season.

Dallin Palmer had 253 all-purpose yards and scored three touchdowns, and the Suns held Davis to 46 yards total offense in a 28-0 CBBN Columbia victory Thursday night at Lampson Stadium.

"Coach (Andy) Troxel says this is our game plan this year," said senior lineman Brodrick Hirai, who had seven tackles -- five for loss, including 2 1/2 sacks. "Run the ball well and play spectacular defense. That's what we did tonight."

The Suns (4-1, 3-1) bounced back from last week's 27-6 loss at Wenatchee, not overlooking a Davis team (1-4, 0-3) that hasn't won a league game in almost eight years.

"The kids responded like I thought they would," Troxel said. "We got better tonight. Our passing game got better."

Southridge allowed only two first downs the entire game, both coming in the final minute of the first half. The Suns made 11 tackles for loss (two each for Drew Powell and Brent Anderson) and held Davis to minus-1 passing yard.

"Our whole D-line got off the ball really well tonight," Hirai said. "We got into gaps and threw people around."

And still the Suns led only 13-0 at halftime as the offense produced just two field goals off long kick returns and didn't score after Palmer's 40-yard interception return gave them the ball at the Davis 20.

"Our defense put us in good situations all night," Troxel said. "Early on, we tried some different things. We got our kicker (Chandler Mertens) his confidence back with the field goals.

"The only thing that matters at the end is the final score. Sure, it'd be nice to be leading the league in offense, but I'd rather lead in victories."

Southridge finally put the game away midway through the second half. The Suns went 41 yards in seven plays, with Palmer following a Hirai block around right tackle for a 9-yard TD run to give them a 20-0 lead with 3:22 left in the third quarter.

Then, one play after Suns quarterback Stephen Garcia fumbled at the goal line, Hirai ganged up with several teammates to tackle Davis' Mitchell Vinsant in the end zone for a fourth-quarter safety.

Palmer returned the ensuing kickoff 44 yards to the Davis 21, and four plays later he capped the scoring with a 5-yard TD run.

Palmer finished with 69 yards on 22 carries, while Garcia was 12-of-28 for 173 yards. Austin Graves caught six passes for 83 yards.