Ephrata falls to Prosser, drops out of playoff race

The CWAC conference showdown on Friday night at Fiker stadium had everything at stake for both teams, as the Tigers and Mustangs were both 5-2 in league heading into the game in a four-way tie for second place, behind conference leading Ellensburg, along with Othello and West Valley. The winning team would remain in position to claim one of the three playoff berths out of the CWAC, while the losing team will fall out of contention all together. Both Ephrata and Prosser showed why the league is so competitive this year with so many closely matched teams. Friday night was no exception as the game came down to the final minutes with a 23-23 tie at the 8:40 mark in the final quarter, before Prosser broke the deadlock when Cardell Jones caught his third touchdown pass and put the Mustangs up 30-23.

The heartbreaking loss for the Tigers isn't the first for them this season as they lost in week two to Ellensburg after winning the Battle of the Basin trophy and beat themselves with costly miscues and blunders against Othello. Giving up a late touchdown to Prosser takes the cake in the up and down 2013 campaign for Ephrata, who will now miss the playoffs as Prosser, Othello and West Valley are left to battle for the final two playoff spots.

The Mustangs got things going early with an 82 yard pass from Mason Schutt to Cardell Jones for the games first touchdown, followed y a Trino Flores extra point kick to put Prosser up 7- 0 early in the first quarter. The Tigers new what was at stake on Friday and responded quickly with a well managed drive by quarterback Evan Brooks that was capped off with a Dalton Balentine 4 yard touchdown run and a Dalton Johnson kick to tie to things up at 7-7. As the first quarter began to wind to a close, Schutt again connected with Jones for a score through the air, this time from 27 yards out and again followed up by a Flores extra point, making the score 14-7 after one quarter of play.

The second quarter opened with Ephrata responding again as Brooks marched the Tigers down the field, into the red-zone, and then hooked up with Balentine for a 15 yard touchdown and another Johnson kick to knot things up at 14-14. The second quarter would become a defensive struggle after the Tigers game-tying score and the Mustangs would showcase their stingy defense at home, not allowing Ephrata to score again before the half. The Prosser offense would get things going, but the Tigers bend, but don't break defense held true and only allowed two field goals to end the first half of play trailing 20-14.

The third quarter opened the same way the second had ended, with the Tigers holding Prosser to a field goal, as Flores hit a 35 yard kick to increase his team's lead to 23-14. The Tigers would rally with a touchdown to end the third quarter of play when Tyson Martin caught a 53 yard strike from Evan Brooks, but a missed extra point would leave the Tigers down three. They tied things up to open the final quarter, as Johnson redeemed himself from the missed extra point and hit a 24 yard field goal to tie the game with 8:40 left in regulation.

With things all tied up and just over eight minutes to go, the whole season came down to this for both teams. It would be Prosser who stepped up in the midst of adversity and on the next possession Schutt would find a familiar target when he connected with Cardell Jones once again, this time for an 18 yard go-ahead touchdown through the air. Flores would hit the point after and the Mustangs now lead 30-23 with just over five minutes on the clock. The Tigers wouldn't score again on the hard-nose Mustang defense and the clock would tick down to all zeros with the final score reading 30-23 and keeping Prosser alive in their quest for a state championship, while Ephrata watched one play take away their hopes of a postseason run.

The Tigers got big games from quarterback Evan Brooks, who had 190 yards on 13-25 passing and Dalton Balentine who rushed 27 times for 92 yards and a touchdown, while adding 24 yards receiving and another touchdown. Despite Ephrata getting clutch performances from their key leaders, the passing attack of Prosser just proved to be too much, as Mason Schutt turned in his best performance of the season going 18 of 34 for 385 yards passing and three touchdowns, but it was Cardell Jones who was the go-to-guy for the Mustangs on Friday, catching touchdown passes of 18, 27 and 82 yards. He finished with five receptions for 194 yards and three scores. Prosser will now take on Selah next friday to close out the regular season and prepare for the playoffs, where the competitive CWAC will send three representatives to the state tournament. For Ephrata the playoffs are no longer a possibility, but they can play the role of spoiler as they take on West Valley in their final game of the season. If the Tigers can pull off the win they will likely send West Valley home for the winter and put Prosser and Othello in the driver seat to make the playoffs as the second and third seeds.