Moses Lake records 5 takeaways, shuts out Davis

MOSES LAKE — Mario Yepiz had aspirations of a touchdown when a pass from Davis quarterback Angel Amenzola floated toward his eager hands.

Yepiz settled for an interception on the third play of the game.

Moses Lake’s secondary was the primary attraction at Lions Field — intercepting Amenzola three times — in a rout of Davis 35-0.

“It’s super fun when everybody’s doing their job and no one’s making that bad of mistakes,” Yepiz said. “We set the tempo for the game, I feel like, and our offense comes out they try their best to get down the field and if they can’t get it then we just come back in and get the ball back.”

Moses Lake’s defense, which has gone six quarters in a row without allowing a point, totaled five takeaways, including two on consecutive plays in the first half. Yepiz’s interception set up the first scoring drive that ended in a nine-yard touchdown run by Rodney Fuchs.

On Davis’ ensuing drive, Von Phothisane was stripped on the first play and the fumble was recovered by Josh Williams.

“Our defense is good all the way through, but the front four are really putting a lot of pressure on quarterback, getting him to move off his mark, and when that happens usually good things happen for the defense,” head coach Todd Griffith said. “The defensive front is playing lights out right now, which is really allowing all those things to happen.”

Moses Lake’s offense ran in fits and starts for most of the game. A heavy crosswind kept passes short and nullified any idea of a field goal attempt.

At the start of the second quarter, Fuchs was able to break a 33-yard run down to Davis’ eight yard line and two plays later Dominic Signorelli kept the ball on a read option for a seven-yard touchdown.

Fuchs ran well in the first half, but left the game with an injury, leaving Mason Campos as the Chiefs’ only option at running back.

Campos answered the bell and scored two goal-line touchdowns in the second half.

“He’s a good runner so we weren’t worried about putting him in there at all,” Griffith said. “We knew he could do the job and it’s good for his confidence level to get in there. He’s still got some learning to do to get better at what he does, but he runs hard enough and makes the right decision and cuts the right way so as long as he does that he’ll be alright.”

Davis had one real shot to score after Brandon Griffith was stopped short on a fake punt attempt near midfield.

Davis took over on the Moses Lake 36 yard line. Eventually, Amenzola was able to find Gusmaro Mendoza for a 20-yard touchdown, but the points were wiped away on a holding penalty.

Jon Ochoa stepped in front of a pass on the next play for the Chiefs’ third interception of the evening.

“One thing (coach Jared) Pope always says is turnovers in wins and as you saw tonight it was just turnovers after turnovers and that’s how we won,” said Joey Robertson, who closed the first half with his own interception.

Late in the game, Moses Lake finally took advantage of the dying wind.

Signorelli found receiver Kyler Haneberg for a quick-strike 45-yard touchdown up the left sideline to complete the blowout.

“If the wind wasn’t blowing like it was blowing, we would have probably thrown it about four or five times tonight,” Todd Griffith said.

Score by quarters

ML — 7 7 7 14 35

D — 0 0 0 0 0

Scoring

ML — Fuchs 9 run (Skeesick kick)

ML — Signorelli 7 run (Skeesick kick)

ML — Campos 1 run (Skeesick kick)

ML — Campos 2 run (Skeesick kick)

ML — Haneberg 45 pass from Signorelli (Skeesick kick)

Othello 47, East Valley 21

YAKIMA — Trevor Hilmes and Isaiah Perez rushed for three touchdowns each in Othello’s win over East Valley 47-21.

The win positioned Othello firmly in the CWAC North’s No. 1 spot.

A pair of rushing touchdowns by Isaiah Perez helped the Huskies jump out to a 14-0 lead. The Huskies led 27-6 at halftime.

Othello can clinched the CWAC North crown against winless Ellensburg Oct. 13.

Royal 49, Kiona-Benton 0

BENTON CITY — Royal led 42-0 at halftime and beat Kiona-Benton 49-0.

Corbin Christensen caught four passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns.

Alonso Hernandez rushed for 83 yards and one touchdown.

Warden 34, Columbia 28

BURBANK — Warden outscored Columbia 21-8 in the second half to force overtime and win 34-28.

Tito Rodriguez rushed for 70 yards and three touchdowns, including a 19-yard TD in overtime to win the game.

Ryan Arredondo completed 14 passes for 219 yards and one touchdown. Zach Richins caught eight balls for 106 yards.

Wahluke 30, College Place 27

MATTAWA — Wahluke improved to 3-2 overall with a 30-27 win against College Place.

Soap Lake 26, Oroville 14

OROVILLE — Soap Lake ended a three-game skid and beat Oroville 26-14.

Deezy Bentley kick-started the Eagles with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Klayten Northup threw four touchdowns, two to Bentley and two to Joey Babak.

Davenport 21, Lind-Ritzville/Sprague 0

RITZVILLE — Lind-Ritzville/Sprague dropped to 1-5 after a loss to Davenport 21-0.

Alex Plasensia led Davenport with 169 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Almira/Coulee-Hartline 52, Entiat 22

ENTIAT — Almira/Coulee-Hartline led 38-0 at halftime and cruised to a win over Entiat 52-22.

Maguira Isaak totaled six touchdowns, three through the air and three on the ground, in the blowout victory.

Parker Zappone caught touchdown passes of 37 and 68 yards from Isaak.