Ephrata shuts down Selah

SELAH - The Ephrata Tigers are proving to be a team to be reckoned with in the Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) this year after a 26-3 road win over the Selah Vikings Friday.

It didn't take long for Ephrata to establish dominance in the game as the Tigers drove 67 yards in seven plays in a little more than two minutes on their initial possession of the ball game that was capped off by a 5-yard TD run by Dalton Balentine (PAT Dalton Johnson) for a 7-0 lead.

Balentine's second touchdown of the game came four minutes later on a 21-yard scamper (Bryce Unruh PAT) to push the score to 14-0 and finish out the first quarter scoring.

The Tigers hung seven more on the board on a 3-yard dash by Balentine (PAT failed) to take a 21-0 lead into the locker room at the half.

Both teams failed to score in the third quarter of action. Ephrata put the first points on the board in the final 12 minutes of play as the Tigers tackled a Viking running back in the Selah end zone for a safety to increase the Ephrata lead to 23-0.

The Vikings did answer back with a touchdown (PAT failed) late in the fourth quarter to avoid the shutout, but it was too little too late as time ran out to give the Tigers the win.

Dalton Balentine led the Ephrata assault with 141 yards on 18 carries and three touchdowns.

Quarterback Tyler Clark connected on seven of 12 passes for 84 yards, and Connor Martin led all Tiger receivers with three catches for 59 yards.

The Ephrata defense played a big part in the victory as well recording a safety and keeping the Vikings off the scoreboard until the waning minutes of the game.

The win over Selah improves the Tigers to 3-2 in CWAC league play and 4-2 overall.

Ephrata is back in action Friday when the Tigers host Toppenish at 7 p.m.