RICHLAND -- Travis Chalk's collegiate future may lie on a baseball diamond, but the Hanford Falcons quarterback proved Friday at Fran Rish Stadium that he can handle himself on a football field as well.
The 6-foot, 190-pound senior ran for a pair of touchdowns, passed for two more and led an impressive 15-play, 92-yard third-quarter scoring drive that gave the Falcons the lead for good in a 30-20 win over Walla Walla.
"Travis is a great competitor," said Hanford coach Rob Oram after the team's first CBBN Cascade Division victory. "He's got some athletic ability. He's probably going to be a college baseball player, but he has a passion for football and he showed it tonight."
Chalk scored the Falcons' (2-2, 1-1) first touchdown on a 10-yard first-quarter keeper and Joe Clements extended the lead to 9-0 with a 32-yard field goal, but Spencer Hessler responded for the Blue Devils with touchdown runs of 19 and 4 yards for a 13-9 Walla Walla (3-1, 2-1) lead in the third quarter.
A short return on the ensuing kickoff and a 10-yard holding penalty had the Falcons backed up to their own 8-yard line with 7:48 left in the third quarter. Hanford needed a big drive but seemed to lack the confidence to carry it out.
That's when Chalk took it upon himself to fire up his teammates in the huddle.
"We weren't really positive going in, but I rattled the guys up," Chalk said. "I told them it was gut-check time."
Chalk connected on 5 of 6 passes for 57 yards during the 92-yard drive and avoided a potential disaster on a fumbled snap at the Walla Walla 8-yard line. But Cody Winsor recovered the ball for Hanford, and Chalk hit Nick Betzsold on the next play for an 11-yard TD pass to put the Falcons up 16-13.
And after the Falcons defense forced a Blue Devils punt on the next drive, Chalk kept the ball on the first play from scrimmage and dashed 80 yards for a score to put Hanford up 23-13.
"That (play) was an inside iso for me. The offensive line and the running back made it happen," said Chalk, who wasn't sure he could make it all the way down the sideline. "I honestly didn't. I got to the 15 and started worrying."
Chalk finished the night with 125 rushing yards on 22 attempts, and hit 15-of-21 passes for 162 yards, with TD connections to Betzsold and Kyle Wagar.
Betzsold led all receivers with 60 yards on seven catches -- six of them in the second half. Betzsold, a 5-8 senior and two-way player, also secured the game on defense, intercepting Gary Winston's sideline pass with 1:40 left in the game to put an end to Walla Walla's final drive.
"I did my job. I sank back in the zone to where I was supposed to be," Betzsold said.
The Blue Devils suffered their first loss of the season and first league loss as Hanford found a way to stop the league's top two scorers in Hessler and Winston (seven touchdowns apiece coming into the game).
"You watch them on film and it's terrifying," Oram said. "Our defensive coordinator did an unbelievable job preparing for them."
Ironically, the top two running backs in the game were quarterbacks, as Winston led all rushers with 163 yards on 14 carries. He broke off four runs of 20-plus yards, including a 43-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to cut Hanford's lead to 23-20.
Hessler added 112 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns.
But Oram believed running back Winsor helped the Falcons put the game away with nine second-half carries for 59 yards.
"Winsor started running very physical," Oram said. "It changed the complexity of the game."
Blue Devils coach Marc Yonts was impressed with Hanford's defensive effort in a game he felt was winnable even late in the fourth quarter.
Walla Walla 0 7 6 7 -- 20
Hanford 6 3 7 13 -- 30
SCORING PLAYS
H--Travis Chalk 10 run (kick failed)
H--FG Joe Clements 32
WW--Spencer Hessler 19 run (Conor Thorne kick)
WW--Hessler 4 run (pass failed)
H--Nick Betzsold 11 pass from Chalk (Clements kick)
H--Chalk 80 run (Clements kick)
WW--Gary Winston 43 run (Thorne kick)
H--Kyle Wagar 23 pass from Chalk (Clements kick)
STATISTICS
RUSHING--WW, Winston 14-163, Austin Schilling 2-3, Drew Limburg 1-(minus 1), Hessler 18-112. H, Betzsold 7-17, Chalk 22-125, Cody Winsor 10-61, Cam Wagar 1-0.
PASSING--WW, Winston 4-10-1-27. H, Chalk 15-21-1-162.
RECEIVING--WW, Colton Arias 1-1, Hessler 1-10, Conor Thorne 1-7, Michael Weisner 2-9. H, Winsor 3-27, Thor Buchanan 2-38, Betzsold 7-60, Kyle Wagar 3-38.
FIRST DOWNS--WW 15, H 19. FUMBLES-LOST--WW 0-0, H 2-0. PENALTIES-YARDS--WW 3-20, H 7-50.