Mid-Columbia football race starting to take shape. 2 Tri-City teams still unbeaten
Chiawana and Kennewick that came away with the big victories on Friday night in Mid-Columbia Conference football action.
Chiawana won a 39-27 shootout over visiting Richland, while Kennewick rallied to edge Kamiakin 21-20.
It leaves both the Riverhawks and Lions unbeaten — although Chiawana sits a half-game in the conference standings above Kennewick because Scott Bond’s team has played all MCC games, while Randy Affholter’s squad has a non-league win.
Meanwhile, Southridge got back on the winning track Thursday night, beating Hermiston 38-0
Walla Walla picked up its first win of the year, rallying past Pasco 23-15. And Hanford earned its first win of the year, beating Mountain View of Vancouver 34-28 in a non-league game.
Play of the week
The play of the week comes from Chiawana’s Ian Mohl.
The Riverhawks senior running back was outstanding all night, carrying the football 29 times for 224 yards rushing and a touchdown.
And it was that touchdown that everyone will remember long after the game.
Let’s set the scene: Chiawana led Richland 26-14 in the fourth quarter of a game that saw four lead changes.
But in the span of 50 seconds, the Bombers exploded for two touchdowns — starting with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Josh Woodard to Brody Bocek.
That was followed by a loose ball on the ensuing kickoff that Richland’s Rayce Reeves recovered at the Chiawana 4. Two plays later, the Bombers’ Landon Charlton bulled in from the 3, and suddenly the Bombers were leading 27-26 with 8:03 left to play.
Enter Mohl.
On the next series, the running back ran a sweep to the left. Richland linebacker Zane Weikum (who had 7 tackles, 2 for loss) looked like he had stopped Mohl for a 5-yard gain.
But what he had actually done was swing Mohl around, and the Riverhawks star landed on his rear onto Weikum’s stomach. The Bombers defender was on his back.
Mohl never hesitated. He popped right up and was gone for a 71-yard touchdown run as everyone else stopped. The play gave Chiawana a 32-27 lead that they would never relinquish.
“I just never heard a whistle,” said Mohl. “He was tackling me, threw me down, but I landed on his stomach. I didn’t touch the ground.”
The play happened right in front of Bond.
“That’s just a heads up play,” said Bond.
Mohl says he’s learned to keep going until he hears the referees’ whistle.
“No one pays attention to the whistle anymore,” said Mohl. “This is a huge turning point to the season. That was two undefeated teams fighting for the No. 1 spot.”
A battle at Lampson Stadium
Five lead changes and a tie in this game meant plenty of big plays in this game.
Sophomore Alex Roberts is rapidly becoming a standout for the Lions, and he broke a 48-yard run for a touchdown to tie the game at 14-14.
Then Kamiakin senior Gabe Tahir took a Carter Poland pass and raced 60 yards for a score for the Braves for a 20-14 lead.
But in the end it was Andre Breedlove, Kennewick’s senior quarterback, who found Dylin McIntyre for the winning TD pass with just 43 seconds remaining.
Roberts rushed for 127 yards on 17 carries, while Breedlove accounted for 165 yards (121 yards passing and 44 rushing).
Poland finished up going 19-for-28 for 209 yards passing with two touchdowns for Kamiakin.
Fabian Hernandez (10 catches for 88 yards and a score) and Tahir (3 catches for 85 yards and a TD) were Poland’s main targets.
Two things from this game: the Lions lost senior running back Zaydel Capetillo to a broken leg when he was tackled on a play.
Capetillo had surgery later that night.
“(He has a) rod in the lower leg,” said Randy Affholter. “It’ll be an 8-week recovery.”
The other thing is Affholter himself, who earned his 200th career victory.
“My goal when I started was to get to 200 career wins, and to make it 30 years in the business,” Affholter said last week before the game.
He’s at 29 years in a career that started at Toppenish (three seasons), moved to Ellensburg for 19 more, and is at Kennewick for the last five seasons. His career record is 200-101, and he’s 32-5 since he started coaching the Lions in 2018.
Southridge rebounds
After falling to Kamiakin 28-2 on Sept. 16, the Southridge Suns bounced back to beat visiting Hermiston 38-0 on Thursday at Lampson Stadium.
That gives both the Suns and the Bulldogs 2-2 records as they battle for Class 3A positioning.
Jimmy Rush had a big night for Southridge with 21 carries for 178 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Lucien Cone added 71 yards rushing on 9 carries and a score.
Southridge officially rushed for 461 yards as a team, which according to Suns head coach Matt Johnson is a school record. It’s also the team’s second shutout in the past three weeks.
Walla Walla gets on the board
Jessie Ocampo had a 36-yard interception return for a touchdown, and Jason Flippo rushed for 139 yards on 17 carries as host Walla Walla rallied from an 8-6 deficit to beat Pasco 23-15 for the Blue Devils’ first win of the season.
Pasco head coach Leon Wright-Jackson said that tight end Paxtyn Hermes caught two TD passes, while free safety Phillip Washington had an interception.
Hanford gets its first win too
The host Falcons — and when we say, we mean host! — scored the game’s last two touchdowns to beat visiting Mountain View of Vancouver 34-28 on Friday night.
What made this game even better was the contest was held on the Hanford High School campus, on the Falcons newly remodeled stadium with turf.
“It was the first-ever win on Hanford’s campus!” Hanford coach Nicker Baker texted. “Awesome energy!”
Preston Bryant caught 5 passes for 105 yards, while Falcons QB Eli Perkes was 9 of 12 passing for 135 yards and a score. Perkes also rushed for 38 yards and had a rushing TD.
Kevin Hester added 64 yards rushing and Caden Wilson had 63 more.
The Falcons plan on having one more game (Senior Night against Walla Walla on Oct. 21) on the school’s campus. Their two other home contests will be at Fran Rish Stadium — Kamiakin on Sept. 29; and Oct. 13 against Kennewick.
MCC standings
Chiawana 4-0 MCC, 4-0 overall
Kennewick 3-0, 4-0
Richland 3-1, 3-1
Hermiston 2-2, 2-2
Southridge 2-2, 2-2
Kamiakin 1-2, 2-2
Walla Walla 1-2, 1-3
Hanford 0-3, 1-3
Pasco 0-4, 0-4
Sept. 21
Southridge 38, Hermiston 0
Sept. 22
Chiawana 39, Richland 27
Hanford 34, Mountain View 28
Kennewick 21, Kamiakin 20
Walla Walla 23, Pasco 15
Thursday, Sept. 29
Chiawana at Kennewick, 7 p.m.
Kamiakin at Hanford, Fran Rish, 7 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 30
Richland at Pasco, Edgar Brown Stadium, 7 p.m.
Walla Walla at Southridge, Lampson Stadium, 7 p.m.
West Valley-Yakima at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published September 26, 2022 at 12:58 PM.