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PASCO -- If Friday night's game against West Valley is any indication, the Chiawana football team's offense is going to be in very good hands for quite a while.
But the Riverhawks' inability to contain the West Valley offense on a handful of big plays led to a 24-18 defeat in a CBBN Cascade game at Edgar Brown Stadium on Friday night.
Junior quarterback Luc Graff was very efficient for Chiawana, completing 15 of 24 passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns. And sophomore running back Jordan Downing rumbled for 84 yards on 16 carries.
The win was the first of the season for West Valley. Both teams now have identical 1-2 division records.
Still this was a game Chiawana could have won, except for West Valley's penchant for converting third-and-long and fourth-and-long situations into first downs.
West Valley's final drive was assisted by Chiawana's only two penalties of the game, including a pass inference call on a third-and-7. The Rams took the lead for good with 4:36 left in the game on a 20-yard run by Weston Green.
Chiawana coach Steve Graff was clearly frustrated with his team's defensive play.
"Twenty-four to 18," Graff fumed, nodding toward the scoreboard. "We can't play defense. That's all I'm sayin'."
Graff's frustration was due in part to the fact that 116 of West Valley quarterback Gilbert Plath's 154 passing yards came on four critical plays.
Graff and Downing led the Riverhawks on two methodical first-half scoring drives, only to have West Valley answer with its big-play offense.
Graff hooked up with Nick Mackey on a 20-yard touchdown pass to cap a 15-play drive that began on the Chiawana 13-yard line. Downing carried the ball eight times for 46 hard-earned yards during the drive, and Graff used a fake to Downing to buy time on the touchdown pass.
West Valley took over on its own 25 after the ensuing kickoff. The Rams' drive appeared to have stalled when a holding penalty left West Valley with a third-and-17 on its own 46, but Josh Owens made a juggling catch in heavy traffic for a first down.
Four plays later, Smith got the Rams out of a fourth and-nine hole with another acrobatic catch for 18 yards to the Riverhawks' 11, and WV took a 7-6 lead three plays later on an 11-yard TD pass to Slate Diessner.
West Valley 0 10 8 6 -- 24
Chiawana 0 12 6 0 -- 18
SCORING PLAYS
C -- Nick Mackay 20 pass from Luc Graff (kick failed)
WV -- Slate Diessner 11 pass from Gilbert Plath (Plath kick)
C -- C.J. Edrington 9 pass from Graff (pass failed)
WV -- FG Plath 32
C -- Andrew Higgins 9 run (kick failed)
WV -- Weston Green 1 run (Plath run)
WV -- Green 20 run (kick failed)
STATISTICS
RUSHING--WV, Diessner 20-110, Green 8-44, Gerrick Andrews 5-24, Plath 7-2. C, Jordan Downing 16-84, Higgins 1-9, Graff 9-5.
PASSING--WV, Plath 11-19-0-154. C, Graff 15-24-0-118.
RECEIVING--WV, Jake Smith 4-55, Josh Bower 2-55, Josh Owens 2-26, Diessner 2-15, Andrews 1-3. C, Edrington 5-38, Mackay 2-30, Gerald Duckworth 3-18, Buddy Walter 1-5, Downing 1-11, Justin Smith 3-16.
FIRST DOWNS--WV 17, C 15. FUMBLES-LOST--WV 0-0, C 3-0. PENALTIES-YARDS--WV 8-72, C 2-30.
