Chiawana, Kennewick fall in quarterfinals; Royal, Liberty Christian advance to semifinals

The Mid-Columbia’s playoff football teams still alive for a chance at a state championship are down to two: Royal and Liberty Christian of Richland.

The region’s two big-school teams — Chiawana and Kennewick — lost tough quarterfinal games on Saturday to see their seasons end.

Royal will play in the 1A semifinals, while LC has a semifinal date next weekend on the road against Neah Bay.

Othello also fell in its 2A quarterfinals, falling at Enumclaw.

Here’s a look at area teams and what happened:

EMERALD RIDGE 40, CHIAWANA 37: Chiawana’s magical run through the 2022 regular season and Class 4A postseason came to an end Saturday when the visiting Jaguars scored the game-winning touchdown in the waning seconds.

That gives Emerald Ridge a berth in the 4A state semifinals. The Jaguars will play host to Kennedy Catholic next weekend.

Scott Bond’s Riverhawks, whose season ends with a 10-1 record, led almost the entire game.

In fact, the host Riverhawks held a lead over the Jaguars for 47 minutes and 56 seconds of their Class 4A state quarterfinal football game at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Unfortunately, a high school football game lasts 48 minutes.

It was in those final seconds that Jags quarterback Jake Schakel hit Mitchell Condon for a 6-yard touchdown pass — with 3.7 seconds remaining.

“I told our guys I was proud of them,” said Chiawana’s Bond. “We were 5-5 last year. Our seniors did a great job of turning things around. They became great leaders on this squad. They all bought into the program, and they kicked butt in the classroom.”

Just 5:34 into Saturday’s contest, Emerald Ridge trailed Chiawana 21-0. The Jaguars spent the rest of the game chasing the Riverhawks, closing within 2 points two different times in the second half before overtaking them at the end.

“I don’t believe we’ve ever had a comeback like this,” said Schakel, who passed for 378 yards and four touchdown passes. “Even when we were down 21-0, we didn’t panic. We had to make some small adjustments.”

The Riverhawks were handling the Jaguars early, thanks to a 92-yard kickoff return by the Riverhawks’ Justin Webber to open the game.

After a 3-and-out punt, the Riverhawks drove 90 yards on five plays, with Ian Mohl sprinting in from 20 yards for a TD and 14-0 lead.

After the Jags were forced to punt again, Chiawana’s Cooper MacPherson blocked Brady Peterson’s punt, and the Riverhawks’ Judah Bishop picked up the ball and rambled 25 yards for another touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

But rather than get desperate, Emerald Ridge stayed calm.

“There was a lot of game left,” said Jaguars head coach Adam Schakel. “I’ve been on that other end before. Not this year. But a lead like that can be a lot like Fool’s Gold, because there is a lot of football left.”

So Coach Schakel’s son the quarterback started taking what the Riverhawks defense gave him.

“We knew they ran a different type of defense that we hadn’t seen before,” said Jake Schakel. “Their defensive backs are really lined up far off of the receivers. So I just kept throwing those short routes.”

In fact, 24 of Schakel’s 39 completions were 9 yards or less.

A 10-yard TD pass to backup receiver Mitchell Condon here, a 3-yard TD strike to Jacob Lane there — sandwiched around a 4-yard scoring run by Logan Lisherness — and the Jaguars had cut the Riverhawks’ lead to 28-20 at halftime.

In the first half, Emerald Ridge had compiled 218 offensive yards to Chiawana’s 123. But the Riverhawks led at intermission.

Bond could see what Jake Schakel was doing in the first half.

“They did a great job of finding the little holes in our defense that we have,” said Bond. “We gave them that understuff.”

Tayshaun Micks rushed in from 2 yards out in the third quarter for the Jaguars. But they couldn’t get the 2-point conversion and still trailed at 28-26.

To Chiawana’s credit, the Riverhawks kept answering score for score — never relinquishing the lead for the longest time.

Two DJ Duran touchdown passes to Kade Smith, and a 26-yard Aaron Lowry field goal kept the lead in Chiawana’s hands.

But in the end, the Jaguars had the ball last. And they made it count. Jake Schakel marched his team downfield, moving 45 yards in eight plays — the final play a 6-yard scoring strike to Condon for the duo’s second scoring connection.

“Mitch doesn’t get to play as much, but when Gio (Kafentzis) got hurt early, he came in,” said Jake Schakel. “That just shows how much trust we have in each other.”

Jake Schakel finished by completing 39 passes out of 49 attempts for those 378 yards.

Tony Harste was Schakel’s main target, catching 14 of his passes for 180 yards.

In the end, Emerald Ridge had 396 yards of offense on 71 plays. Chiawana had 226 yards of offense on just 36 plays.

Lisherness (7 tackles, a quarterback sack and a forced fumble) and Sean Tutty (6 tackles, 3 for losses) led the Jaguars defensively.

Bishop led Chiawana with 7 tackles (3 for loss), a hurry, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries.

Braxton Feldman added 10 tackles for the Riverhawks.

YELM 36, KENNEWICK 27: The visiting Lions found themselves down to the top-ranked team 28-7 at one point.

But Kennewick fought back, as Andre Breedlove tossed four touchdown passes — two to David Wacenske, one to Kyler Witkowski, and one to Dane McClure.

Kennewick, which has finished at least eighth or better in Class 3A the past three seasons, finished with a 9-3 record.

ENUMCLAW 20, OTHELLO 17: Gunnar Trachte connected with Karson Holt on a 6-yard touchdown pass right before halftime, and the host Hornets held on for the 2A quarterfinal victory.

The Huskies, who were seeded fifth in the tournament, finished with a 9-2 record.

ROYAL 41, MONTESANO 9: The visiting Bulldogs held a 9-7 lead in the first quarter, before the Knights kicked things in and scored 35 unanswered points for the win.

Dylan Allred was Royal’s standout, going 15-for-22 for 196 yards and three TD passes. Allred also rushed 15 times for 110 yards and two TDs.

Edgar Delarosa caught 6 passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns, while Kaleb Hernandez rushed 5 times for 68 yards.

Top-seeded Royal will play No. 12 Freeman in the 1A semifinals next week.

LIBERTY CHRISTIAN 84, DESALES 50: The first time these two Southeast 1B teams met, in a windstorm, the Patriots won 14-8.

Saturday, with no wind, No. 3 seed Liberty Christian won again at Hanford High School. The Patriots will advance to the 1B state semifinals and will play No. 2 Neah Bay.

Senior Keegan Bishop completed just 9 of 25 passing attempts. But those 9 completions went for 371 yards — an average of 41.2 yards a completion. Bishop tossed 6 touchdown passes, and he rushed 19 times for 146 yards and two more scores.

Sophomore Charlie Branning added 127 yards rushing on 7 carries, while Magnus Hayden caught two passes for 111 yards and two scores.

Sam Culver scored three TD’s for LC, now 10-0; sophomore Addison Lyle led LC defensively with 14 tackles (10 unassisted).