Mid-Columbia Conference sending 5 teams to the WA state football playoffs

Those following the Mid-Columbia Conference football wars this season might have thought that maybe this conference is pretty good.

And they’d be right.

Five of the MCC’s nine football teams have qualified for the state playoffs after winning regional crossover games this past weekend.

And it was almost six teams, as Hanford fell just short at Sunnyside on Saturday night.

The state pairings came out on Sunday afternoon, and here is what we’ve got:

• Class 4A: No. 16 Sunnyside at No. 1 Chiawana, Edgar Brown Stadium, 1 p.m., Saturday.
• Class 4A: No. 10 Gonzaga Prep at No. 7 Kamiakin, Lampson Stadium, 2 p.m., Saturday.
• Class 4A: No. 13 Richland at No. 4 Kennedy Catholic, date and time to be determined (as of Monday morning).
• Class 3A: No. 9 Kennewick at No. 8 Rainier Beach, date and time to be determined (as of Monday morning).
• Class 3A: No. 16 Southridge at No. 1 Yelm, date and time to be determined (as of Monday morning).

Weekend games recap

CHIAWANA 42, WEST VALLEY-YAKIMA 0: Chiawana head coach Scott Bond had a game plan going into Friday’s showdown with West Valley of Yakima that involved passing the football.

But then the high winds came on Friday afternoon, and it changed everything.

The Riverhawks ran the football, hung on to the football, and chewed up the clock to rout the visiting Rams 42-0 in a Class 4A regional crossover game at Edgar Brown Stadium.

“(Running the football) wasn’t the plan going in,” said Bond. “But once the weather report came in, we changed the plan.”

The result?

Chiawana rolled up 444 total yards of offense, of which 320 was on the ground.

More importantly, Chiawana’s offense was able to keep the ball out of the hands of Skyler Cassel, West Valley’s highly-touted quarterback.

There are 24 minutes in a half of football. The Riverhawks had the ball for 16 minutes and 4 seconds in the first half, compared to the 7:56 West Valley had.

Ironically, Chiawana led 14-0 at halftime off of two touchdown passes from DJ Duran to Hunter Azure-Pryce.

The first came on the Riverhawks’ second series, heading into the gusty, sometimes at 35 mph, headwinds.

Duran hit Azure-Pryce on a short 5-yard out. The 5-foot-8 senior turned upfield and found a route to the end zone for a 45-yard score.

“I caught the ball on the out route,” said Azure-Pryce. “I got past a couple guys, then saw I had a one-on-one with the safety.”

Azure-Pryce’s second TD pass was an 11-yarder with the wind with 1:11 left in the half, catching Duran’s pass on a post pattern.

In the second half, Chiawana forced three turnovers and blocked a punt, turning two of those turnovers and the blocked punt into eventual touchdowns.

Hunter Taylor (148 yards), Bridger Feldmann (86 yards) and Ian Mohl (69 yards) started churning out yards with their legs. All three of them, plus Caden Reid, scored touchdowns in the second half.

The Riverhawks offensive line were creating huge holes all night for its backs.

“They (the offensive line) are getting better with their feet,” said Bond. “They’re starting to understand what we are doing.”

Bond said the key turned out to be the Week 8 loss of Mt. Si having to cancel its scheduled game with Chiawana. Bad air quality in Week 7 forced Mt. Si to postpone its conference game to the following Monday, and the Wildcats couldn’t play two games that week.

Instead, Bond let his team heal and the players watched plenty of film.

“We had a week of football class,” Bond said. “We showed film to our offensive line of every possible defensive front they could face in the playoffs.”

Azure-Pryce said it wasn’t just the line who benefitted that week.

“We went through every type of defense we could face,” he said. “And we put in some new plays.”

Azure-Pryce had a standout game on both sides of the ball. He caught 3 passes for 65 yards, And on defense he had 6 tackles and two pass breakups.

KENNEWICK 9, AUBURN MOUNTAINVIEW 7: The Lions got a field goal from Tanner Chavez and Ambrose Driver scored on a 1-yard dive, and then the Kennewick defense kept Auburn Mountainview out of the end zone late in the game to win the Round of 32 game in Class 3A.

There was hope that the Lions, now 8-2, might get a home game in the first round of the 3A state playoffs.

But instead, Kennewick plays on the road this coming weekend.

“It’s our fault,” said Kennewick head coach Randy Affholter. “We have not performed well over the last few weeks. If we want a home game, we must play better football and that is on me as the head coach.”

KAMIAKIN 35, CENTRAL VALLEY 19: The Braves fell behind 13-0 on the road Friday night, then kicked it into high gear to eliminate the Bears.

Carter Poland was 21 for 27 for 249 passing yards for Kamiakin. The quarterback also added 80 yards rushing on 17 carries, scoring three touchdowns himself.

Gabe Tahir caught 7 passes for 102 yards and a score, and he rushed 12 times for 66 yards.

Receiver Gavyn Buchanan added 8 catches for 85 yards.

RICHLAND 31, EASTMONT 22: The Bombers eliminated the Big Nine’s Wildcats by going on a 17-0 run over the second and third quarters.

Landon Charlton rushed 19 times for 103 yards and a touchdown, while Josh Woodard passed for 179 yards and two touchdowns — both of them to Brody Bocek.

Seth Shook added 5 catches for 93 yards for Richland.

SOUTHRIDGE 41, AUBURN 20: Matt Johnson’s Suns were just 4 points away from being 9-1 this season.

A last-minute 17-16 loss to Richland, and a 21-20 loss to Chiawana showed how good Southridge could be.

So maybe it comes as no surprise that the Suns went into Auburn on Friday and dominated from the start in a Round of 32 Class 3A game. What does come as a surprise is that the seeding committee made them a 16 seed.

Once again, senior Lucien Cone had a monster game Friday, rushing 21 times for 262 yards and four touchdowns — including an 88-yard run.

Teammate Jimmy Rush added 121 yards rushing and a TD on 21 carries.

The Suns jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never trailed.

SUNNYSIDE 25, HANFORD 15: The host Grizzlies earned the No. 16 seed in the 4A tournament after beating the Falcons, who were playing their second game of the week after topping Lewis & Clark in a play-in game.

Noah McNair caught two TD passes from Brent Maldonado to lead the way for Sunnyside, which plays at Chiawana this coming Saturday.

MCC non-league games: Hermiston defeated Cheney 45-24; Ridgeline stopped Pasco 44-14; and Walla Walla routed Eisenhower 34-6.

Other teams to state

• In 2A, Othello won its crossover game over Shadle Park, winning 48-14. The Huskies are ranked No. 5 in the state tournament, and they’ll play No. 12 Washington High School of Tacoma. The game time and location has yet to be set.
• In 1A, Royal qualified out of the SCAC regional crossovers, beating Naches Valley 51-6. The Knights were awarded the top seed by the state committee, and they’ll play host to No. 16 Cascade Christian. Date and time have yet to be set.
• In 2B, River View earned a No. 9 seed after beating Cle Elum-Roslyn 35-0 on Friday in the EWAC regional crossovers, and the Panthers will play at No. 8 Liberty of Spangle this coming weekend (no date or time yet set) in a first-round game. The winner of that contest will advance to play top-ranked Napavine.
• In 1B, Liberty Christian of Richland defeated DeSales 14-8 on Friday night, winning the Southeast 1B title. The Patriots were rewarded with a No. 3 seeding and get a first-round bye this coming weekend. They’ll await the winner of this weekend’s No. 11 Quilcene vs. No. 6 DeSales matchup (no date or time set yet).

This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 12:57 PM.