2022 WA high school football season about to kicks off. Dust Devils start 6 game series

It’s hard to believe, but we’re only a few weeks away from the first high school football games of the 2022 season.

Official practices begin Aug. 17.

Here are the Week 1 games for the Mid-Columbia Conference, all set for 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2:

Chiawana visits Kamiakin at Lampson Stadium; Hanford plays down at Hermiston; Kennewick travels across the Columbia River to visit Pasco at Edgar Brown Stadium; Southridge visits Richland in the newly refurbished Fran Rish Stadium, which boasts new turf for the first time; and Walla Walla heads to Yakima to play West Valley in a non-league game.

▪ Football offers: Connell tight end Cade Clyde has received a scholarship offer to play football for the University of Idaho. Richland receiver Tanner Schuster received his first football offer, this one from the University of Puget Sound.

Track and field

Congrats to Kai Whitehead, a youngster representing the Tri-City Thunder track team. The young man cleared 3 feet, 11.25 inches in the Boys 9-10 Division High Jump competition a few weeks ago at the AAU Nationals in Sacramento.

That gave Kai, the son of former Tri-Cities Fever standout Steven Whitehead, a fourth-place finish.

Kai’s teammate, Jonah Fisher, also placed well, clearing 3-9.25 to finish eighth in the same division. The event had 26 competitors.

Baseball

The Tri-City Dust Devils started a six-game series Tuesday at Gesa Stadium against the Seattle Mariners’ Everett AquaSox affiliate.

The Dust Devils had a rough series up in Vancouver last week, going 1-5 — which included three 1-run losses — against the Canadians, the Toronto Blue Jays’ farm club.

So far this week, Tri-City has split two games with Everett.

With five weeks left in the Northwest League regular season, Tri-City sits 11 games out of first place behind the Eugene Emeralds. Eugene is also the first-half champion, and if it wins the second-half title, the Emeralds will play the team with the next best overall record in the NWL title series.

Here are the second-half standings:

• Eugene (Giants) 24-14, leading, (62-39 overall)
• Vancouver (Blue Jays) 23-14, .5 games back, (53-47)
• Spokane (Rockies) 19-18, 4.5 games back, (53-48)
• Everett (Mariners) 18-20, 6 games back, (49-54)
• Hillsboro (Diamondbacks) 16-22, 8 games back, (45-57)
• Tri-City (Angels) 13-25, 11 games back, (42-59)

Games continue Thursday through Sunday nights at Gesa Stadium. First pitch each night is 7:05 p.m.

▪ Here are three Dust Devils who had strong weeks in Vancouver:

Pitcher Jose Salvador, called up from Inland Empire in Class A on June 8, earned the Dust Devils’ only victory in a 3-0 verdict last Tuesday. He also pitched well on Sunday in a no-decision. Altogether, Salvador pitched 10.2 innings, gave up just 3 hits, surrendered just 1 earned run, and struck out 12 batters.

Infielder Christian Sepulveda was called up from the ACL Rookie team on Aug. 1, and he went 8 for 22 (.364 batting average), scored five runs, and had five doubles.

Outfielder Mike Wilson went 3-for-14 (.214), but he had two home runs, 3 RBIs and scored 3 runs.

▪ Kamiakin grad Chase Grillo had a heck of a summer pitching for the St. Cloud (Minn.) Blue Rox in the Northwoods League, a college league.

Grillo was the team’s closer, and he had 13 of them. Grillo also went 1-1, made 16 appearances, pitched 16.1 innings, struck out 25 batters, and had a 2.76 earned run average.

Grillo pitches collegiately for Washington State University.

Basketball

Columbia Basin College men’s basketball coach Anthony Owens had a great season with his Hawks, making the NWAC Tournament.

Now some of those players are getting rewarded with basketball scholarships to four-year colleges and universities.

Last week, we mentioned guard Leo Gerardo committing to Benedictine Mesa, and NAIA school in Arizona.

Now, redshirt freshman Nick Gutierrez (Pasco High) has signed with NAIA school Hannibal-Lagrange University, located in Missouri.

Three more Hawks are headed on to NCAA Division 2 programs.

Richland High grad Garrett Streufert will be playing for Southwest Baptist University in Missouri.

Guard Donovan Cooper is headed to Arkansas-Monticello.

Owens said Richland High grad Tyler Kurtz, a 6-foot-7 forward, will sign with the Division 2 school soon.

Owens also says four other Hawks who have aged out of the program are ready to embark on their careers. As a whole, the Hawks averaged a 3.5 grade point average.

“It is (pretty great),” said Owens. “Hopefully this next group will be just as talented.”

Women’s soccer

The Big Sky Conference released its preseason women’s soccer coaches’ poll on Thursday, and Northern Colorado came out as the top team.

UNC has six of the nine available first-place votes and finished with 61 total points. Montana was second with two first-place votes and 54 total points.

Northern Colorado has a Tri-Cities connection with senior forward Britney Donais, a Kamiakin High School graduate.

Idaho was pegged fifth out of the nine teams in the poll, and the Vandals boast junior forward Ariel Lofton, a Kiona-Benton High School grad.

Last week, we already mentioned the six area players on the Eastern Washington University squad. The Eagles are picked to finish seventh in the poll.