Chiawana’s season ends as 2 key early drives come up empty

You can’t win a football game if you can’t find the end zone.

That’s what happened to Chiawana on Saturday in a 40-14 loss to visiting Bothell in a state Class 4A first-round football playoff game at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco.

The Riverhawks (8-3) seemed to dominate the stat sheet in the first half. They outgained the Cougars 188-63. They had the football for 15 minutes and 34 seconds, compared to Bothell’s 8:26.

Yet Bothell (9-2) led at intermission 13-0.

How?

Because Chiawana failed to score on either of its first two possessions of the game.

The Riverhawks took the opening kickoff and marched 61 yards on six plays.

From the Bothell 11, Chiawana quarterback Preston Vine connected with Aarloh Valdovinos over the middle for a 10-yard gain. However, as Valdovinos was trying to advance the ball into the end zone, someone on the Cougars defense stood him up, and Bothell linebacker Colin Fisherkeller grabbed the ball from him at 1 to stop that drive.

On the next drive, Chiawana marched down to the Bothell 11 only to stall, and the Cougars blocked Ryan Lowry’s 28-yard field goal attempt.

“If they score on one of those first two drives, it’s a whole different game,” said Bothell coach Tom Bainter. “The key is they don’t score. We’re feeling lucky.”

Steve Graff felt the same way.

“It’s a different ball game if we score one of those two times,” said the Chiawana coach.

Suddenly, that luck turned to skill for Bothell.

Linebacker Ryan Metz intercepted Vine in the flat and took it 65 yards for the first score, giving the Cougars a 6-0 lead with 10:01 to play in the second quarter.

Two series later, Bothell put together a 10-play, 50-yard scoring drive, culminating in a 1-yard Brenden Bird touchdown run and a 13-0 halftime lead.

Still, there was the feeling that Chiawana’s defense, which had played well in the first half, would remain stiff while waiting for its offensive counterpart to get untracked.

Never happened.

Bothell took the opening kickoff of the third quarter and marched 59 yards on eight plays, with Fisherkeller diving in from the 1 for a 20-0 Bothell lead.

“They were penetrating our A and B gaps in the first half,” said Tom Bainter. “We started creating some outside gaps, and we got some big plays. But that third-quarter drive for a touchdown was so important.”

Chiawana linebacker AJ Vongphachanh agreed.

“I think honestly they figured out what we were doing defensively,” said Vongphachanh. “The game just changed. The momentum changed.”

Graff was more blunt.

“Our offense couldn’t get it done in the first half, and our defense couldn’t get it done in the second half,” said Graff. “We stopped ourselves. (Bothell) figured it out. We’re fast, and we can run around. But we’re not that big.”

Bothell QB Erik Bainter took control from there, as the Cougars scored on their first four possessions of the second half – the Fisherkeller 1-yard run; a 30-yard Bainter TD run; a 96-yard scoring pass to Riley Morrison; and a 42-yard screen pass to Bird for another TD.

In all, a 27-point third quarter for Bothell.

“We weren’t efficient in the first half,” said Erik Bainter. “But the third quarter, we came out with more fire. And our defense was playing amazing.”

By that last touchdown, it was 40-0, which activated the running clock.

Chiawana was finally able to score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter: JP Zamora passes of 3 yards to Sisay West and 6 yards to Dion Lee.

But it wasn’t enough, as the Riverhawks’ season ended.

“We were league champs,” Graff said. “We had a good season. And there were not a lot of seniors out there playing. I thanked the seniors.”

NOTES: Bothell moves on to the quarterfinals, playing at No. 1 Union next weekend. … Morrison had the big stats for Bothell, catching three passes for 116 yards. … Kobe Young had a good game for Chiawana, with 5 catches for 104 yards. … Chiawana turned the ball over four times. Bothell turned those into 20 points. … DB Darius Kubalanza led Bothell on defense, with 6 tackles, an interception, a cover and two pass breakups. Metz had the interception and five tackles, while DB Bryce MacDonald had seven tackles. … Defensive lineman Bridger Feldmann led Chiawana with 9 tackles, 2 for losses. LB Roy Colvin had 4 tackles and two hurries.

COUGARS 40, RIVERHAWKS 14