Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009

Connell muscles up on River View 47-7

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

KENNEWICK -- Connell coach Wayne Riner told his sophomore MVP running back Matt Hadley before Saturday's 1A state quarterfinal he'd run for 180 yards against River View.

Riner was close. Hadley finished with 182 yards and three touchdowns, and the No. 2-ranked Eagles rolled into the semifinals with a 47-7 victory over their SCAC East rivals at Lampson Stadium.

Connell (12-0) will take on Chelan (6-5), which knocked off Omak 27-22 in its quarterfinal, next Saturday in Moses Lake. The game time has yet to be set.

"Chelan is the hottest team going right now, and we want to cool them off," Riner said.

River View finished 9-3, reaching the quarterfinals for the first time since 2001.

"We had some great senior leadership," said Panthers coach Brett Jay, who'll graduate 15 seniors. "But this wasn't one-and-done. We'll be back."

But for River View to take the next step, Jay acknowledged, it'll have to get more physical up front.

The Eagles dominated both lines of scrimmage, rolling up 517 yards of total offense while holding River View to just 199.

"I felt like early on, our outside receivers were having some success," Jay said. "But inside, they were very physical, more physical than we were. We couldn't get a big ground game going."

It was the second meeting between the teams, and this one played out similarly to Connell's 49-7 home win in Week 4.

Hadley said that was in large part because the coaching staff emphasized not looking past the Panthers toward bigger prizes ahead.

"You can't overlook anyone. That's how high school ball is," he said. "It's a different atmosphere at state. Practices are more focused. When you're watching film, there's no messing around. But it's a lot more fun."

And now, Hadley said, "this is the biggest week of the year. Chelan, we can't overlook them. They were, what, a 5 seed, and they upset Cashmere and Royal. They're bringing it every week."

Connell jumped in front 7-0 on the second play of the game, with Nate Martinez hitting Kraymer Eppich wide open down the middle for an 83-yard touchdown.

The lead grew to 19-0 before River View got a glimmer of hope. Connell's Michael Casper intercepted RV quarterback Matt Wilhelm but fumbled the ball back to the Panthers, who then went 73 yards in nine plays for their lone score of the game.

Aided by a pass interference penalty on fourth down, RV capitalized when Wilhelm hit Juston Grow for a 24-yard TD pass.

The Eagles muffed the ensuing kickoff, but after a mad scramble, they recovered the ball at their 26 and proceeded to snuff out that glimmer.

They ran the ball on six straight plays, with Hadley gaining 63 yards in four carries -- including the first of his three scores from 2 yards out to put Connell ahead 27-7 with 1:25 left before halftime.

"That's what championship teams do," Jay said. "Any time we thought we were ready to make a run, they had an answer."

While River View focused mainly on stopping Hadley, Connell's focus was limiting the Panthers' big-play passing game. They held the league's top receiver, Brendan Hoch, to four catches for 58 yards, and Wilhelm finished just 12-of-28 for 147 yards and two interceptions.

"To hold a high-powered offense like that to seven points -- twice -- our defense did a great job," Riner said.

Martinez finished 10-of-15 for 229 yards before limping off late in the third quarter with a lower back injury. Riner was optimistic he'd be able to play against Chelan.

Connell 47, River View 7

Connell 13 14 6 14 -- 47

River View 0 7 0 0 -- 7

SCORING PLAYS

C -- Kraymer Eppich 83 pass from Nate Martinez (Ivan Barragan kick)

C -- Dyrel Whitby 5 run (kick failed)

C -- Kr.Eppich 10 pass from Martinez (pass failed)

RV -- Juston Grow 24 pass from Matt Wilhelm (Rafael Mendoza kick)

C -- Matt Hadley 2 run (Hadley run)

C -- Hadley 9 run (kick failed)

C -- Hadley 14 run (Barragan kick)

C -- James Coulson 5 run (Barragan kick)

STATISTICS

RUSHING--C, Hadley 25-182, Whitby 10-53, Martinez 2-7, Coulson 5-49, team 1-(minus 3). RV, Chance Watt 19-52, Wilhelm 7-0.

PASSING--C, Martinez 10-15-1-229. RV, Wilhelm 12-28-2-147.

RECEIVING--C, Kr.Eppich 5-119, Bryant Anderson 2-34, Brady Quinton 2-44, Hadley 1-32. RV, Grow 5-43, Brendan Hoch 4-58, Eric Farnworth 3-46.

FIRST DOWNS--C 22, RV 11. FUMBLES-LOST--C 2-1, RV 1-1. PENALTIES-YARDS--C 4-30, RV 4-30.

DeSales 29, La Salle 27

DeSales 0 6 14 9 -- 29

La Salle 8 8 0 11 -- 27

SCORING PLAYS

L -- Nic Woodard 5 run (Joe Sullivan pass from Mike McGree)

L -- Matt Kuribayashi 10 run (McGree run)

D -- Nick Wales 5 run (pass failed)

D -- Tommy Gregg 18 pass from Pat Richard (Victor Mata kick)

D -- Gregg 29 pass from Richard (Mata kick)

D -- Gregg 10 pass from Richard (kick failed)

L -- Dylan Sattler 26 blocked punt return (McGree run)

L -- FG Mitchell Kennnedy 30

D -- FG Mata 29

STATISTICS

RUSHING--D, Kyle Lindgren 12-70, Wales 13-66, Richard 12-45. L, McGree 8-77, Woodard 8-53, Tony Cacchiotti 10-51, Kuribayashi 4-20.

PASSING--D, Richard 16-25-0-209. L, McGree 8-19-1-94.

RECEIVING--D, Ryan Baumgart 5-77, Gregg 4-59, Lindgren 3-50, Ryan Rea 3-26. L, Sam LaFramboise 2-37, Dylan Sattler 2-18.