Saturday, Oct. 03, 2009

Bombers hold off late Falcons' rally

By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer

RICHLAND -- Being first is usually a good thing. But not when it comes to being the first ones to lose to your intracity rival.

Maybe that's why there was a little more jolt and a sense of urgency in what has been a sleepy Richland offense.

The Bombers raced out to a 21-point lead and held off a late challenge from Hanford on their way to a 24-14 win over the Falcons on Friday night at Fran Rish Stadium.

"I told the guys 'We aren't going to lose to these guys my senior year,' " said Richland quarterback Hayden Hilty. "It's all about bragging rights."

The Bombers (2-3, 2-2 Cascade) improve to 5-0 all-time against the Falcons, and can enjoy a minor celebration in what has been a season of struggles to this point.

Despite all that, Richland is tied with Eastmont for third in the division, one game ahead of Chiawana (1-4, 1-3). The Bombers play at Edgar Brown next Friday night.

"There (are) expectations at Richland," said Bombers coach Mike Neidhold. "You always want to do well against Hanford.

"I told the guys to enjoy it, but we still have a lot of work to do."

One thing that looked pretty proficient Friday night was the Bombers' running game.

Jake McKinney, who was ranked third in the league in rushing, had big night, racking up 146 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns.

McKinney, who was beat up last week in the Bombers' loss to Eisenhower, got some much-needed help from his teammates.

Gage Reynolds had 10 carries for 38 yards and Hilty added 43 yards on 11 carries. In total, the Bombers had 234 yards on the ground.

That was a stark contrast to the Hanford ground game. The Falcons (1-4, 0-4) had just 65 rushing yards on 19 carries.

Hanford managed two first downs in the first half and had just 47 yards of total offense. Both first downs and 37 of those yards came on the final drive of the first half.

"The bottom line is that we couldn't run the football and they could," said Hanford coach Rob Oram.

And that's the reason why, Oram inserted senior Brenton Griffin and abandon the running game.

Griffin gave the dormant Hanford offense some life in the second half.

Trailing 21-0, Griffin hit Shawn VanDeMark on a 5-yard underneath rout. VanDeMark did the rest. He broke through a huddle of players and then shed two more tacklers on his way to a 66-yard touchdown play.

Hanford cut the margin to 21-14 on its next drive when Cameron Wagar diced up the middle for a 20-yard scoring run with 3:39 left in the third quarter.

"In games like this, it's never a runaway," Neidhold said. "It doesn't happen in games like this."

Jacob Moreno put the Bomber faithful, who was designated on the visitors side, a little more at ease six minutes later, connecting on a 28-yard field goal.

Hanford's next two drives ended in Griffin interceptions.

Griffin completed 8-of-17 passes for 121 yards and the two interceptions. He also ran for 35 yards on five carries.

"I have to give my guys credit," Oram said. "Down 21-0, we responded in a positive way."

Hilty, who has struggled to give Richland a consistent passing threat all season, finished 6 of 13 passing for 68 yards. He threw one interception and one touchdown.

"We showed tonight when we're clicking, we're clicking," Hilty said.

* Ben Reynolds: 509-582-1509; breynolds@tricityherald.com.

Richland 7 7 7 3 -- 24

Hanford 0 0 14 0 -- 14

SCORING PLAYS

R -- Jake McKinney 8 run (Jacob Moreno kick)

R -- McKinney 2 run (Moreno kick)

R -- Andrew Kusuda 24 pass from Hayden Hilty (Moreno kick)

H -- Shawn VanDeMark 66 pass from Brenton Griffin (Joe Clements kick)

H -- Cameron Wagar 20 run (Clements kick)

R -- FG Moreno 28

STATISTICS

RUSHING--R, Gage Reynolds 10-38, Hilty 11-43, McKinney 27-146, Team 3-7. H, Lamar Bowser 2-6, Wagar 7-17, VanDeMark 5-7, Griffin 5-35.

PASSING--R, Hilty 6-13-1-68. H, Wagar 2-4-0-13, Griffin 8-17-2-121.

RECEIVING--R, Jordan Codray 1-21,Kusuda 1-25, Reynolds 1-7, McKinney 2-9, Cordarius Ramsay 1-7. H, Kurt Rueter 1-8, Bowser 1-5, Wagar 3-41, VanDeMark 2-75, Dylan Dikes 3-5.

FIRST DOWNS--R 17, H 10. FUMBLES-LOST--R 1-0, H 0-0. PENALTIES-YARDS--R 11-75, H 7-50.