Week 5: Two Tri-Cities teams are unbeaten heading into Tuesday’s final games

March 30 marks the final day of the high school football season for the Mid-Columbia Conference. The 2B Eastern Washington Athletic Conference also will be wrapping it up.

Chiawana and Kennewick enter Tuesday’s games both unbeaten at 5-0, with the Riverhawks visiting Richland at Fran Rish Stadium, and Kennewick playing host to crosstown rival Kamiakin at Lampson Stadium. Kickoffs are 7 p.m., for both contests.

Other season finales in MCC play include Hanford at Walla Walla, and Southridge at Pasco. Both games kick off at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Hermiston is on a bye.

Meanwhile, in the EWAC on Thursday, Columbia-Burbank beat Dayton-Waitsburg 54-6, River View shut out Kittitas 49-0, and Tri-Cities Prep beat Mabton 41-20.

So the EWAC will have East-West crossover games on Tuesday, with Columbia-Burbank visiting Cle Elum/Roslyn — a team the Coyotes beat 55-6 earlier this season — for the EWAC title.

No. 2 team River View plays at Granger; No. 3 Tri-Cities Prep visits Highland; No. 4 Dayton-Waitsburg is at White Swan; and No. 5 Mabton visits Kittitas.

All kickoffs are at 6 p.m.

Last week

Meanwhile, Week 5 featured plenty of blowouts last Thursday. Here are the games:

▪ CHIAWANA 56, HERMISTON 7: It was Senior Night for the Chiawana Riverhawks at Edgar Brown Stadium on Thursday night.

So it seemed only fitting that Chiawana’s coaching staff and underclassmen made sure that as many seniors as possible could score at least a touchdown in their final home game.

The Riverhawks had six different seniors find the end zone en route to a 56-7 shellacking of Hermiston, raising their record to 5-0 with one last contest — a road game at Richland — set for Tuesday.

Aiden Villarreal, Aiden Mason, Kobe Young (twice), Jalen Webber, Jose Madrigal and Samuel Buggs — all seniors — found various ways into the end zone until sophomore Ian Mohl snapped that streak with his own TD run in the fourth quarter.

Junior quarterback JP Zamora helped Chiawana’s cause by tossing five TD passes on 11-for-14 passing and 247 yards.

Zamora made sure the game was never in doubt from the start, leading the Riverhawks to touchdowns in all six offensive possessions in the first half.

Even seldom-used senior kicker Andres Lopez got in on the act, kicking the extra point on the team’s first seven TDs, as regular kicker, junior Michael Kot, stepped aside for Lopez.

But once again, it was the feisty Chiawana defensive unit that did much of the damage in this Mid-Columbia Conference game. It surrendered 168 total yards to Hermiston (1-3), which included 181 yards passing from junior QB Chase Elliott but a negated run offense of 23 carries for minus-13 yards.

Only once was there a defensive breakdown, when Elliott hit Spencer Juul on a fly pattern for a 66-yard scoring strike in the second quarter.

Other than that, Chiawana’s defense kept the Bulldogs from mounting much of an attack.

Defensive back Aarloh Valdovinos (5 tackles, 1 for loss), linebacker Jerry Alonso (5 tackles, 1 QB sack), defensive tackle Isaiah Anderson (3 tackles, 2 for loss), and linebacker Cameron Breier (4 tackles, 1 for loss) did much of the damage.

RIVERHAWKS 56, BULLDOGS 7

Hermiston 0 7 0 0 — 7

Chiawana 21 21 7 7 — 56

SCORING PLAYS

Chi – Aidan Villarreal 15 run (Andres Lopez kick)

Chi – Aiden Mason 13 pass from JP Zamora (Lopez kick)

Chi – Kobe Young 8 pass from Zamora (Lopez kick)

Chi – Jalen Webber 69 pass from Zamora (Lopez kick)

Chi – Jose Madrigal 36 pass from Zamora (Lopez kick)

Her – Spencer Juul 66 pass from Chase Elliott (Abel Alatorre kick)

Chi – Samuel Buggs 59 run (Lopez kick)

Chi – Young 44 pass from Zamora (Lopez kick)

Chi – Ian Mohl 3 run (Michael Kot kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

• RUSHING – Herm, Daniel Faaeteete 1-6, Thomas Reagan 4-2, Vincent Trevino 1-minus 1, San Cadenas 1-minus 8, Elliott 16-minus 12, Totals 23-minus 13. Chi, Buggs 2-63, Villarreal 10-43, Aaron Sanchez 2-31, Mohl 6-20, Zamora 1-12, Tyler Hovde 2-0, Totals 23-169.

• PASSING – Herm, Elliott 18-24-1-181. Chi, Zamora 11-14-0-247, Sanchez 1-1-0-7, DJ Duran 0-3-0-0.
• RECEIVING – Herm, Juul 5-106, Sam Schwirse 5-40, Ben Larson 2-16, Trevino 1-13, Kendrick Ramirez 3-7, Zane Estes 2-minus 1. Chi, Webber 3-93, Young 5-91, Madrigal 2-43, Mason 2-27.
• FIRST DOWNS – Herm 11, Chia 15. FUMBLE-LOST – Herm 1-0, Chia 0-0. PENALTIES-YARDS – Herm 3-26, Chi 10-55.
• DEFENSE – Hermiston, Estes 3 tackles (2 for loss); Riley Clark 3 tackles (1 for loss); Juul 3 tackles, 1 pass breakup; Chiawana, Aarloh Valdovinos 5 tackles (1 for loss); Jerry Alonso 5 tackles, 1 QB sack; Isaiah Anderson 3 tackles (2 for loss); Cameron Breier 4 tackles (1 for loss).

▪ KAMIAKIN 61, PASCO 18: The Braves rolled up 504 yards of total offense in their MCC win on Thursday night.

Tuna Altahir led the way, rushing 19 times for 191 yards and two touchdowns. Luis Salgado added 70 yards rushing on 7 carries, while Messiah Jones led the Kamiakin receiving corps with 2 catches for 62 yards.

▪ KENNEWICK 39, SOUTHRIDGE 14: Lions quarterback Elijah Tanner passed for 341 yards and four TD passes, plus ran another in for the MCC win on Thursday.

Kennewick scored 25 unanswered points to put the game away.

Lions receivers Max Mayer (6 catches for 137 yards and a TD) and Simeon Howard (5 catches for 111 yards and a TD) led the way on offense.

Maxton Martin paced the Suns with 157 yards and a TD pass, while Trenton Slatter caught 4 passes for 56 yards and a score.

▪ RICHLAND 41, HANFORD 7: Cameron Kitchens was 28-for-36 for 322 yards and three touchdown passes to lead the Bombers over the Falcons on Thursday.

Elijah Rodriguez led Richland’s ground game, rushing 20 times for 153 yards.

Ben Fewel (9 catches for 107 yards and 2 TDs) and Carson Craigh (9 catches for 97 yards) led the receiving corps for the Bombers.

For Hanford, Kevin Hester rushed 14 times for 110 yards, while QB Easton Wise-Hyde threw for 162 and a TD pass.

Deshawn Samples caught 5 passes for 63 yards, and Evan Thompson and Cael McMurdo each had 8.5 tackles for the Falcons.

▪ ROYAL 74, WAHLUKE 0: Caleb Christensen threw for 5 TD passes, and the Knights defense forced four turnovers and held the Warriors to just 61 offensive yards in an easy win on Friday night.

Royal was up 14-0 in the first quarter, when it scored three straight times: a 61-yard Cooper Christensen punt return; a 43-yard Derek Bergeson interception return; and a 48-yard Gunnar Anderson interception return.

Derek Bergeson caught 5 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns for Royal, now 4-0.

MCC standings

Through games of 3-25

Chiawana 5-0, 5-0

Kennewick 5-0, 5-0

Kamiakin 4-1, 4-1

Richland 3-2, 3-2

Walla Walla 2-2, 2-2

Hermiston 1-3, 1-3

Hanford 0-4, 1-4

Pasco 0-4, 1-4

Southridge 0-4, 0-5

Thursday, March 25

Chiawana 56, Hermiston 7

Kamiakin 61, Pasco 18

Kennewick 39, Southridge 14

Richland 41, Hanford 7

Walla Walla bye

Schedule

Tuesday, March 30

Chiawana at Richland, Fran Rish Stadium, 7 p.m.

Hanford at Walla Walla, Borleske Stadium, 7 p.m.

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

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

Hermiston bye

This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 3:27 PM.