Week 2: What to watch for in today’s Tri-Cities high school football matchups
As we enter Week 2 of this strange spring season of high school football we take a closer look at their first week and what teams are looking like.
In Friday’s Richland at Kennewick Mid-Columbia Conference matchup — perhaps the marquee game of the weekend — it’s pretty clear that both teams are pretty good.
In Kennewick’s case, the Lions made it all the way to the Class 3A state semifinals in 2019 before falling to O’Dea.
And despite losing a number of talented seniors to graduation, the Lions still have plenty of talent this year — and they keep finding more.
Case in point: junior star running back Myles Mayovsky broke his thumb three carries into the game last week at Pasco. No problem for the Lions, who insert Erick Mora into the game, and he rushes 22 times for 131 yards and a score in a 38-14 win over the Bulldogs.
Mayovsky is likely to play this Friday, with a cast. But now Mora has established himself too. Throw in quarterback Elijah Turner, and receivers Simeon Howard and Max Mayer, and it’s easy to see that Kennewick offenseis still is loaded.
Richland lost last week to Kamiakin, 21-13. The Bombers defense showed they could slow down that high-flying Braves offense, and the game was in doubt until the final minute.
Offensively, Bombers QB Harrison Westover must find a way to get the ball to star WR Ben Fewel (headed to Georgetown), and on the ground, running back Elijah Rodriguez looked good.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday at Lampson Stadium.
Check Kennewick High’s Facebook account on how to livestream the contest.
Friday games
Here is a look at the other games this weekend (all games are 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted; check with each host school on how to watch the game via livestream):
Kamiakin (1-0) at Walla Walla (1-0): Visiting Braves looking for a more consistent offense with RB Tuna Altahir, WRs Woodley Downard and Messiah Jones; and QBs Payton Graham and Henry Mercado; Wa-Hi (1-0) counters with RB Jacob Humphrey and QB Ryan Martuscelli.
Chiawana (1-0) at Pasco (0-1): The Gravel Pit Championship is on the line at Edgar Brown. The Riverhawks (1-0) have plenty of weapons on offense, but defense really looked good against Hanford last week. It must figure out a way to stop Bulldogs’ star Des Licon. Game is on SWX.
Hermiston (0-0) at Hanford (0-1): The visiting Bulldogs make their season debut, with QB Chase Elliott leading the way. Falcons look to get their first win this season at Fran Rish Stadium, and QB Easton Wise-Hyde has plans for that.
Southridge (0-1) at Selah (1-1): Visiting Suns must get more offense this week after loss to Walla Walla, and the Southridge defense must find a way to stop standout Vikings’ RB Rollin Levon in the non-conference game.
Other games
College Place (1-0) at Connell (1-0): Visiting Hawks have QB Nickolas Josifek, who tossed four TD passes last week against Wapato. But if they’re to win this 1A SCAC game College Place defense must find a way to stop Eagles’ standout Carson Riner.
Columbia-Burbank (1-0) at River View (1-0), 4 p.m., Saturday. First time these long-time, cross-river rivals have met since 2017, when Columbia-Burbank won 29-24. Since 2004, though, River View leads the series 10-4. Visiting Coyotes’ defense pitched a shutout last week against Tri-Cities Prep. They’ll have to be just as good to stop Panthers’ Braulio Mendoza in this 2B EWAC matchup.
DeSales (0-1) at Touchet (1-1), 3 p.m., Friday. Visiting Irish hoping for first win this season in an afternoon matinee against Indians in a 1B Southeast game.
Eastmont (0-0) at Royal (0-0): Maybe the most intriguing game. Class 4A Wildcats are visiting defending state 1A champion Knights, with the Christensen cousins, Caleb and Cooper. Kudos to Royal for taking on such a big school; even more kudos to Eastmont to not only play a very good small-school team, but doing it on the road too.
Ephrata (0-0) at Wahluke (0-0): Class 2A Tigers visit Class 1A Warriors in season opener for both teams.
Granger (1-0) at Mabton (0-1), 2:30 p.m., Saturday: Visiting Spartans opened 2B EWAC play last weekend with 48-6 win over Kittitas; host Vikings lost 54-14 at River View.
La Salle (0-1) at Kiona-Benton (0-1): Host Bears looking to bounce back after loss to Connell, while visiting Lightning also looking for its first victory.
Liberty Christian (2-0) at Lyle/Wishram (1-0), 6 p.m., Friday: Visiting Patriots have an outstanding quarterback-receiver duo in sophomore Keegan Bishop and senior Aiden Lesser. High unlikely anyone can stop them in 8-man football.
Oroville (0-0) at Warden (0-0), 1 p.m., Saturday. Host Cougars are stepping out of the SCAC for this season, and make their season debut against visiting Hornets.
Prosser (2-0) at Grandview (1-1): Don’t know if there is anyone defense that can stop visiting Mustangs QB Kaiden Rivera, or WRs Haden Hicks, Kaden Swift and another number of receivers. As of Thursday morning, there was a chance that Prosser’s JV may play Grandview’s varsity in this game.
That would leave an opening for the Prosser varsity to play host to defending 2A state champion Tumwater — which lost its opponent to COVID protocols – in a game on Saturday at Fiker Stadium. If it happens, it would be an early afternoon kickoff.
Tri-Cities Prep (0-1) at Dayton-Waitsburg (1-0): Prep QB Evan Sherfey looking to lead visiting Jaguars back after shaky start to season last week.
West Valley-Spokane (1-0) at Othello (1-0): Host Huskies beat Pullman 34-14 on the road last week, as the team takes a break from CWAC play this spring to play in the 2A Greater Spokane League.
West Valley-Yakima (0-0) at Sunnyside (0-0): First of two meetings between these Big Nine Conference schools making their 2021 spring season debuts.
MCC soccer
Conference play began in earnest Tuesday with the following scores: Chiawana shut out Hanford 5-0; Kamiakin routed Kennewick 8-0; McKenna Martinez’s OT goal gave Richland a 1-0 win over Southridge; and Walla Walla outscored Pasco 6-2.
Standings: Kamiakin 1-0, Chiawana 1-0, Walla Walla 1-0, Richland 1-0, Southridge 0-1, Pasco 0-1, Hanford 0-1, Kennewick 0-1..
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 12:49 PM.