Big plays cost Moses Lake against Richland

MOSES LAKE - The Richland Bombers came into Friday's game against Moses Lake with one of the top rushing attacks in the Columbia Basin League, but it was through the air that the Bombers did the most damage in their 35-14 victory over the Chiefs at Lions Field.

While the Chiefs led 14-7 at half, Richland got touchdown passes of 49 and 75 yards from new starting quarterback Jake Haworth to rally for a victory over Moses Lake and drop the Chiefs into a tie for third place in the CBL standings.

The Chiefs, currently at 3-2 in the CBL, need the Pasco Bulldogs to lose one of their final two games of the season to be assured of a No. 3 seed into the playoffs. Should the Bulldogs manage to knock off both the Wenatchee Panthers and Richland in the season's final two weeks, it sets up a potential scenario in which up to five teams could finish the CBL schedule in first place with 4-2 records.

While Haworth's long-distance strikes contributed heavily to the Chiefs' second loss of the season Friday, they were just a sampling of big plays in a game filled with them.

"There were definitely momentum-swinging plays in the game," Moses Lake head coach Greg Kittrell said. "The key is to be on top of them and win your share of them.

"They won more of them than we did."

In addition to the two big second-half touchdown passes, Haworth iced the game for the Bombers with a 97-yard interception return for a touchdown as the Chiefs were attempting to get back in the game late in the fourth quarter.

With the game tied at 7 in the second quarter, Moses Lake made the first big play of the contest.

Richland drove to the Moses Lake 2-yard line on their next possession, but a holding penalty backed the Bombers up and eventually forced a field-goal try on a fourth-and-16 play. Moses Lake' Garin Bergeson came around the left side of the Richland line, dove and blocked the kick just as it left the holder's hands, and Randy Koon scooped up the loose ball and returned it 75 yards for a Chiefs' touchdown.

Moses Lake led 14-7, and after a Richland three-and-out, were driving into Bomber territory looking to add to their lead. However, Haworth, playing in the Bombers' secondary, picked off a Josh Loera pass deep down the field and returned it to the Moses Lake 45-yard line.

Richland moved the ball toward the Moses Lake end zone on the ensuing possession, but on a fourth-and-5 from the 25, Koon made a spectacular interception at the goal line to rob the Bombers of a touchdown and send Moses Lake to the half with their lead intact.

While Moses Lake was on top of most of the big plays in the first half, the Chiefs' fortunes turned sour after the halftime break.

Moses Lake took possession to begin the half, and drove down to the Richland 12-yard line with the help of a 34-yard run from Michael Thomas. But, on third down from the 12, Loera was intercepted, ending the Chiefs' drive and taking away a chance to break the game open.

"It's part of the game," Kittrell said of the turnover to start the second half. "Games are up and down. You've just got to ride the waves of the game. You've got to shake it off."

Richland took over and drove to midfield, where on third-and-8 the Bombers ran a gadget play that resulted in a 49-yard touchdown. The Bombers faked an end-around to the right side, and bootlegged Haworth out to the left, but the Moses Lake defense was not fooled by the trickery. However, Haworth used his speed to buy some extra time, and launched a deep ball to a waiting Marco Nicacio, who was alone in the end zone behind the Moses Lake secondary.

Not only was the play a shocking way for the Bombers to tie the game at 14, it was an uncharacteristic one for a team that came into Friday's contest averaging only 72 passing yards per game and had only one passing touchdown thus far in the season.

"I thought the defense overall played pretty well," Kittrell said. "What caught us by surprise was their quarterback."

The Chiefs did a respectable job of bottling up CBL leading rusher Marcelino Morales, holding the Bomber star to 112 yards on 30 carries. Morales came into the game with Moses Lake averaging 6.2 yards per carry, but only averaged 3.7 yards per rush and didn't have any huge runs against the Moses Lake defense.

Richland took a 21-14 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Morales in the final minute of the third quarter, then went up 28-14 on Haworth's 75-yard toss to Jamison Rowe on a third-and-7 play-action pass.

The Chiefs move on to take on Idaho powerhouse Lake City this Friday, before closing out the regular season next week against the Davis Pirates in Yakima.