Defense leads the way in Chiawana’s 34-0 win over Southridge

The Chiawana Riverhawks have always been proud of their defensive unit.

And over the past three weeks, that unit has been on a roll, surrendering just 17 total points.

On Friday night, the Riverhawks pitched a shutout, beating host Southridge at Lampson Stadium 34-0 in a Mid-Columbia Conference football contest.

“Southridge has some weapons,” said Chiawana coach Steve Graff. “But our coaches had a good game plan on defense. We put some pressure on them.”

Indeed they did.

And although they may have gotten just one sack on Suns quarterback Mason Perez, they hurried him into some bad throws, and the Chiawana defensive backs and linebackers did a good job of covering receivers.

In all, Chiawana held Southridge to just 156 yards of offense.

“We bring the anger every time,” said Riverhawks linebacker Austin Penny,.

Chiawana quarterback Enoch Vargas agreed.

“The defense puts in work,” he said. “They had a lot of film study this week.”

Penny led the way, collecting unofficially eight tackles (two for loss) and recording a pass breakup.

But Penny was also impressed by his offensive teammates.

“Chiawana has always been a tough defensive team,” Penny said. “But this year it’s been more all-around.”

Starting with Vargas, who had a near perfect night at QB, going 16-for-20 with two TD passes and 270 yards. That included connecting with a wide-open Tavin Blair in the second quarter for a 50-yard TD that all but put the game away.

“I was reading their safety, looked his way and made him turn,” said Vargas. “Then I saw my buddy (Blair) wide open down the middle. Last year we were one-dimensional (with the run). But we’ve put in the work with the passing game. We’ve stepped it up.”

As usual, the Riverhawks rushing attack helped set up the passing game.

Tayden Jenkins rushed for 96 yards and scored a touchdown, while Ethan Garcia added 54 yards and a 20-yard rushing TD on the game’s opening series that gave the Riverhawks the lead for good.

Southridge coach Aaron Sonnichsen wasn’t surprised by what he saw from Chiawana.

“They run that zone counter run play,” he said. “Graff has a great program going over there. They came out and were more physical than we were.”

But Sonnichsen admitted his team could have played better.

“We shot ourselves in the foot at times,” he said. “We had a lot of dropped balls. We had our chances to respond. We had our opportunities, and we didn’t take advantage of them. And you’ve got to do that against great teams.”

Adding to Chiawana’s stellar defense effort was DB Teddy Hunter who had four tackles, one pass breakup and a cover, and DB Taylor Kroll, who had four tackles.

Linebacker Mason Bond had a strong game on defense for the Suns, collecting eight tackles, two for loss. Defensive end Eric Stayrook added three tackles, a quarterback sack and a fumble recovery.

COMING UP

With just three weeks left in the regular season, both teams are in the hunt for postseason berths. Chiawana (3-1 MCC, 5-1 overall) is tied for second with Kamiakin overall. The Riverhawks still have games against Pasco, Richland and Walla Walla — all fellow Class 4A teams — and need to finish at least in the top two among Class 4A teams to advance ... Class 3A Southridge (2-2 MCC, 3-3 overall) still has 4A Hanford, and then the MCC’s two other 3A teams in Kennewick and Kamiakin. The top two advance to postseason play. “I keep telling our guys the games you want to play in are in November and December,” Sonnichsen said. ... The Southridge coach calls it the Lampson Curse: the Suns are 0-3 at home at Lampson Stadium. But they’re 3-0 on the road. ... The game wasn't perfect, according to Graff. “We keep making mental mistakes,” he said. “We can't have those at this point in the season.”

Chiawana 10 10 0 14 -- 34

Southridge 0 0 0 0 -- 0

This story was originally published October 7, 2017 at 1:37 AM with the headline "Defense leads the way in Chiawana’s 34-0 win over Southridge."