Staying competitive

Moses Lake remains in playoff hunt with win

MOSES LAKE - The hunt is still on.

Eastmont tried to play the part of postseason trouble-maker, but Moses Lake curtailed their performance in a 14-6 win over the Wildcats Friday. The win keeps the Chiefs in the playoff hunt and a win over Kennewick and a Pasco win over Eisenhower next Thursday clinches the No. 4 spot in the Big Nine for Moses Lake.

Something that looked less probable for Moses Lake after starting the season 1-3.

"I knew we always had a chance and I thought it was going to come down to us beating Pasco, but other guys started losing," said Moses Lake defensive coordinator Todd Griffith. "Sometimes you get in how you can."

It was the defense that made the Chiefs' chances a little better. Especially in the second half against Eastmont, holding the Wildcats to 85 yards of offense after allowing 210 yards and a touchdown in the first half.

But, the biggest stop came in the run defense which held Eastmont's leading rusher Jake Wamsher to 20 yards on seven carries in the second half.

"We knew we had to go out there and stop them and we did it," Moses Lake linebacker Lee Richards said.

Wamsher led the opening drive for Eastmont, carrying the ball five times for 39 yards to set up Seth Kimball on a 1-yard run between the right guard and tackle.

Eastmont missed its point-after and the the Moses Lake offense took the field to match the Wildcats' performance. Ryan Carpenter set the tone for the Moses Lake drive with a series opening 37-yard run, followed by two long runs by Robbie Waites and capped off with a 6-yard dive into the corner of the endzone from Carpenter.

Warner hit the point-after and Moses Lake took a lead it never relinquished.

"We were ahead, but not really comfortable," Moses Lake head coach Greg Kittrell said about the 7-6 lead. "The defense picked it up and played their butts off."

The game remained scoreless throughout the first half.

The Chiefs pounded the ball on its second half opening drive with Waites breaking away for a 32-yard touchdown run to seal the win with 8:05 remaining in the third quarter.

Waites' performance Friday pushed him over the 1,000-yard mark (1,063) and the touchdown was his 15th of the season. But, his performance was shadowed as the defense saved the game.

With under two minutes remaining in the game, Eastmont's Jake Gale hit two big passes for 64 yards and put the Wildcats on the Moses Lake 34-yard line, but Gale's ensuing pass was tipped at the line-of-scrimmage and intercepted by Richards.

"We forced them to throw and they threw a couple passes on us and I am okay with that, but the six points is what I care about," Griffith said.

Moses Lake's 14-6 win is its fourth in five games and puts fate back into its own hands. They still need some help from unbeaten Pasco to clinch that final spot in the Big Nine postseason.

Kennewick also needs the win to stay in fourth and comes into the game with the fourth best defense and 10th best offense in the league. The Chiefs have improved to the seventh best defense and have maintained the fourth best offense.

"I don't think there will be any focusing problems," Kittrell said. "There is going to be some team problems, we play at their place on a Thursday night and it will be a hostile crowd."