Chiefs ends four-game skid with lopsided win

YAKIMA - Justyn Simmons threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 126 yards and three scores to lead Moses Lake to a 53-14 road win over Davis Thursday.

"All in all, I thought we played really well," coach Todd Griffith said. "They had one scoring drive on us just before the half, and got another score against our second team in the fourth quarter."

Simmons got the Chiefs on the board first with a 9-yard run (Rhen Reilly kick) to put Moses Lake on top. 7-0. It was the only score of the initial quarter of action.

A 12-yard pass from Simmons to Cameron Ballard (kick failed) to start the second quarter scoring increased the Chiefs lead to 14-0. Moses Lake pushed the score to 19-0 when Cameron Law hit pay dirt from 5-yards out (run failed).

Desperately trying to stay in the game, the Pirates put together their lone scoring drive of the first half ending with a 6-yard pass from Elias Moctezuma to Eric Briscoe (Jesse Nickens kick) to close the gap to 19-7.

The Chiefs picked up where they left off in the first half, as they hung 20 points on the board in the third quarter. Simmons hooked up with Nick Sutherland for a 55-yard TD (Reilly kick) to go up 26-7.

Touchdowns runs of 9 and 31 yards by Simmons, and a PAT by Reilly pushed the score to 39-7 to round out the scoring for the quarter.

Moses Lake's Trino Rubio got into the scoring act to start the fourth quarter on a pick-6 (Reilly kick) to increase the Chiefs lead to 47-7. Davis answered back with a 9-yard Moctezuma TD pass to Ketner Kupp (Nickens kick) to make the game somewhat respectable for the home team.

But Moses Lake put the final nail in the coffin on a 17-yard run by Easton Castro (Reilly kick) to finish out the scoring for the game.

"We started out kind of slow, but were able to gain momentum throughout the game," Griffith said. "The big lead going into the fourth quarter allowed us to put our second team in ... in fact all 45 kids got to play."

The win over Davis improved the Chiefs to 4-4 in CBBN league play and 4-5 overall. Moses Lake is back on the gridiron Friday when the Chiefs travel to Eastmont for the last game of the season.

"We are out of the playoff picture, but the game has huge implications," Griffith said. "If we beat Eastmont and Eisenhower and Wenatchee win, there will be a three-way tie for first place. I'm sure our kids will be excited about that and ready to play."