Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

Kamiakin locks up No. 2 playoff seed

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

RICHLAND -- There were no big speeches or adjustments made by the Kamiakin coaches at halftime of Friday's CBBN Cascade game against Richland.

"We knew we weren't playing Kamiakin football," said senior linebacker Kris Bragg. "What more can you say?"

After giving up 131 rushing yards in the first half to the Bombers, the Braves allowed just 16 in the second half, and Corey Hutchison tossed a 5-yard TD pass to Dom Davis with 5:34 to play to lift Kamiakin to a 21-14 victory at Fran Rish Stadium.

The win secured the division's No. 2 seed to the crossover playoffs in two weeks for the Braves (5-2, 5-1) and a home game against the Columbia No. 4 team.

"The second half, we stepped up and played football like we knew we could," said Bragg, who led Kamiakin's defensive effort with 12 tackles, two for loss, including a sack of Richland quarterback Hayden Hilty on the game's final play.

"We did not want to lose this game. We did not want to travel. We wanted home-field advantage. We love Lampson Stadium."

But this win did not come easily against a Richland (3-4, 3-3) team that is a far cry from the one that got blasted at home by Eisenhower and Eastmont a month ago.

The Bombers grinded the clock for much of the game, with junior Jake McKinney rushing for 109 yards and classmate Gage Reynolds adding 57.

When the Braves cheated a safety into the box, the Bombers burned them twice with seam routes by senior tight end Garrett Gallinger for 47- and 49-yard touchdown passes.

The second one came with 9:05 to play and tied the game at 14.

The Braves answered with the winning drive, going 73 yards in eight plays. Hutchison was 5-for-5 on the drive, finishing it off with a swing pass to Davis in the left flat, who then jogged into the end zone untouched.

"That was a good read by Corey," said Braves coach Scott Biglin. "We told him, if the middle linebacker blitzes, then go hot to Dom. They were in man, all our receivers ran slants, and the middle blitzed."

The drive capped a strong evening by Hutchison, who went 18-of-30 for 234 yards and three touchdowns.

He got going late in the first half in the two-minute drill, dropping in a perfect deep ball to AJ Griffiths for 44 yards and then finding Tyler Holle in the end zone for a 30-yard strike that tied the game at 7.

Forced to look to other receivers with the Bombers double-teaming CBBN leading receiver Tim White -- held to just four catches for 38 yards and a TD -- Hutchison distributed the ball to six different players.

"We needed that two-minute drive," Hutchison said. "It got the offense flowing. They were doubling Tim, so we got guys open 1-on-1 on crossing routes."

The Bombers can still finish third in the division with a win next week at Walla Walla, and Neidhold hopes to build off this performance.

"We did some good things tonight," Neidhold said. "We took a giant step forward as a team. Now, we've got to go down to Walla Walla and take care of the Bombers."

* Rene Ferran: 509-582-1526; rferran@tricityherald.com. Read his prep sports blog at sportstricities.com.

Kamiakin 21, Richland 14

Kamiakin 0 7 7 7 -- 21

Richland 0 7 0 7 -- 14

SCORING PLAYS

R -- Garrett Gallinger 47 pass from Hayden Hilty (Jacob Moreno kick)

K -- Tyler Holle 30 pass from Corey Hutchison (Garrett Bowe kick)

K -- Tim White 7 pass from Hutchison (Bowe kick)

R -- Ga.Gallinger 49 pass from Hilty (Moreno kick)

K -- Dom Davis 5 pass from Hutchison (Bowe kick)

STATISTICS

RUSHING--K, Davis 13-78, Hutchison 2-2, Cody Wilmoth 2-10, team 1-(minus 8). R, Jake McKinney 21-109, Gage Reynolds 12-57, Hilty 10-5, team 1-(minus 24).

PASSING--K, Hutchison 18-30-0-234. R, Hilty 8-13-0-138, team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING--K, Holle 5-81, White 4-38, Davis 3-28, AJ Griffiths 2-56, Brandon Heath 2-16, Tyler Wolf 2-15. R, Ga.Gallinger 3-104, Andrew Kusuda 3-21, Reynolds 2-13.

FIRST DOWNS--K 14, R 12. FUMBLES-LOST--K 2-0, R 1-0. PENALTIES-YARDS--K 8-93, R 8-57.