Warden Cougars handle Highland at home
Prep football results
WARDEN - With less than two minutes left to play Friday night, Warden head coach Erik Skone met with his assistant coaches to formulate a game plan for the Cougars' final offensive drive.
The Cougars held a 16-10 advantage late in the fourth quarter before Highland's Tyler Hakala found Patrick Newman in the endzone for a 17-16 Highland lead with 1:58 to play.
"I was going over our offensive attack with the other coaches," Skone said of his team's ensuing possession. "We had a couple time outs and we were going to try and work the ball down the sidelines."
Warden kick returner Robert Pruneda never gave his team that opportunity.
Pruneda fielded the kickoff and returned it 95-yards for a Warden touchdown and a 22-17 victory.
"That kickoff return at the end was huge," Skone said. "Ivan Cuevas made some excellent blocks and Pruneda made it happen. We didn't need to worry about the offense."
The Cougars have improved on special teams in recent weeks and Skone said his team finally returned a kick for a touchdown.
"We have been close in the last couple weeks, there is always one guy left," he said. "There was one guy left Friday, but we got the block on him and Pruneda scored."
Following the win, Skone told his team to enjoy the homecoming win.
"It felt great to get the monkey off our back," he said. "I told them to look at the scoreboard, enough said."
Skone said the victory was important for his team, but he is proud to see his team improving each week."
That effort was awesome," he said of his team's performance. "We competed on every down. Every play. All the time."
While Skone said his team is enjoying the victory, they have to prepare for this Friday night's game against the Kiona-Benton Bears.
"We have a challenge ahead of us with Ki-Be," he said. "This win was fun and enjoyable but we have to get ready for Friday night."
Tri-Cities Prep 60,
ACH 26
PASCO - Will Hoppes of Tri-Cities Prep set a state record Friday night with 676 yards of total offense as the Jaguars knocked off the defending state champion Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors in Pasco.
The Warriors held an 18-12 lead into the second quarter before Hoppes and the Jaguars scored 26 unanswered points to close out the half with a 38-18 advantage over ACH.
ACH head coach Brandon Walsh was impressed with Tri-Cities Prep.
"We played a really good team," he said. "That's a big part of why we didn't succeed. We turned the ball over six times. That didn't help our cause either."
Both teams scored touchdowns in the third quarter and were successful on two-point conversion attempts as Tri-Cities Prep held a 46-26 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
After the loss, Walsh said he told his team to move on to the next game.
"We talked about trying to forget a game like that," he said. "We are going to go back to the basics this week. Work on the fundamentals and taking care of the football.
ACH could not get on the scoreboard in the game's final quarter, and the Warriors couldn't keep the Jaguars off of it as Tri-Cities Prep rolled to the 60-26 victory at Edgar Brown Stadium.
The Warriors are the defending state champions and Walsh said his team will respond.
"Losing two games in a row around hasn't happened here since 2005," he said. "It leaves a bad taste in the seniors' mouths and they want to get rid of it."
Grandview 31,
Ephrata 28
GRANDVIEW - The Greyhounds of Grandview raced out to a 10-6 halftime lead and a 24-6 fourth quarter lead to hold off the Ephrata Tigers for their first Central Washington Athletic Conference win of the season.
With the loss, the Tigers fell to 1-5 overall this season, and 1-4 in CWAC play.
The Greyhounds jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter before Ephrata's Eric Hensley cut the Grandview lead to seven with the first of his two field goals on the night.
Hensley's first field goal came from 20-yards out and he would kick another attempt through the uprights from 30-yards out in the second quarter.
Grandview would hold off Ephrata in the third quarter to take a 24-6 advantage before the Tigers went on a 22-7 run to close out the fourth quarter and the game.
The Greyhounds held on to defeat the Tigers 31-28.
Ephrata quarterback Eric Tinnell finished the night with 11 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown. Tinnell also completed eight of 19 passes for 172 yards and another touchdown in the Tigers' loss.
Ephrata hosts CWAC rival Toppenish Friday night as the Tigers take on the Wildcats.
Kick off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Lind-Ritzville 15,
Mary Walker 8
SPRINGDALE - Lind-Ritzville tight end Cory Whitmore caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Geoffrey Eastman as the Broncos knocked off the Mary Walker Chargers 15-8 Friday night.
Whitmore's second touchdown pass went for 54 yards and came with only 20 seconds remaining in the game to lift the Broncos to victory.
With less than a minute to play, the Broncos got the ball on their own 20, trailing the Chargers 8-7.
Eastman led his team on an 80-yard drive which culminated with Whitmore's scoring grab.
Lind-Ritzville head coach Greg Whitmore felt fortunate with how his team responded.
"That was clutch," coach Whitmore said. "At our level you don't get that many situations. If we have that opportunity 10 times, we may score on one of them."
The Broncos were unable to establish a running game Friday night and the defense managed to give the Lind-Ritzville offense an opportunity to earn the victory.
"I felt fortunate we got the ball back," Whitmore said. "We turned it over on downs before that."
The Broncos overcame the absence of five starters, two offensively and three defensively to earn the victory.
Lind-Ritzville travels to Davenport Friday night to take on the Gorillas.
"We turn our attention to Davenport," coach Whitmore said. "It will be another barn-burner."
Kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Othello 52,
East Valley 14
YAKIMA - The Othello Huskies capitalized on three touchdowns from senior quarterback Marc Garza and two scores from running back Aaron Simmons to earn the 52-14 Central Washington Athletic Conference victory Friday night in Yakima.
Garza rushed for 69 yards and Simmons piled up 90 yards rushing as Othello improved to 5-1 on the season, 4-1 in conference play.
Othello's only loss this season came at the hands of the defending state champion Prosser Mustangs on Sept. 19.
The Huskies held a 7-0 first quarter lead after Garza plunged into the endzone from 2-yards out.
Othello built a 24-7 halftime lead when Simmons found the endzone twice in the second quarter. Simmons scored on runs of 1- and 9-yards.
East Valley scored their only touchdown of the first half when Jordan Cameron intercepted a Garza pass and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.
Othello's lead grew in the second half when the Huskies scored 21 points in the third quarter as the Huskies ran out to a 45-7 lead.
Garza scored twice in the third quarter, both coming on touchdown runs of 16 yards.
Lee Gomez also scored a rushing touchdown for Othello in the third quarter.
The Huskies would score one last time in the fourth quarter when Jakob Scott returned a East Valley punt 68 yards for a touchdown and a 52-7 fourth quarter lead.
East Valley would score again but it would not be enough for East Valley as Othello rolled to the 52-14 victory.
Royal 42,
Kiona-Benton 0
BENTON CITY - Royal quarterback Connor Paysse threw two touchdown passes Friday night as the Knights shut out the Kiona-Benton Bears 42-0 to earn the South Central Athletic Conference-East victory.
The Knights jumped out to a 28-0 first quarter lead and never looked back.
Paysse led the Royal offense to victory and finished the night 12 of 19 passing for 190 yards.
Knights running back Will Christensen also added two touchdowns for the Knights as he scored on a 2-yard touchdown run and caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Paysse.
Royal head coach Wiley Allred said he was more than satisfied with Paysse's performance.
"He got the ball to five different receivers," Allred said. "I was pretty happy about that."
The Royal special teams stepped it up for the Knights as Blair Collins returned another punt for a touchdown.
Collins also had three catches for 75 yards.
While the Royal offense played well Friday night, Allred said his defense was important in the victory.
"(Our defense) shut down the passing game, (Kiona-Benton) was two for 11 passing," he said. "We held the league's leading receiver to one catch for two yards. That was the key to the game, getting the pass rush. I am pleased with our defensive effort. We held them to around 100 yards of total offense."
La Salle 42,
Soap Lake 7
UNION GAP - The LaSalle Lightening took advantage of three touchdowns from Jake DeGooyer to stop the visiting Soap Lake Eagles Friday night.
DeGooyer grabbed one touchdown pass and returned two punts on special teams as LaSalle dropped Soap Lake to 3-3 this season.
Kyler Moats of Soap Lake finished the night 10 of 25 passing for 175 yards.
Taylor Baughman scored the Eagles' only touchdown on a rush in the game's fourth quarter.
Soap Lake hosts Kittitas Friday night.
Kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m.