Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009

Just happy to be there

Or so Kamiakin coach Scott Biglin said after Friday night's 21-14 CBBN Cascade victory over Richland.

"I'd take being No. 5," said Biglin after his team wrapped up the division's No. 2 seed into the crossover playoff round in two weeks.

"Whatever you have to do to get into the playoffs, that's it. To get the No. 2 and host is just a bonus for us."

The Braves are in this position thanks to a pair of overtime wins -- over Eastmont and Walla Walla -- and then Friday's game, in which the Bombers played their best game since a narrow Week 1 loss to Pasco.

"This is a gutty team," Biglin said. "We have gutted out some wins this year. I'm very proud of them."

Especially on offense, the Bombers looked much improved -- no turnovers, only two sacks allowed, 147 rushing yards and senior Hayden Hilty an efficient 8-of-13 for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

"We did some good things tonight," said Richland coach Mike Neidhold, whose team can still earn the division's No. 3 seed -- albeit with a road win next week at Walla Walla. "Hopefully, we can take what we did tonight and move forward. We're just running out of time, that's all."

The thing that frustrated Neidhold the most was that despite controlling the ball for almost 8 minutes more than Kamiakin and running 11 more plays than the Braves, the Bombers managed only 14 points -- both coming on the identical play call, a play-action pass in which TE Garrett Gallinger ran a seam route and got behind the safety for wide-open touchdowns.

"That's been our year," Neidhold said. "Our burden. We're not getting a lot of points out of our drives. We're moving the ball but can't get anything out of it."

Kamiakin, meanwhile, had four three-and-outs -- including one that ended with a missed 31-yard field goal after getting the ball at the Richland 12 -- three drives of one first-down-and-punt, and three drives of any length -- all of which ended in touchdowns.

The Bombers weren't able to get a lot of pressure on QB Corey Hutchison -- only one sack, and no turnovers -- but they handled the running game save for one long play by Dom Davis, and they contained big-play receiver Tim White (four catches, 38 yards, TD).

But Kamiakin finally got on track late in the first half going into its two-minute drill, scoring its first touchdown on a 30-yard strike from Hutchison to Tyler Holle.

Hutchison started the game 3-of-10 passing but completed 15 of his final 19 throws -- including all five on the game-winning drive, including a nifty 25-yarder to Holle in which he stole the ball from the defender and maintained control as he hit the ground.

"Right before that (first-half drive), we had some confusion about which guys were blitzing," Hutchison explained. "We got that fixed, and we got our offense rolling."

Yes they did, and with only a tuneup game next week against Chiawana before the playoffs, Kamiakin now awaits its opponent in the crossover round -- either Kennewick or Pasco, depending on which team wins Friday night.

The top three Columbia seeds are locked in -- Wenatchee as No. 1, even if the heavens should open and Davis shocks the Panthers at Zaepfel; Southridge as No. 2; and Moses Lake as No. 3, even should the Chiefs lose to Sunnyside.

The Kennewick-Pasco winner is the No. 4 seed, and the loser is No. 5.

In the Cascade, only Eisenhower (1) and Kamiakin (2) are set. Richland needs to win and have Eastmont lose to Ike to get the 3 seed. Wa-Hi would then be the 4 and Eastmont the 5.

If Wa-Hi wins, it is the No. 3 seed, Eastmont the 4 (if it beats Ike, it loses the tiebreaker to WW head-to-head) and Richland the 5 because the Wildcats beat the Bombers.

If Richland and Eastmont win, then we have the three-way merry-go-round between Wa-Hi, Eastmont and Richland at 4-3. Head-to-head doesn't break the tie. Neither does the point system, since each lost to both Ike and Kamiakin, and beat Hanford, Chiawana and West Valley.

Thus ... drum roll, please ... the number draw decides the seeds: Walla Walla gets the 3 seed (drew 2), Eastmont the 4 (drew 4), Richland the 5 (drew 5).

So, Richland fans, the only way the Bombers avoid the long bus ride to the Apple Bowl to face the Panthers is to win Friday at Borleske.

In the 3As, Hanford can wrap up the No. 1 regional seed by winning at West Valley on Friday night. That would give the Falcons a sweep of their CBBN 3A brethren, thanks to a Week 1 victory over Sunnyside.

A Hanford win means the Sunnyside-WV game in Week 9 is for the No. 2 regional seed and a trip to Spokane.

A West Valley win means the Rams can be the 1 seed by beating the Grizzlies, or we can have a Tuesday Kansas Plan tiebreaker for the two regional berths because the three would be 1-1 in head-to-head matchups.

Isn't this fun?

Til next time ...