Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009

Richland 14, Chiawana 6

By Jeff Morrow, Herald sports editor

PASCO -- Richland and Chiawana had to consider Friday night's matchup at Edgar Brown Stadium as a playoff game.

After all, the winner would get a chance at a crossover playoff game, while the loser would likely be done.

As it turned out, the legs of Gage Reynolds and Jake McKinney were the difference.

The two Bombers scored touchdown runs, and the Richland defense kept the Riverhawks out of the end zone in the second half for a 14-6 Bombers victory.

The victory gives Richland a 3-2 record in the CBBN Cascade Division, putting the Bombers in a tie for third with Walla Walla. Chiawana falls to 1-4 in Cascade play.

Richland coach Mike Neidhold went into the game thinking his team needed to run the ball against Chiawana.

"We've been so inconsistent the way we've been throwing the football that we let the offensive line guys up front bang around," Neidhold said.

On the game's second play from scrimmage, Reynolds took a handoff and raced around the right side for a 68-yard TD run and a 7-0 Bombers lead.

Richland would never trail again, but the outcome was in doubt until the final minutes.

Chiawana responded in the second quarter with an 18-play, 80-yard scoring drive, culiminating with a 1-yard dive into the end zone by Jordan Downing -- who finished with 118 yards rushing. The extra-point kick was wide left, letting Richland keep its lead at 7-6.

For much of the game, though, both defensive units did an admirable job of stopping drives when they had to.

Chiawana's Brett Adamson thwarted two Richland drives alone with interceptions -- one of them in the end zone.

Richland's Troy Zuroske halted a Riverhawks drive when he recovered a fumble.

It wasn't until there was 7 minutes remaining that Richland would score again for some breathing room. McKinney would run in from 5 yards out in a breathtaking charge -- or bad example of tackling, depending on how you look at it -- in which he broke two hard-hitting tackles and then bulled his way into the end zone for the final yard for the score.

"This was a do-or-die situation," said McKinney. "I just kept my feet moving. I didn't even think about what I was doing."

Chiawana coach Steve Graff said with his team not having any seniors, too many of his guys have to play both ways.

"Some of that has got to be fatigue," said Graff, who will only have 15 players for Monday's practice because everyone else will be polaying in a JV game. "This game looked exactly like the last two games. We have a chance to win the game. But we don't make the plays down the stretch."

RICHLAND 14, CHIAWANA 6

Richland 7 0 0 7 -- 14

Chiawana 0 6 0 0 -- 6

SCORING PLAYS

R--Gage Reynolds 68 run (Jacob Moreno kick)

C--Jordan Downing 1 run (kick failed)

R--Jake McKinney 5 run (Moreno kick)

STATISTICS

RUSHING--R, McKinney 19-132, Reynolds 10-87, B.K. Robinson 3-17, Hayden Hilty 6-10, Totals 38-246. C, Jordan Downing 28-118, Luc Graff 6-27, Andrew Higgins 2-1, 36-146.

PASSING--R, Hilty 2-5-2-8. C, Graff 13-31-0-141.

RECEIVING--R, Reynolds 1-5, McKinney 1-3. C, Charles Edrington 5-39, Justin Smith 2-37, Buddy Walter 2-23, Downing 2-10, Brett Adamson 1-22, Nick Mackay 1-10.

FIRST DOWNS--R 12, C 20. FUMBLES-LOST--R 1-0, C 1-1. PENALTIES-YARDS--R 7-42, C 4-20.