Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Hanford's comeback for the ages

By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer

RICHLAND — Rob Oram had a feeling that his team would respond to its beatdown last week against Davis.

But after falling behind 21-0 to East Valley on Friday at Fran Rish Stadium, the Falcons appeared to be headed to another quick exit from the playoffs.

Only this time, it didn't happen.

The Falcons regrouped after a horrible start and scored the final 24 points of the game on their way to a 24-21 victory over the Knights in the 3A regional playoffs.

It is Hanford's first playoff victory since 1993.

"Down 21-0 after getting beat soundly last week," Oram said, "our guys bounced back and revealed their true character."

The surprising win puts the Falcons (4-6) in the state playoffs for the first time in 16 years where they will host Mount Spokane (9-1), which beat Sunnyside 47-7 in its regional game Friday night.

Mount Spokane beat Hanford 42-39 in the regional playoffs last season at Fran Rish. The Falcons have not won a state playoff game since 1985 -- the year they made it all the way to the semifinals.

"We just have to come out and play hard," said senior running back Cameron Wagar.

For the first 23 minutes Friday, Hanford looked like it had a hangover from its 50-17 loss to Davis the previous week. The Falcons turned the ball over on their first three possessions, leading to 21 East Valley points.

"We knew we had to come out and put the pedal to the metal," said East Valley quarterback Jackson Romney, who completed 11 of 19 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.

The Falcons slowly worked their way back, and with 4 minutes to go in the game, took their first lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Wagar -- his second of the night.

Now all Hanford had to do was stop East Valley's Aaron Awbery, something that had been a tall task.

The Knights rode the legs of Awbery all night and turned to their star running back again on their final drive. He helped get them to the Hanford 19-yard line, but on fourth-down-and-1, he was stood up by two Falcons defenders. It was only the second time on 37 carries that he did not gain at least one yard.

"It's a no-brainer," Romney said about handing the ball to Awbery in that situation.

Awbery finished with 213 yards on 37 carries and scored two touchdowns.

"It just worked out perfectly," said Wagar, who was in on the final stop of Awbery.

Wagar, the Falcons' leading rusher, keyed the comeback in the second half and finished with 124 yards on the ground on 15 carries.

There were several key plays in the comeback: Riley Shintaffer's fumble recovery midway through the third quarter that stopped a fast-moving Knights' drive; Pete Hanson's 40-yard field goal that smacked the crossbar and went through to cut the Knights' lead to 21-17 with 2:39 left in the third quarter.

But Oram said the key was Shawn VanDeMark's 33-yard touchdown catch from Brenton Griffin late in the first half that started the whole comeback.

"We just needed a score," Oram said. "I figured if it was 21-7 at halftime it was a ball game."

Remember, Oram had a feeling his team would respond. It just took a little while and 21-0 deficit to get going before his team got started.

Hanford 24, East Valley 21

EV 6 15 0 0 — 21

Hanford 0 7 3 14 — 24

SCORING PLAYS

E — Ronnie Jarvis 15 pass from Jackson Romney (kick fail)

E — Aaron Awbery 1 run (Awbery run)

E — Awbery 1 run (Rick Garmon kick)

H — Shawn VanDeMark 33 pass from Brenton Griffin (Pete Hanson kick)

H — Cameron Wagar 14 run (Hanson kick)

H — FG Hanson 40

H — Wagar 1 run (Hanson kick)

STATISTICS

RUSHING—E, Awbery 37-213, Shane Quinn 4-5, Romney 3-18. H, Wagar 15-124, VanDeMark 6-25, Griffin 5-8.

PASSING—E, Romney 11-19-0-119. H, Griffin 12-19-1-130.

RECEIVING—E, Rich Mehlbrech 1-40, Ronnie Jarvis 2-20, Awbery 2-18, Joey Strehlou 3-23, Griffin May 2-11, Team 1-7. H, Dylan Dikes 2-9, Robery Cichy 4-27, Joe Clements 2-33. VanDeMark 4-61.

FIRST DOWNS—E 21, H 18. FUMBLES-LOST—E 1-1, H 2-2. PENALTIES-YARDS—E 5-56. H 3-23.