Chiawana, Kennewick win big Week 2 MCC football showdowns

Chiawana and Kennewick took care of business this weekend, winning their Week 2 Mid-Columbia Conference football showdowns.

The host Riverhawks shut down Kamiakin 15-3 on Thursday night, while the host Lions stopped Southridge 35-12 on Friday.

Meanwhile, Richland also won 41-0 at home over Hanford on Friday, keeping pace with the Riverhawks and Lions at 2-0.

In other MCC games on Friday, Pasco took down Sageview 41-24; and Walla Walla stopped visiting Hermiston 34-12.

CHIAWANA 15, KAMIAKIN 3: Scott Bond wasn’t exactly ecstatic after his Riverhawks held on to beat Kamiakin on Thursday night, especially after his team had a bad week of practice.

“We just need more players to lead this team,” said Bond. “Tayten Cissne is getting the job done. But we need multiple leaders.”

Cissne indeed dominated on the defensive side of the ball, as the linebacker garnered 11 tackles (5 for loss). His three sacks of Kamiakin freshman quarterback Jagger McEwen led the Chiawana defensive unit’s eight total sacks.

For good measure, Cissne added a fumble recovery.

“We continue to be dominant on defense,” said Cissne. “Kamiakin is always gonna be tough. But we made a few adjustments. We’ve just gotta get better every day.”

The Riverhawks did enough to outscore the Braves, with junior Sawyer Sommerville scoring two touchdowns — including one in the second quarter, a 7-yard run off a reverse.

“My eyes got pretty big when I saw the end zone,” said Sommerville, who admitted that Kamiakin was pretty tough. “I think coming into the game we were gonna smack them. But a win is a win.”

Bond agreed.

When Chiawana went into halftime with just a 7-3 lead, Bond talked to his team about taking control of things.

“I said you can’t beat two teams on a night like this,” said Bond. “You can’t beat yourself and them too.”

Kamiakin coach Scott Biglin, meanwhile, reminded his team at intermission what needed to be done.

“I said we are not satisfied in just being in the game,” said Biglin. “We have to be more physical. We’ve got to match blows with them. It’s gonna be like Rocky versus Drago.”

CHIAWANA 15, KAMIAKIN 3

Kamiakin 3 0 0 0 — 3

Chiawana 0 7 0 8 — 15

SCORING PLAYS

Kam — FG 32 Colton Gourley

Chia — Sawyer Sommerville 7 run (Morgan Dodson kick)

Chia — Sommerville 13 run (Tayten Cissne run)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Kam, Korbyn Hopwood 10-49, Stephen Wadan 5-14, Diego Vargas 1-minus 1, Jagger McEwen 13-minus 33, Total 29-29. Chia, Anthony Godino 17-80, Sommerville 6-34, Cooper Cissne 3-26, Gage Williams 10-25. Total 36-165.

PASSING — Kam, McEwen 9-21-0-149. Chia, Williams 6-12-2-74, Emmett Osterdock 2-2-0-45.

RECEIVING — Kam, Mason Severson 6-102, Micheal Kori 2-41, Easton Stephens 1-6. Chia, Angel Colon 2-59, Jairo Martinez 1-38, Sommerville 2-10, Godino 2-8, Tayten Cissne 1-4.

FIRST DOWNS — Kam 10, Chia 14. FUMBLES-LOST — Kam 1-1, Chia 2-0. PENALTIES-YARDS — Kam 1-5, Chia 8-63.

DEFENSIVE LEADERS — Kam, DB Cannon Meagher 10 tackles (1 for loss); DB Ty Farris 9 tackles, 1 cover; LB Zachary Purington 7 tackles. Chia, LB Tayten Cissne 11 tackles (5 for loss), 3 QB sacks, fumble recovery; LB Cole Hultgrenn 6 tackles (1 for loss), QB sack; DB Sean Ramin 4 tackles, 2 pass breakups, 1 cover; DL Fernando Perez Callabero 4 tackles (1 for loss), QB sack, forced fumble; DL Dallas Mackay 3 tackles (2 for loss), 2 QB sacks.

KENNEWICK 35, SOUTHRIDGE 12: If there were any concerns that Kennewick would struggle this season after graduating so many talented seniors from the 2024 season, they were alleviated.

“I always believe that in a high school program, it will always be the juniors are waiting to take over,” said Lions coach Randy Affholter. “For us, going deep into the players last year, it meant an extra 2-3 weeks of practice.”

Offensively, Kennewick was led by quarterback Dominic Driver and sophomore running back Carter Bendewald.

Driver, a senior, passed for 180 yards and three touchdown passes, as well as rushing for another.

Bendewald compiled 188 yards of offense: three receptions for 99 yards (including a 79-yard scoring play), and another 89 yards of rushing on 13 carries.

Bendewald and Rivion Brooks — who didn’t turn out for football in 2024 with Alex Roberts and Canaan Hays in the backfield — have picked up the slack at running back.

Defensively, senior linebacker Cooper Neer — headed to the University of Montana next season on a full-ride scholarship — led the Lions with 8 tackles, one for loss.

Neer said he has had a number of teammates come over to his house to study some extra film.

“For us, it’s next man up,” said Neer. “I trust every one of these guys to do the job. I hear a lot of people say we lost a lot of people. But what I don’t hear people saying is we’ve got a lot of talented players here. We look good now.”

Affholter agrees.

“I told the guys after the game that I was proud of them. They play hard, and I like it,” said Affholter.

Senior Koven Burke led Southridge with 6 catches for 110 yards and a score. But it just wasn’t enough.

“Too many penalties for us,” said Suns coach Matt Johnson. “They hit us in the mouth and we didn’t punch back. We just didn’t capitalize on our opportunities.”

KENNEWICK 35, SOUTHRIDGE 12

Southridge 0 0 6 6 — 12

Kennewick 14 7 7 7 — 35

SCORING PLAYS

K — Rivion Brooks 4 run (Anthony Mariano kick)

K — Alexander Pursley 5 pass from Dominic Driver (Mariano kick)

K — Carter Bendewald 10 pass from Driver (Mariano kick)

S — Koven Burke 69 pass from Coppin Hunkapillar (bad snap)

K — Bendewald 79 pass from Driver (Mariano kick)

K — Driver 2 run (Mariano kick)

S — Gabe Borisch 5 run (pass failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — SOU, Borisch 15-95, Hunkapillar 4-8, Toa Haertling 1-3, Tayton Jackman 4-3, Ramses Chavez 2-1, Total 26-110. KEN, Bendewald 13-89, Driver 8-59, Brooks 14-53, Total 35-201.

PASSING — SOU, Hunkapillar 8-24-0-133. KEN, Driver 10-17-1-180, Bradley Parker 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — SOU, Koven Burke 6-110, Jackman 2-20, Borisch 3 yards. KEN, Bendewald 3-99, Jacob Ball 2-29, Brady Mattson 1-27, Pursley 3-24, Brody Burrill 1-11.

FIRST DOWNS — SOU 8, KEN 17. FUMBLES-LOST — SOU 1-0, KEN 0-0. PENALTIES-YARDS — SOU 11-85, KEN 6-38.

TOP DEFENDERS — SOU: LB Haertling 5 tackles (3 for loss); DB Chase Ferguson 5 tackles, interception; DB Burke 4 tackles, 1 pass breakup; DE Paz Barraza 5 tackles. KEN: LB Cooper Neer 8 tackles (1 for loss), DL Peter Smith 5 tackles (1 for loss), LB Jakob Gay 5 tackles.

PASCO 41, SAGEVIEW 24: Trailing 18-14 at halftime, Pasco scored three unanswered touchdowns in the third quarter to defeat Sageview.

“It was an important win for us, for sure,” said Pasco coach D.J. Search. “I think this gives us the confidence to go through adversity and get through it.”

Bulldogs quarterback Junior Olvera overcame giving up two pick-sixes to the Lobos defense by tossing 153 yards on 8-for-12 passing and three TD strikes. Olvera also ran for another score.

“Junior Olvera is a really good football player,” said Search. “When I got hired, he was one of the first people I sought out. There was talk that we would be a running team. But I went to Junior to affirm that while the run is important, we have to pass too.”

Pasco’s Jayden Williams added 183 yards of rushing on 24 carries, scoring two touchdowns, while Max Valencia added 4 catches for 69 yards and two TDs. Valencia also added an interception on defense.

“I like the way we tackled,” added Search. “I like the way we gang-tackled to the ball.”

RICHLAND 41, HANFORD 0: Jackson Woodard was 15 for 23 for 237 yards passing, with three TD passes as well as one rushing score, to lead the host Bombers over Hanford on Friday.

Brody Bocek caught four passes for 99 yards and a TD, while Kiyen Williams caught two of Woodard’s touchdown passes.

Matthew Stanfield led the Richland defense, with 11 tackles (four for loss), and 1.5 quarterback sacks.

Sione Nuku led the Falcons with 45 yards on 9 carries on offense, as well as 8 tackles (2 for loss) on defense.

WALLA WALLA 34, HERMISTON 12: The host Blue Devils opened their new football field on campus with an MCC win over the visiting Bulldogs.

Lincoln Heinrich tossed four touchdown passes for Wa-Hi, as Justin James earned his first win as a head coach. Heinrich was 24 for 32 for 250 yards.

The Blue Devils pulled away in the second half, outscoring Hermiston 20-0 in the second half.

Derrick Bingham caught 5 passes for 90 yards for Wa-Hi.

Defensively, the Blue Devils forced five turnovers. WW linebacker Charles Wutzke had 7 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.

Hayden Larson led Hermiston with 81 yards rushing and a touchdown. Bulldogs quarterback Brayden Medelez added 163 yards passing and a TD pass.

MCC standings and scores

Chiawana 2-0

Kennewick 2-0

Richland 2-0

Kamiakin 1-1

Pasco 1-1

Southridge 1-1

Walla Walla 1-1

Hanford 0-2

Hermiston 0-2

Sageview 0-2

Thursday, Sept. 18

Sageview at Kamiakin, Lampson Stadium, 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 19

Chiawana at Hermiston, 7 p.m.

Kennewick at Pasco, Edgar Brown Stadium, 7 p.m.

Richland at Southridge, Lampson Stadium, 7 p.m.

Walla Walla at Hanford, Hanford High School, 7 p.m.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.