Since the late 1970s, Kennewick and Richland have had a pretty intense rivalry when it comes to high school football.
Friday’s latest version was no different, as their Mid-Columbia Conference matchup at Fran Rish Stadium ended up being a 14-13 victory by the visiting Lions in what turned out to be a donnybrook.
Both teams have had easy contests against the rest of the MCC in their combined eight victories heading into Friday’s showdown.
It turned out the Lions’ 1-2 running back punch of Alex Roberts and Canaan Hays was just enough to out-duel the Bombers’ high-octane passing game.
Richland’s defense — a question mark a year ago — showed it is now a power by forcing Kennewick into four turnovers, turning one of them into a 13-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Woodard to Zach Rose.
That was in the third quarter, with the Lions still leading 14-13. However, a missed extra-point went wide left and Kennewick still led.
Both coaches — Kennewick’s Randy Affholter and Richland’s Josh Jelinek — felt their teams had been put through the ringer when it was done.
“I told our kids that we know all of the time that we put in, all of the summer stuff, it’s for moments like these,” said Affholter.
Jelinek said his players were filled with a lot of emotion after the game.
“The message to our team was that the sun is going to come up on Saturday morning. The bottom line is we felt good about how we came back on Saturday morning for a workout and watching film,” said the first-year Bombers head coach.
“We weren’t missing a single player. In the past, 20 players might not have come in. They’d tell us that they had something going on with their grandma, or were headed on a trip. Everyone came in Saturday.”
For the Lions, the win puts them atop the MCC standings in a tie with Chiawana, while Richland drops into third.
Kennewick senior Canaan Hays rushed for 135 yards on 17 carries, while fellow senior Alex Roberts added 119 yards rushing on 20 carries.
The Lions’ touchdowns were scored on a 2-yard TD pass from Dominic Driver to Nikolai Tyutyunnik, and a 2-yard run by Hays.
All around that, in the first half, Richland’s offense always seemed to have the ball. The Bombers opened the game with a 16-play, 78-yard drive that stalled at the 2-yard line.
Their second drive took 10 plays from their own 48 to the Lions 15, ending when it looked like Jackson Woodard’s fourth down 15-yard pass to Colson Mackey into the end zone would be a touchdown — but was called incomplete instead.
Affholter said on Sunday night the film shows that it was a catch.
“A football game is a game of inches,” said Jelinek. “That first series it was like 2 to 4 inches short. The second was kind of tough.”
But Richland was keeping the ball out of the Lions’ offensive hands.
“It felt like we only had the ball for 5 minutes in the first half,” said Affholter. “Our defensive guys were dog tired.”
Affholter was pretty close. Richland had the ball for 14 minutes and 57 seconds in the first half, while Kennewick had it for 9:03.
But it switched around in the second half. The Lions had a drive of 5 minutes to open the third quarter, and their last one lasted 6 minutes and 51 seconds to pretty much finish the game for the win.
In the final 24 minutes, Kennewick had the ball 17 minutes and 9 seconds; compared to Richland’s 6:51.
“We wanted to control the clock,” said Affholter.
In the end, the Lions did, keeping the ball out of Woodard’s hands.
BIG NUMBERS:
Kennewick — Besides Roberts and Hays’ rushing numbers, Cooper Neer led the Lions defense with 10 tackles (one for loss). … DT Sovrayn Theus added 9 tackles with a quarterback sack; and LB Dawson Gebers had 6 tackles.
Richland — Woodard finished with 242 yards through the air on 24-for-36 passing, with two TD strikes. He also rushed 8 times for 38 yards. … Brody Bocek caught 8 passes for 95 yards. He also had two interceptions. … Zach Rose added 4 catches for 53 yards and a touchdown. … Defensively, linebackers Sylen Kiesel-Kauhane and Cannon Weikum each had 15 tackles. Kiesel-Kauhane added an interception.
CHIAWANA 50, SOUTHRIDGE 7: Senior Braxton Feldman had one of the best performances in the state Thursday when he rushed 15 times for 311 yards rushing and five touchdowns to lead the Riverhawks to the win.
Anthony Godino added 14 carries for 97 yards rushing and two more scores.
Defensively, Cooper MacPherson led Chiawana with 7 tackles (all for losses) and two QB sacks. Teammate Cooper Cissne added 8 tackles (2 for loss) and two fumble recoveries.
Gabe Borisch paced the Suns offense with 107 yards rushing on 23 carries.
KAMIAKIN 42, HANFORD 0: Trent Woodhouse threw four touchdown passes and was 11-for-16 for 169 yards to lead the host Braves over the Falcons.
Michael Kori added 3 catches for 74 yards and a score, while Korbin Hopwood rushed 6 times for 69 yards and two TDs.
LEWISTON 48, HERMISTON 0: Dale Krebs rushed for 46 yards and threw for another 21, but it wasn’t enough as the visiting Bulldogs lost a non-league game at Lewiston.
WALLA WALLA 28, PASCO 6: Owen Godinez passed for three touchdowns and ran for another as the host Bloue Devils beat the Bulldogs.
Evan King rushed 19 times for 103 yards for Wa-Hi, as well as catching a pass for a 37-yard TD.
Junior Olvera led Pasco with 182 passing yards. Makana Garza caught 4 passes for 64 yards for the Bulldogs.
MCC football standings
Kennewick 4-0 MCC, 5-0 overall
Chiawana 4-0, 4-1
Richland 4-1, 4-1
Kamiakin 3-1, 3-2
Southridge 2-3, 2-3
Walla Walla 2-3, 2-3
Hanford 1-4, 1-4
Hermiston 0-4, 0-5
Pasco 0-4, 0-5
Last week’s scores
Chiawana 50, Southridge 7
Kamiakin 42, Hanford 0
Kennewick 14, Richland 13
Lewiston 48, Hermiston 0
Walla Walla 28, Pasco 6
Thursday, Oct. 10
Walla Walla at Kennewick, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 11
Chiawana at Pasco, Edgar Brown Stadium, 7 p.m.
Hermiston at Hanford, Hanford High, 7 p.m.
Kamiakin at Southridge, Lampson Stadium, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 12
Richland at Skyview, Kiggins Bowl, Vancouver, 4 p.m.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
Local News
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