Ephrata wins Battle of Basin to keep playoff hopes alive

EPHRATA — Jakob Oxos set the Battle of the Basin trophy down on the bench in the locker room Friday night. He and fellow Ephrata senior Blake Larkin plopped down next to it on both sides as Tiger teammates gathered round and the cellphone cameras clicked away, capturing the moment for what it was.

They don’t think much about last year’s one-win season, but they’ll remember this one forever, winning their fifth game of 2017 and the Battle of the Basin with a 42-28 victory over Quincy (3-3. 0-2 CWAC North) at Kiwanis Stadium.

“I’ve never won one, so this is pretty cool,” said Ephrata quarterback Zac Berryman, who rushed for three touchdowns and threw for three more.

Whether or not they use the trophy for a hood ornament next week is yet to be determined, but the Tigers (5-1, 2-1) needed the win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

“Last week we got a little one dimensional, but tonight I thought we had a balanced offense,” Berryman said. “We really wanted to establish the run. The touchdown pass we had in the fourth quarter was wide open because they were crashing hard. So the run opened a lot of things for the offense and made it a lot better.”

The Jacks drew first blood with a 31-yard scoring strike from Kade Schutzmann to Tyson Thornton to cap a 70-yard drive. But the Tigers came back hard with 29 unanswered points in the first half, which included Berryman touchdown runs of 1, 3 and 6 yards. The 5-foot-11, senior who took over at quarterback this season, also had a 5-yard touchdown pass to Oxos in that span where they just dominated.

“I’m a better thrower when I’m running around in the pocket,” said Berryman, who was 14-of-22 for 239 yards and three touchdowns. “When I get moving around, I can make some plays. Tonight was super important. We need to pretty much win out to make the playoffs. We had a little hiccup in Othello, but I think we’ll be fine for the rest of the year.”

The Jacks scored their first touchdown after recovering a Tiger fumble with 4:03 in the first quarter. But the real turning point came right at the end of the first quarter. The Berryman to Oxos touchdown pass tied it up. On the ensuing kickoff, the Quincy return man muffed the kick and Ephrata took over on the Jacks’ 15 yard line with 1:01 left in the opening quarter. Berryman had his first touchdown rushing with 24 seconds left and triggered a scoring barrage the Jacks would never recover from.

By the time Quincy did score on a Schutzmann to Isaiah Ayala pass in the third quarter, the Tigers had run off 35 unanswered.

“I told the kids tonight they did a good job playing to the end. We made a lot of errors in the first half, but the second half I thought we cleaned up a lot of things and played better defensively,” Quincy coach Wade Petersen said. “Football is about momentum shifts and you can’t get down on yourself when you make a mistake.”

This was without a doubt the best offensive line play of the season, Ephrata coach Jay Mills said. Oxos caught 6 passes for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns. Leeland Burleson rushed 23 times for 118 yards and it all started up front.

“We felt coming in we could take advantage of running the ball tonight,” Mills said. “This is the best the offensive line has played all year. I’m very pleased with how they physically dominated the line of scrimmage.”

Ephrata right tackle Cody Follett was a big part of that Tiger domination at the point of impact.

“I thought we really pushed them around on the line tonight,” Follett said. “When Zach gets moving around in the backfield you have to stay very disciplined. I have to make sure that D-end does not get inside. It was one of our best days of blocking and I think as an O-line we were very proud of our run game and how we moved the football tonight.”

Schutzmann threw for 160 yards and 3 touchdowns. Pablo Mariscal rushed for 66 yards and Gates Petersen had 62 receiving yards and a touchdown for the Jacks.

Ephrata hosts Selah on Senior Night at Kiwanis. Quincy will host East Valley.

Score by quarters

Quincy 7 0 7 14 - 28

Ephrata 14 15 6 7 - 42

Scoring summary

Q - Tyson Thornton 21 pass from Kade Schutzmann (Isaiah Ayala kick)

E - Jakob Oxos 5 pass from Zach Berryman (Josh Benthem kick)

E - Berryman 1 run (Benthem kick)

E - Berryman 3 run (Benthem kick)

E - Berryman 1 run (Benthem run)

E - Oxos 48 pass from Berryman (Benthem kick)

Q - Ayala 7 pass from Schutzman (Ayala kick)

Q - Ayla 22 pass from Schutzman (Ayala kick)

E - Benthem 16 pass from Berryman (Benthem kick)

Q - Gage Petersen 14 pass from Schutzman (Ayala kick)