Othello downs previously unbeaten Ephrata

OTHELLO — DJ Guzman went into the season as a three-year starter at quarterback for the Othello Huskies.

The 5-foot-9, 200-pound senior tweaked a knee in the second game and ended up losing his starting job when Kyler Villarreal took over. Guzman might have been moved to the bullpen, but he’s rapidly becoming quite the closer in the Huskies (3-2, 2-0 CWAC North) arsenal.

Guzman came off the bench and threw a touchdown pass in the CWAC North opener last week against Quincy.

On Friday night, he had a 55-yard pass that triggered a 21-point second quarter and the Huskies upended previously unbeaten Ephrata 38-14 to take over sole possession of first place in the CWAC North standings.

The Tigers (4-1, 1-1) capped a six-play opening drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Zac Berryman to Jakob Oxos on a fade route to set the stage in what promised to be an offensive showcase at Huskie Stadium. Othello answered with a smash-mouth, power running game. Sophomore fullback Isaiah Perez, who finished with 98 yards on 21 carries, scored the first of two touchdowns on the night, banging it in from two yards out to tie it up. The Huskies took the lead when Trevor Hilmes, the game’s leading rusher with 134 yards and two touchdowns, scored on a 4-yard run.

The Othello coaching staff opted to see if they couldn’t steal a possession when the Huskies drive stalled on the Ephrata 35-yard line with 3:05 left in the half. They short-snapped it to Guzman, who connected with gunner Isaac Barragan streaking down as if he were covering the punt for a 35-yard pass completion to the Tigers’ 15-yard line.

The sneak attack set up two more Othello second-quarter scores, including a 55-yard touchdown pass from Villarreal to Julian Pruneda and the Huskies rattled off 28 unanswered points to dominate a previously unbeaten team.

“I thought the fake punt was the big momentum turner in the game. Before that it was 14-7 game, but from then on we scored,” said Hilmes, who scored twice and along with Sam Azevedo had a pass interception on defense. “We took advantage of our opportunities. I thought time of possession was big. It seemed like we had the ball twice as much as they did.”

The Tigers came into the game averaging 35 points a game with one of the most prolific passing attacks in the CWAC. But with exception of the first drive of each half, both ending with a touchdown pass from Berryman to Oxos, they were stymied by the Othello defensive scheme, which features five linebackers.

“The first drive we came out hot and we clicked. Zac was throwing the ball right on time,” said Oxos, who caught seven balls for 50 yards. “After the first drive, they locked us down and played really good defense and it was hard to get open.”

The Ephrata receivers had the size advantage over Othello cornerbacks Patrick Azevedo (5-7, 140) and Efrain Palomares (5-8, 160), but the Huskies’ defense held its own in holding the Tigers to just 244 yards in total offense, 192 passing.

“We knew they were bigger than us, but we stayed with them,” Palomares said. “We really didn’t have to get too physical. We just kept to our coverages and did our job.”

Hilmes led all rushers with 134 yards and two touchdowns. Perez finished with 96 yards and two touchdowns. Villarreal was 3-of-6 for 98 yards and a touchdown.

Berryman connected on 21-of-42 for 192 yards and two touchdowns, both to Oxos.

Othello travels to Yakima for a key matchup with East Valley (3-1, 1-0) and Ephrata hosts Quincy (3-2, 0-1) in the Battle of the Basin.

Score by quarters

Ephrata 7 0 0 7 - 14

Othello 7 21 3 7 - 38

Scoring summary

E - Jakob Oxos 6 pass from Zac Berryman (Josh Benthem kick)

O - Isaiah Perez 2 run (Patrick Azevedo kick)

O - Trevor Hilmes 4 run (Azevedo kick)

O - Perez 5 run (Azevedo kick)

O - Julian Pruneda 55 pass from Kyler Villarreal (Azevedo kick)

E - Oxos 10 pass from Berryman (Benthem kick)

O - Azevedo 31 FG

O - Hilmes 1 run (Azevedo kick)