Ephrata builds early lead, wins third straight Battle of the Basin

QUINCY - Despite both teams moving in the opposite direction, the latest iteration of the Battle of the Basin was not without drama.

Entering Friday's game, Ephrata had climbed to No. 9 in the Associated Press poll while Quincy had yet to win a game.

All that was washed away as the two teams met for the 65th time at Jaycee Stadium.

The Tigers used three first half touchdowns to build a solid lead and held on to win their third straight Battle of the Basin, 24-13.

"It's very emotional," Ephrata running back Tyler Lutz said. "There's so much tension going on in the game and - I don't know - you're just putting it all on the line to come out with the W."

Ephrata now leads the series 45-20.

"It's huge," Ephrata assistant coach Dave Laird said. "This is the fourth game on the schedule, but I guarantee you that everyone of these kids this is the one they've been looking to. Othello was a big win, last week was a big win but these kind of games make or break your season."

With the crowd split about 60/40 in favor of the Jacks, Ephrata running back Nick Lobe took the opening kickoff down to Quincy's 28 yard line.

The Tigers (3-1) stayed conservative and kept the ball on the ground four straight times to get down to the Quincy 5 yard line.

From that point, Lobe was able to punch in a 1 yard touchdown run two plays later and Ephrata led 6-0 with 10:14 left in the first quarter (PAT no good).

Quincy (0-4) began its first drive with solid field position as Riley Nelson returned the kick to the Jacks' 43 yard line.

Facing a fourth down, Quincy quarterback John Lindquist converted a fake punt that extended the drive.

Later, the Jacks were forced to attempt a 20 yard field goal that went very wide left, however, the Jacks were given a new set of downs when an Ephrata player was whistled for roughing the kicker.

Behind tough running from Andy Vargas to get down inside the 5, Lindquist converted a 2 yard touchdown run to give Quincy the lead late in the first, 7-6 (PAT good).

Ephrata answered when quarterback Loyd Burleson connected with Love for a 27 yard gain.

Burleson followed with a 3 yard touchdown pass to Lutz with 2:37 left in the first quarter and the Tigers led 14-6 (2 point good).

Down 14-7 early, Lindquist attempted his first pass of the game but his offering was intercepted by Lobe.

It was the first of three interceptions for the Quincy quarterback.

Lindquist struggled through the air, but did rush for 50 yards and a touchdown.

Turnovers have plagued the Jacks through the first month of the season.

"Every time we got a drive started we found a way to kind of hurt ourselves," Quincy head coach Stephen Wallace said. "Defensively they played pretty solid. Got to clean up our mistakes on the offensive end."

Tiger running back Justin DeHoog pounded in a 2 yard run late in the second quarter, extending the Ephrata lead to 21-7 (PAT good).

With 3.2 seconds to go until halftime, Quincy attempted a 28 yard field goal that was once again wide left.

In the second half, the damp grass on the field started to affect play as both quarterbacks struggled on snap exchanges.

Laird said the conditions on the field didn't affect play calling for Ephrata much.

The same couldn't be said for Quincy.

"It definitely takes away kind of that pitch in our option so we became very predictable," Wallace said. "It was either going to be a give or a keep so once we figured that out we tried to go with leads a little bit more which isn't what our offense is really designed around.

"We like to do triple option and when basically a slick ball is taking away one of those options it's no longer three on two, it's more two on two and that's not really to our advantage anymore."

The scoring was interrupted in the third quarter, but Ephrata was able to tack on a 14 yard field goal with 4:06 remaining in the game to extend its lead to 24-7.

Quincy's Steven Gomez scored a 3 yard touchdown run late to draw the Jacks to within 11 points (PAT no good).

But the Tigers recovered the ensuring onside kick and salted the game away, picking up multiple first downs.

Ephrata will look to continue to keep pace with the elite CWAC teams, such as Ellensburg and Prosser, while Quincy is left to regroup and hope to score its first win Oct. 3 against Toppenish.

"At this point it's just more about focusing on our guys getting better and we have to stop hurting ourselves and put together a good year for the seniors to be proud of," Wallace said.

Note: Ephrata head coach Jay Mills missed his second straight game after undergoing minor surgery. Mills was in attendance Friday and hopes to be back on the sideline Oct. 3 against Grandview.