Chiawana opens strong with win over Hanford

PASCO -- A thunderous roar poured from the east locker room at Edgar Brown Stadium following the Chiawana Riverhawks' 46-14 win over the Hanford Falcons.

It came from the Riverhawks' players, who screamed at the top of their lungs in celebration and banged on the poor defenseless lockers within.

It's hard to believe this was the same team that fought its way through nine games in 2009 with barely enough players to field a full squad and scarcely enough gas to do it.

This was a different team all right.

"We've been waiting a whole year for that," said Miquayah Zamora, Chiawana's shutdown cornerback who accounted for two touchdowns, including a back-breaking interception return for a touchdown to cap the first-quarter scoring.

"We just wanted to come out and say, 'We're here. We're ready to play,' " he said.

Jordan Downing said as much on Chiawana's first series taking a handoff up the middle, right into the heart of the Falcons' defense, on the game's first play for 13 yards and a first down.

On the next play he was gone. Smashing through the left side of the line, he lumbered 73 yards to the end zone to make it 7-0.

"It felt good to get that out of my system," said Downing, who finished with 203 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. "Credit our offensive line and some good downfield blocks by our receivers."

Hanford answered back quickly, using a 12-play, 58-yard drive to tie the score at 7 with 4:51 left in the first quarter. Falcons quarterback Riley Shintaffer hit Finn McMichael for a first down on fourth and 6 from the Riverhawks' 35 to keep the drive going and later punched it into the end zone on fourth and 1.

It seemed like Hanford was just getting started, but really it was Chiawana that was starting to gun their engines.

"That first (Hanford) series, we were catching back up to game speed," said Riverhawks coach Steve Graff. "We had to tidy things up on second-and-long, third-and-long."

And tidy up they did. Luc Graff hit Zamora for a 33-yard fly pattern down the left sideline to pull ahead 14-7 with 2:27 left in the first quarter. The killer came on Hanford's next possession, when Zamora intercepted a Shintaffer pass on the first play of the drive and took it back to the house for a 21-7 Chiawana lead.

"Our first drive was good. We had a couple of nice third-down conversions, but that pick-six hurt us," Shintaffer said. "It was a bad read by me. We talked about it all week, not throwing to (Zamora's) side."

Things went the Riverhawks way from there. Chiawana put up three more scores before the half -- including another from Downing -- to make it 39-7.

Hanford coach Rob Oram acknowledged that the big play was Zamora's interception return, but he said the biggest difference in the game wasn't the skill positions.

"Their offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage," Oram said. "In order to stop the run you have to put more people in the box and blitz. That puts Zamora on an island out there, and he's so good in 1-on-1 coverage."

Aaron Neary fell on a fumble in the Chiawana end zone late in the game, giving Hanford it's second score with 3:01 left in the game, capping the scoring at 46-14.

Chiawana 46, Hanford 14

Hanford 7 0 0 7 -- 14

Chiawana 21 18 7 0 -- 46

SCORING PLAYS

C--Jordan Downing 73 run (kick failed)

H--Riley Shintaffer 1 run (Will Bishop kick)

C--Miquayah Zamora 33 pass from Luc Graff (Brett Adamson pass from Graff)

C--Zamora 35 interception return (Luke Reiki kick)

C--Geramey Duckworth 32 pass from Graff (kick failed)

C--Absalon Hernandez 26 run (kick blocked)

C--Downing 3 run (kick failed)

C--Downing 25 run (Pilate Lopaya kick)

H--Aaron Neary fumble recovery in end zone (Bishop kick)

STATISTICS

RUSHING--H, Shintaffer 14-39, Cameron Wagar 17-116, Lamar Bowser 4-23, Matt McClendon 2-2, Chris Wilson 1-(minus 3). C, Downing 17-203, Shawn McNeil 1-(minus 1), Andrew Higgins 4-6, Hernandez 9-56.

PASSING--H, Shintaffer 5-12-2-95, Wilson 2-5-0-39. C, Graff 7-9-0-135.

RECEIVING--H, Wagar 2-4, Finn McMichael 1-14, Matt Jones 1-13, Kyle Lafon 2-58, Bowser 1-6. C, Duckworth 1-32, Adamson 1-23, Zamora 2-45, Higgins 1-6, C.J. Edrington 2-29.

FIRST DOWNS--H 13, C 12. FUMBLES-LOST--H 3-2, C 1-1. PENALTIES-YARDS--H 0-0, C 3-26.