Sabercats down Columbia Basin Riverhawks
MOSES LAKE — Mistakes cost the Columbia Basin Riverhawks another game in the Evergreen Football League Saturday.
"The mistakes killed us," said head coach Jim Whitaker.
MOSES LAKE — Mistakes cost the Columbia Basin Riverhawks another game in the Evergreen Football League Saturday.
"The mistakes killed us," said head coach Jim Whitaker.
Mistakes ended scoring drives and allowed Spokane to beat the Riverhawks 37-12 at home on the Moses Lake High School field.
"We try to run a west coast offense. The biggest thing is we want is to run a rhthym," said Whitaker.
Penalties in the first quarter stifled the Riverhawks, disrupting their rhythm early in the game.
After pinning the Sabercats to a punt early in the first quarter, a Riverhawk hit the Sabercats punter after the kick causing heartache for the team.
"We made a lot of mistakes," noted Whitaker.
The first points came after Spokane threw a post pass to set up for their first touchdown. Next they ran a bounce play to the right., Riverhawks defense couldn't contain them and the score moved to 6-0 in the Sabercats' favor.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Riverhawks ran a fly route, then ran to move the ball close to the goalline. After a failed run, a 1-yard pass play from quarterback Zac Conley to receiver Derek Martinez gave Columbia Basin a touchdown to even the score.
A turnover led the Sabercats scoring a second time. Spokane ran a screen to come close the endzone. A short running play led to Spokane's second touchdown and to lead 12-6.
The Riverhawks sparked a short offense series after cornerback Tommy Stokes Jr. caught an interception on a short pass toward the sidelines, but failed to add points.
With 6 seconds left, the Sabercats ran four people straight down the field to score a third touchdown with no time left in the half. The score was 18-6 in favor of Spokane.
The Sabercats took the kickoff in the second half.
During the third quarter, Spokane ran a bootleg to score the first touchdown in the second half to move the score to 24-6.
"They had us. We get the ball after that, go down and score. That time we were running pretty well on them and knew time was going to be an issue getting toward the fourth quarter," said Whitaker. "This time when we threw the slant to (Emerson) Ferguson we got the score."
Going into the fourth quarter, the score was 24-12.
The Sabercats changed from a three-man to a four-man defense in the second half, which hindered the Riverhawks. After the second touchdown for the Riverhawks, Spokane changed to an effective pass-rush mode and managed to sack Conley four times, and catch an interception, killing a drive.
Spokane increased their score in the fourth quarter with a screen pass for another touchdown, making it 30-12.
"We didn't get (the receiver) locked up like we should have," said Whitaker.
The teams continued by going back and forth with scoreless series. Whitaker said the Riverhawks failed to connect on several pass attempts, which left the ball in Spokane's possession.
The Sabercats drove toward the goal and broke free from a blitz to get into the red zone. Spokane quarterback Iain Ashley ran a bootleg and threw it into the endzone for another touchdown. The score changed to 36-12, and the Sabercats added one more with the only successful point-after attempt of the game.
"There were nine possible extra point tries in the game and on the last one, someone made it," said Whitaker.
The Riverhawks are working to gel as a team. Whitaker said they are working to decrease the mistakes made during games, which left the team 0-3 for the season. They face five more games in the 2007 regular season.
"There were penalties and missed assignments … it could have very easily been 18-12 in our favor," said Whitaker.
The team's third game held common threads with the second game. Whitaker jokingly said the team started a tradition of having a player ejected. On the third to the last play of the game, Stokes was ejected for raising a closed fist.
Continuing another theme on the next play, wide receiver Kyle Swanson broke his clavicle.
Riverhawks' guard Thomas Barnes is reporting knee trouble and will miss the next game and defensive back Justin Williams remains injured and unable to play next week.
Despite injuries and a small roster of players, Whitaker said they have an idea of how to improve their team play and are getting better.
"Our numbers are small and with the long game, other teams know it, and they are coming after us," said Whitaker. "We are going to do some more substituting, especially on defense, to give us a little longer life out there."
The Riverhawks travel to play the Palouse Thunder in Washtucna Saturday, starting at 7 p.m.