Chiefs score 28 unanswered points in third quarter

MOSES LAKE - As the ball lofted toward the outstretched arms of Derek Crum all the senior defensive end could think was, "Don't drop it."

Crum held on and returned an interception of Eastmont quarterback Nick McGill 14 yards for a touchdown. It was the second Moses Lake touchdown in the third quarter and increased the Chiefs' lead to 31-13. The rout was beginning to take shape.

The Chiefs rattled off 28 unanswered points in the third quarter and cruised to a 45-13 win over the Wildcats. The team's fourth victory in a row.

"It was all-around a good effort," Crum said. "It wasn't one man, it wasn't two ... It was all of the guys on both sides of the ball. It was a team effort and we couldn't have done it without each other."

However, the first half was a stark contrast to the lop-sided second half.

Penalties marred both sides and Eastmont (2-2, 3-4) briefly took a 13-10 lead when Dante Weigel hauled in a 10 yard touchdown reception from McGill. But Wes Harrington's quarterback keeper from 1 yard out helped Moses Lake (3-0, 6-1) regain the lead, 17-13, with just 43 seconds left in the half.

"They played really good first half, Eastmont did, and they were on and they were down some kids too," head coach Todd Griffith said. "They've got some kids hurt so I think that we just wore them down and we think that that should happen to everyone we play in the second half."

Moses Lake cleaned up its offensive and defensive miscues from the first half and controlled both sides of the ball after intermission.

Defensively, the Chiefs started to impose their will by forcing an Eastmont three-and-out to start the second half that only took 16 seconds off the clock.

It was stellar coverage on three straight pass plays that wasn't evident in the first 24 minutes of the game.

Moses Lake couldn't take advantage of the improved defensive play on its first drive of the second half, but after a second straight three-and-out by Eastmont the Chiefs were ready to break the game open.

"We said at halftime, 'Just get us the ball back and we're going to go score and start putting it out of hand,' and then we go three-and-out ... Defense did another good job and stopped them again and gave us the ball back and then we did go and score," Griffith said.

That score was Harrington's second rushing touchdown of the game. In his second start, the sophomore rushed for 30 yards, passed for 111 and ran in two touchdowns.

After Crum's interception return, McGill was picked off a second time by Brandon Pankratz. Following the interception, running back Nathan Ball took a handoff and appeared to look for running room before spotting Crum running wide open down field.

The senior - who has been so dangerous with his legs this season - used his arm for a change and connected with Crum for a 36 yard touchdown pass to put the Chiefs up 38-13.

The rout was officially on.

"We do it (halfback pass) every Thursday just for giggles and what not," Ball said.

Moses Lake unsuccessfully tried the halfback pass against Wenatchee a season ago. Against Eastmont, once the Moses Lake coaching staff figured out the defensive alignment Griffith knew that play would go for a big gain.

"Sometimes when you put your eggs in one basket trying to stop somebody and it leaves you hanging out if we can just catch where they're at," he said. "Caught them in the right play."

For Ball, it was the exclamation to an already gaudy stat line. The Columbia Basin Big Nine leading rusher finished with 199 rushing yards, 36 passing yards and three total touchdowns.

Crum was an impact player on both sides of the ball, recording two sacks and hauling in two passes for 70 yards.

Ball punctuated the blow out with a 61 yard TD scamper with 3:55 to go in the third quarter. McGill was picked off for a third time by Nico Hernandez and Moses Lake salted the game away with suffocating defense and a powerful ground game.

Sitting at 6-1, Moses Lake faces an eerily similar situation to what it faced a year ago at this juncture. The Chiefs were 6-1 with a chance to take control of the CBBN against Wenatchee at home in 2013. Moses Lake would go on to lose that game 13-10 on a field goal in the closing seconds.

This year, Moses Lake will travel to face Wenatchee for a chance to take over first place in the CBBN and Crum believes this team won't have a repeat performance.

"This is going to be different," he said. "We're coming in with more confidence. We know we are a better team. We know we're going to win this. We've got to win this. We know it's going to be the biggest game of the season. If we win this we're in good shape for the postseason."

Warden 54, Kittitas 34

WARDEN - Orlando Alba exploded for 397 total yards and Warden ran away from Kittitas, 54-34.

Alba caught five passes for 263 yards - a ridiculous 52.6 yards per catch - and ran 10 times for 134 yards.

"Once we got him in the open field he kind of took it from there," head coach Erik Skone said.

Alba also was 6 of 8 on extra points.

"We did a good job of moving him around and setting him up in different spots on the field," Skone said.

According to Skone, Warden is in the playoffs and the next two games will determine seeing for the crossover games.

The Cougars travel to face the Soap Lake Eagles on Oct. 24.

Ephrata 31, Wapato 15

WAPATO - Ephrata cleaned up first half mistakes and bounced back with a 31-15 win against the Wapato Wolves.

Multiple scores in the second half gave the Tigers some breathing room after only leading 14-6 at the break.

"We ran the ball well, especially in the second half," head coach Jay Mills said.

Ephrata now will prepare to play CWAC powers Prosser and Ellensburg in back-to-back weeks. The Tigers will host the Mustangs on Oct. 24 before traveling to face the Bulldogs the week after.

Ephrata regained third place in the conference after Othello defeated Selah, 32-13.

"We can control our own destiny," Mills said. "We still have an opportunity at the league title or to be runner-up."

No. 1 Lind-Ritzville/Sprague 7, No. 4 Reardan 6

REARDAN - Top-ranked Lind-Ritzville/Sprague squeezed out a close win on the road against Reardan, 7-6.

It was the Broncos' 33rd win in a row. LRS now has the second longest active win streak in Washington after Lynden's 33-game streak was snapped on Friday when it lost to Ferndale, 37-35.