Tri-City Rush defends AWFC indoor football title with road victory

The Tri-City Rush opened the defense of its 2021 American West Football Conference indoor football title last Sunday by beating the Idaho Horsemen 33-20.

Long-time running back Keithon Flemming — who also has played for the Tri-Cities Fever — led the Rush by rushing 14 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns.

Tri-City quarterback Ja’Vonte Johnson was 13 for 29 passing for 132 yards and three TD passes. Dashun Salgado Jr. was the team’s top receiver, catching 5 passes for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, linebacker Greg Hancock was in on 6 tackles (3 solo), had two sacks, a fumble recovery and two pass breakups.

Defensive back Tyler Merkel added two interceptions.

The Rush opens at home this Saturday, March 26, at the HAPO Center in Pasco, against the Oregon High Desert Storm. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

The AWFC has six teams in the conference this season. Besides the Rush, the Horsemen, and the High Desert Storm, the other teams are the SoCal Red Tails, the Washington Elite, and the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks.

The Yakima Canines football team was shut down in the offseason for not meeting minimum AWFC requirements. The Washington Elite was created in its place and is a travel-only team.

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▪ Hermiston senior Sam Cadenas will continue his football career after signing a letter of intent last week to play for Eastern Oregon University.

▪ Spencer Crithfield, a 2021 graduate of Richland High School who was named the Mid-Columbia Conference boys soccer player of the year during the pandemic-shortened season in the spring of 2021, had a great freshman season this past fall playing for Westmont College in California.

While the team went 5-8-1, Crithfield scored five goals in just 10 games and five starts. His goal total as well as 10 points were second best on the team.

Crithfield was pretty accurate with his shots, putting 8 of his 9 attempts on goal.

▪ Southridge senior Payton Lambdin has signed to play men’s soccer this coming fall for Pierce Community College.

▪ Southridge High School graduate Mason Martin has been getting some plate appearances in spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In a 10-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, Martin hit a solo home run.

Last season, the big lefty played most of the year at Double-A Altoona, before getting a short stint with Triple-A Indianapolis to end the year.

▪ Warden senior Kiana Rios, the girls basketball MVP for the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference who helped lead the Cougars to the 2B state title earlier this month, will be playing next season for the St. Martin’s University women’s basketball team.

▪ Hermiston boys lacrosse standout Vinny Trevino will continue with the sport after high school. Trevino signed a letter of intent last week to play men’s lacrosse next season at Newberry College, a school in South Carolina.

▪ Southridge senior Karma Valentine will be playing women’s soccer next fall with South Puget Sound Community College.

▪ Sometimes it’s really comforting to know that some things never change. Take listening to Craig West, for instance.

On March 15, on a road game in Seattle, West called his 2,500th Western Hockey League radio game in the Tri-City Americans’ 5-1 loss.

West, who scares me sometimes with his incredible sports knowledge, has been the radio play-by-play man over the years, first for the Spokane Chiefs and now the Americans.

This area is really lucky to have someone like West, a true professional, always ready to work whenever the Americans play. Pretty impressive.

▪ The Americans, meanwhile, have nine games remaining on their schedule and sitting on the outside of the playoffs.

The Ams have 39 points (17-37-5-0), and trail both Spokane (19-35-4-1) and the Prince George Cougars (20-34-2-1), who have 43 points each. All three teams seem to be battling for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot.

Tri-City has just one game left in the schedule against Spokane, and none against Prince George.

▪ Richland High grad Eric Yardley is competing to make the Chicago Cubs’ Opening Day roster, and on Monday he picked up the win in a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Yardley, a submarine-throwing, right-handed relief pitcher, fanned four batters, gave up no hits or runs over 2 full innings.

Yardley has pitched in the big leagues the past few seasons, first with San Diego and then Milwaukee.

▪ Tatum York-Bement and Grace Wilber finished 2-3 on Monday to help lead the Columbia Basin College’s women’s golf team to a team title in the CBC Women’s Invitational tournament at Horn Rapids Golf Course in Richland.

Both are Kamiakin High grads.

York-Bement finished with a 159 two-round total (80 and 79) to finish second. Wilber had a 162 (86-76) for third.

Sarah Gray of Southwestern Oregon Community College was medalist with a 157 (78-79).

As a team, CBC finished with 491 strokes, 6 strokes ahead of runnerup SWOCC, and 90 strokes ahead of Highline.