Week 2: Tri-Cities player’s broken bone doesn’t stop stellar performance. Other highlights
Myles Mayovsky showed everyone on Friday night that he’s just as good at football with one good arm as he is with two.
Mayovsky helped lead the Kennewick Lions over visiting Richland 22-7 in a Mid-Columbia Conference game at Lampson Stadium.
This is what the standout junior did:
- Rushed 18 times for 105 yards;
- Scored the game’s first touchdown to give Kennewick the lead for good;
- Caught three passes for another 44 yards;
- Made 4 tackles, two for losses, at his linebacker position;
- And finished the game by making a one-handed interception, tipping the ball up twice before grabbing it and returning it 33 yards.
Not bad for a guy who broke his left thumb trying to make a tackle against Pasco in the season opener Feb. 27. So on Friday, he wore a large, soft cast to protect the thumb.
“I worked in practice with it a lot,” Mayovsky said. “I was running hard with it, and I’d bring my right hand up to help protect the ball.”
There was, he said, no consideration of missing the game after such a long delay because of the pandemic.
“No, I wasn’t going to miss any games,” he said.
This version of the Lions follows up the previous group that made it all the way to the 2019 Class 3A state semifinals before losing to O’Dea — a group that lost a lot of standout seniors to graduation.
Kennewick coach Randy Affholter said it’s been a matter of the next guy stepping up to help the team win.
“Guys like Jose Arellano, Tony Cervantes, Austin Stoddard and Ayden Knapik,” said Affholter, whose team is now 2-0. “Those guys were on our Monday Night crew last year. We don’t call them JV players.”
Richland coach Mike Neidhold was impressed with the Lions.
“Kennewick played hard-nosed football,” Neidhold said. “The way the ran the ball and used ball control brought me back to the 1980s Kennewick-Richland games.”
Indeed, the Lions had the ball for 28 minutes, 36 seconds; Richland for 19:24.
A 32-yard field goal by Gaven Mattson; an 11-yard TD pass from Elijah Tanner to Simeon Howard; and a 5-yard Tanner TD run completed the Lions scoring.
Mayovsky praised his offensive line.
“Our offensive line guys have all put in the work,” he said, “but our defense definitely won that game tonight.”
Affholter said the game plan was to concentrate on Richland WR Ben Fewel — last year’s top receiver in the MCC and headed to Georgetown next fall.
The result for Fewel was 2 catches for 26 yards.
In fact, the Lions pretty much held the Richland offense in check, as the Bombers had under 200 total yards.
The leader in that effort was senior linebacker Josiah Barajas — who had a team-high 10 tackles (3 for loss) and two pass breakups.
“JoJo is the hardest worker on this team,” Mayovsky said.
Barajas deferred to his teammates.
“We have a lot of young guys, but our defense has stepped it up,” Barajas said.
Kennewick also had three interceptions and a fumble recovery, something that really pleased Affholter.
“In 2019 we were a minus in the turnover ratio,” Affholter said. “One of our goals on defense is to improve on that.”
So far, so good.
Richland 0 0 7 0 — 7
Kennewick 7 3 6 6 — 22
SCORING PLAYS
K – Myles Mayovsky 6 run (Gaven Mattson kick)
K – FG 32 Mattson
R – Elijah Rodriguez 1 run (Joey Weissenfels kick)
K – Simeon Howard 11 pass from Elijah Tanner (kick failed)
K – Tanner 5 run (kick failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Richland, Rodriguez 21-98, Landon Charlton 5-2, Cameron Kitchens 1-minus 1, Harrison Westover 1-minus 6, Totals 28-93. Kennewick, Mayovsky 18-105, Howard 1-9, Erick Mora 4-minus 2, Tanner 7-minus 7, Totals 30-105.
PASSING – Richland, Westover 11-29-3-106. Kennewick, Tanner 17-29-2-191.
RECEIVING – Richland, Rodriguez 3-42, Deacon Boyce 3-40, Ben Fewel 2-26, Tanner Schuster 2-9, Kitchens 2-4. Kennewick, Max Mayer 6-78, Howard 5-73, Mayovsky 3-44, Mora 1-13, Trevor Ridley 1-6, Austin Stoddard 2-3.
FIRST DOWNS – R 12, K 15. FUMBLES-LOST – R 1-1, K 1-0. PENALTIES-YARDS – R 3-30, K 5-46.
DEFENSE – Richland, Fewel 5 tackles, 1 for loss; Boyce 2 tackles, 2 interceptions; Charlton 5 tackles, 1 pass breakup; Kainoa Steward 6 tackles; Kennewick, Josiah Barajas 10 tackles, 3 for loss, 2 pass breakups; Mayovsky 4 tackles, 2 f#or loss, 1 interception; Carson Padilla 4 tackles, 2 pass breakups.
Week 2 roundup
CHIAWANA 13, PASCO 0: Visiting Chiawana’s defense pitched a shutout in the annual Gravel Pit Game that saw both team’s offenses struggle.
The Riverhawks got scoring from Cameron Breier’s 7-yard TD run, and two Michael Kot field goals.
Breier finished with 62 yards rushing on 12 carries, while JP Zamora passed for 58 yards and rushed for another 44 yards.
For Pasco, RB Jamie Townsend II had 61 yards rushing on 15 attempts, and he caught 4 passes for another 38 yards.
Teammate Isaiah Arline added 20 yards rushing on five carries.
HERMISTON 35, HANFORD 28: Hermiston quarterback Chase Elliott helped the visiting Bulldogs beat Hanford at Fran Rish in an MCC game.
The Bulldogs led 21-0 before having to hold off a furious Falcons rally.
Elliott passed for 255 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 113 yards and another two scores.
Bulldogs RB Daniel Faaeteete rushed for 115 yards and a TD, while WR Spencer Juul caught 5 passes for 101 yards.
For Hanford, Easton Wise-Hyde tossed three TD passes, two to DeShawn Samples and one to Corey Saworski. Saworski finished with 3 catches for 98 yards, while Samples had 4 catches for 86 yards.
Hanford RB Idrian Cerna rushed eight times for 77 yards. Defensively, Mason Gilmour was in on 12 tackles for the Falcons, now 0-2.
KAMIAKIN 32, WALLA WALLA 7: The visiting Braves raised their MCC record to 2-0, as running back Tuna Altahir rushed 18 times for 186 yards and two touchdowns.
Kamiakin QB Henry Mercado was 7 for 16 for 110 yards and two TD passes, both to Woodley Downard, who finished with 2 catches for 50 yards.
Wa-Hi QB Ryan Martuscelli finished 12 for 19 for 148 yards passing, while running back Jakob Humphrey rushed 18 times for 66 yards and Aaron Lindsey caught 3 passes for 62 yards.
SELAH 43, SOUTHRIDGE 14: Max Martin passed for 208 yards and two touchdown passes, but it wasn’t enough as the visiting Suns lost a non-league game to 2A Selah.
Albersh Kuwa rushed for 108 yards for Southridge, now 0-2, while Ryker Stevens caught three passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.
Heath Yocum led Selah, rushing for three touchdowns and passing for two more.
MCC Standings
Chiawana 2-0, 2-0
Kamiakin 2-0, 2-0
Kennewick 2-0, 2-0
Hermiston 1-0, 1-0
Walla Walla 1-1, 1-1
Southridge 0-1, 0-2
Hanford 0-2, 0-2
Pasco 0-2, 0-2
Richland 0-2, 0-2
Friday’s scores
Chiawana. 13, Pasco 0
Hermiston 35, Hanford 28
Kamiakin 32, Walla Walla 7
Kennewick 22, Richland 7
Selah 43, Southridge 14
Friday, March 12
Hanford at Kennewick, 7 p.m.
Kamiakin at Chiawana, Edgar Brown Stadium, 7 p.m.
Southridge at Richland, 7 p.m.
Walla Walla at Hermiston, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 13
East Valley-Yakima at Pasco, 2 p.m.