River View makes history with rivalry win over Columbia-Burbank as regular season closes
Kris Welch has been excited all season about his River View Panthers football team.
And rightfully so.
Last Friday, the Panthers put together a defensive performance of the year, containing Columbia-Burbank’s high-powered offense in a 14-12 victory at Burbank.
That win gives River View the top spot in the 2B Eastern Washington Athletic Conference East Division standings and the No. 1 seed heading into the regional crossovers.
“Our game plan was to take away the big play and make them put consistent drives together. They get frustrated without the quick hitters,” said Welch.
“We ran two high safeties, disguising coverages. We also dropped a defensive end periodically to take away any weak coverage zones. We also shifted our d-line pre-snap periodically.”
Welch said the Panthers forced Lenke to beat them with his feet.
“We knew we could swarm to him and stand tall once we were in our black zone (their red zone),” said Welch, who said Lenke looks for the mismatch.
The Panthers took away the mismatches.
Lenke was still able to rush for 270 yards on 29 carries. He just couldn’t find the end zone.
Elijah Kinsey scored both touchdowns for the Coyotes.
Senior Miguel Farias had a monster game for River View.
He carried the football 37 times for 216 yards rushing, scoring both of the team’s touchdowns.
On defense at linebacker, Farias was in on 17 tackles and recovered a fumble.
Farias had a lot of help on defense, including defensive end Tim Goforth (12 tackles, 1 for loss), and linebacker Karson Rawlings (10 tackles, 2 for loss; and a quarterback sack).
This is River View’s first conference title in 21 years. The 2001 Panthers last earned a conference crown.
This weekend marks the final games of the regular season, and the top three teams for postseason play are determined. We just don’t know the order.
River View will be the top East seed in Week 10, and will play the No. 3 team out of the West for the right to advance to the state 2B playoffs.
Burbank visits Tri-Cities Prep at Chiawana High School this Friday night. The winner will be the East No. 2 seed and play the West No. 2; while the loser will be East No. 3 and visit West No. 1.
2B EWAC East
River View 4-0 EWAC, 7-1 overall
Columbia-Burbank 3-1, 6-2
Tri-Cities Prep 3-1, 5-3
Dayton-Waitsburg 2-2, 6-2
Warden 0-4, 2-6
Mabton 0-4, 0-7
Friday, Oct. 21
Dayton-Waitsburg 12, Warden 7
River View 14, Columbia-Burbank 12
Saturday, Oct. 22
Tri-Cities Prep 42, Mabton 0
Friday, Oct. 28
Columbia-Burbank vs. Tri-Cities Prep, at Chiawana High, 7 p.m.
River View at Dayton-Waitsburg, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 29
Warden at Mabton, 1 p.m.
CWAC football
The biggest thing to know this week is that there are four teams battling for one playoff spot.
Othello — which had its non-league game at Kelso cancelled last Friday — has already clinched the top spot in the standings.
Ephrata, however, pulled off a 20-17 overtime upset over visiting Prosser.
So now, East Valley, Ellensburg, Ephrata and Prosser are all tied for second place.
The situation could really get muddled after this coming weekend’s games …. Or it could all finish in the clear.
Whatever happens, the CWAC’s top two teams will have to play crossover games with the Greater Spokane League’s No’s. 2 and 3 teams for a chance to advance to state.
2A CWAC standings
Othello 5-0 CWAC, 6-1 overall
Prosser 3-2, 6-2
East Valley 3-2, 6-2
Ellensburg 3-2, 4-4
Ephrata 3-2, 4-4
Selah 1-4, 2-6
Grandview 0-6, 1-7
Friday, Oct. 21
Ellensburg 10, East Valley-Yakima 7
Ephrata 20, Prosser 17 (OT)
Selah 48, Grandview 13
Othello at Kelso, cancelled
Big Nine football
It looks like the four playoff teams are set for the crossovers with the Mid-Columbia Conference and Greater Spokane League.
We just don’t know what order they’ll be, thanks to West Valley knocking off Moses Lake last Friday.
Three teams — Moses Lake, Eastmont and Sunnyside — are tied for first at 4-1.
4A Big Nine Conference
Moses Lake 4-1 B9, 6-2 overall
Eastmont 4-1, 4-3
Sunnyside 4-1, 4-4
West Valley-Yakima 3-2, 5-2
Wenatchee 2-3, 3-5
Eisenhower 1-5, 1-7
Davis 0-5, 0-8
Friday, Oct. 21
Eastmont 48, Eisenhower 0
Sunnyside 20, Wenatchee 7
West Valley-Yakima 41, Moses Lake 35
Saturday, Oct. 22
Ridgeline 31, Davis 13
Friday, Oct. 28
Cheney at Eisenhower, 4 p.m.
Eastmont at Moses Lake, 7 p.m.
Sunnyside at Davis, 7 p.m.
West Valley-Yakima at Wenatchee, 7 p.m.
1A SCAC East roundup
Edgar De La Rosa scored three touchdowns — including punt returns of 86 and 38 yards — as Royal beat College Place 69-0 last Friday.
The Knights forced six turnovers, and Kaleb Hernandez added 92 yards rushing on 10 carries, scoring two TDs.
The win sets up a showdown at Connell this coming Friday night to determine the East’s top seed going into the regional crossover games against the 1A SCAC West.
Don’t let Connell’s 3-5 overall record fool you: the Eagles had a loaded non-league schedule this season, just like Royal did.
1A SCAC East
Royal 3-0 SCAC, 6-1 overall
Connell 3-0, 3-5
Kiona-Benton 1-2, 2-6
College Place 1-3, 2-6
Wahluke 0-3, 2-6
Thursday, Oct. 20
La Salle 34, Wahluke 7
Friday, Oct. 21
Royal 69, College Place 0
Connell 42, Kiona-Benton 6
Friday, Oct. 28
Kiona-Benton at Wahluke, 7 p.m.
Royal at Connell, 7 p.m.
Wapato at College Place, 7 p.m.