What we learned from Mid-Columbia prep football Week 1
Week two’s roundup of area high school football saw three of the big four Mid-Columbia Conference keep pace with each other with victories to keep pace atop the conference standings.
Kamiakin, Kennewick and Richland each moved to 2-0 with wins, while Chiawana dropped a 46-24 contest at Kamiakin on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Pasco notched its first win of the season, beating Walla Walla 13-6 at Edgar Brown Stadium on Friday. And Prosser bounced back from a season-opening loss to Sunnyside by rolling over Zillah.
Here are the details of it all:
▪ KAMIAKIN 46, CHIAWANA 24: The host Braves (2-0) forced three third-quarter turnovers against the Riverhawks (1-1), outscoring Chiawana 19-0 in that period and running away with the game.
Braves linebacker E.J. Hawkins forced two fumbles in the quarter that were eventually turned into two touchdowns.
“The key for us was keeping (Chiawana quarterback) JP (Zamora) and his playmaking in check,” Hawkins said. “We needed to keep him in the pocket. He’s probably the best quarterback we’ll face this season until we get to the playoffs.”
It’s hard to hold a quarterback of Zamora’s status down, and he still had some good stats: 248 yards passing and two TD passes.
But Kamiakin quarterback Henry Mercado was better. He had 227 yards passing, tossed four TD passes (two to Aidan Canada), rushed for 48 more yards, and scored a touchdown himself.
And then there was Gabe Tahir.
The Braves junior is being recruited as a defensive back by the likes of Penn State, Oregon and UCLA. But on Thursday, head coach Scott Biglin gave Tahir a lot of reps at wide receiver.
Tahir responded with 4 catches for 120 yards — including a 42-yard TD play in which he broke two tackles and reversed completely across the field for the score.
“He didn’t want to play receiver this year,” Kamiakin coach Scott Biglin said of Tahir. “I told him ‘You’re too good of an athlete not to play receiver.”
The loss snapped Chiawana’s 19-game win streak during MCC regular-season play, and handed Riverhawks coach Scott Bond his first-ever loss as a head coach. Bond is now 7-1.
“You can’t overcome three turnovers against a team like Kamiakin,” said Bond after the game.
(For a more in-depth look at this game, see the Herald’s Saturday online report.)
▪ RICHLAND 51, HANFORD 0: For the second straight week to open the season, the host Bombers (2-0) pitched a shutout, this time against the Falcons (0-2).
Richland quarterback Cameron Kitchens passed for 206 yards and two touchdowns, plus he ran for two more TDs himself.
The Bombers ran away early with this one, outscoring the Falcons 30-0 after one quarter.
Hanford was only able to muster 37 yards of total offense against Richland, which had a pick-6 from defensive back Dean Boyce.
▪ KENNEWICK 17, SOUTHRIDGE 14: The host Lions (2-0) avoided an upset by the much-improved Suns (1-1) on Friday night at Lampson Stadium.
After Southridge’s James Rush scored on a 4-yard run to open the third quarter, cutting Kennewick’s lead to 7-6, the Lions’ Austin Stoddard returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards to the Suns’ 40.
Five plays later, Kennewick QB Dayton Davis dived into the end zone from the 1, giving the Lions a 14-6 lead. Zaydel Capetillo added a 21-yard field goal to give the Lions an insurmountable 17-6 lead.
“Their junior class is pretty good,” said Kennewick head coach Randy Affholter of Southridge. “I knew they’d be better than they’ve been.”
Stoddard had a big game for the Lions, with five catches for 71 yards, and five tackles and an interception.
Teammate Myles Mayovsky rushed 18 times for 102 yards and a TD, while Bronson Childs had 7 tackles (2 for loss) and a pressure. Erick Mora added 8 tackles for the Lions.
Rush led Southridge with 21 carries for 102 yards; and Lucien Cone had 7 rushed for 51 yards and 3 catches for 39. Bricen Ostergaard paced the Suns defense with 8 tackles, while Brian Beardsley added 4 tackles and two pass breakups.
“I told our guys I’ve never been more proud of them,” said first-year Suns head coach Matt Johnson. “They’ve been playing with a chip on their shoulders.”
▪ PASCO 13, WALLA WALLA 6: The host Bulldogs forced four Blue Devils turnovers, and Jamie Townsend scored the go-ahead touchdown to give Pasco (1-1) the MCC win.
Townsend rushed for 84 yards on 17 carries.
Pasco QB Justin Huels was 7-for-19 for 74 yards passing, including a TD pass to Joey Gonzalez.
Manuel Rosalez was the Bulldogs’ top receiver, with 3 catches for 37 yards. Wa-Hi drops to 0-2.
▪ SUNNYSIDE 35, HERMISTON 14: Logan Rodriguez was 32 for 45, with 342 yards passing and four TD passes, leading host Sunnyside (2-0) over Hermiston (0-2) in a non-league game.
Myles Newhouse added 150 yards rushing on 21 carries for the Grizzlies, while Brent Maldonado added 13 catches for 169 yards.
Hermiston QB Chase Elliott rushed 24 times for 87 yards.
▪ PROSSER 38, ZILLAH 7: After losing at home to Sunnyside in Week 1, the host Mustangs rolled over the Leopards.
Kaiden Rivera was 31 of 52 for 337 yards passing, with five TD passes. Isaac Kernan caught 9 passes for 107 yards, while Kade Harris rushed for 110 yards on 12 carries, and caught 5 passes for 50 yards. Harris scored three touchdowns.
Linebacker Nehemiah Medrano intercepted two passes for the Mustangs.
▪ ROYAL 51, OTHELLO 3: Class 1A Royal led 6-3 after one quarter, then scored 45 unanswered points to beat Class 2A Othello in a non-league game.
Knights quarterback Derek Bergeson accounted for six touchdowns — rushing for three and throwing for three more. He had 199 passing yards, and also led the team with 11 tackles.
Luke Bergeson added 5 catches for 143 yards and two TDs, while Avery Ellis rushed 8 times for 76 yards and a score.
Dylan Allred added 10 tackles for the Knights (2-0).
▪ NORTH CENTRAL 20, GRANDVIEW 17: Evan Bridger rushed 20 times for 123 yards, but it wasn’t enough as the host Greyhounds fell to the Greater Spokane League’s Indians in a non-league game.
NC outscored Grandview 20-0 in the second half to rally for the win.
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 1:00 PM.