Othello survives a Toppenish upset bid on the gridiron
Kyler Villarreal ripped of a 65-yard touchdown run with 5:38 left in the fourth quarter and the Huskies dodged a huge bullet with a 29-25 come from behind win over the Toppenish Wildcats in Othello Friday.
It was a back and forth battle on senior night in Huskie Stadium. Othello landed the first blow off an 80-yard opening drive on the games first possession when Villarreal hit pay dirt on an 8-yard scamper (Patrick Azevedo kick).
The Huskies looked poised to post another six on the board in the waning minutes in the first quarter off a fake punt by Villarreal on fourth and four at the Wildcat 26 yard line who advanced the pigskin to the Huskie 49. But a deep pass by Villarreal was intercepted at the 15 and returned to the Othello 29 with 45 seconds to go.
Moments later Wildcat quarterback Adonis Shaul unleashed a perfect spiral to a streaking Isaac Perez who raced 71 yards for the score and stunned the home crowd. The PAT was wide right and Othello led 7-6.
Relying once again on the legs of Villarreal, the talented senior scored the first TD of the second quarter on a 5-yard run (PAT) and the Huskies gained a little breathing room, 14-6.
Unwilling to roll over, Toppenish executed a reverse on the ensuing kickoff to perfection returning the ball to midfield with a little over four minutes left in the half.
A couple of plays later Shaul launched another deep pass to Chris Grant who got behind the Othello cornerback and hauled it in for the score. The kick failed and the Huskies took a slim 2-point lead into the locker room at intermission.
Villarreal found the end zone for a third time to open second half scoring on a 23-yard run (PAT) to give Othello a two score lead, 21-12.
Back-to-back scores in the third and fourth quarter on TD passes from Shaul to Manuel Selan and Parker Reynolds erased the deficit and Toppenish turned the table on Othello, 25-21.
The Huskies answered back with the 65-yard run by Villarreal, and then held on for the win to send the Othello faithful home exhausted but feeling good.
The Huskies ground out 453 yards led by Villarreal who carried the ball 17 times for 200 yards. Trevor Hilmes toted the rock 28 times for 134. Perez finished with 18 carries and 114 yards.
The Othello air attack was grounded as Villarreal and DJ Guzman combined for a measly 12 yards.
The CWAC marbles are on the line Saturday in Grandview when Othello (3-1, 5-3) battles it out with Selah (7-0, 4-0) for the league championship. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. Both teams will advance to the 2A state tournament.
Ephrata (6-2, 3-1) takes on Prosser (6-2, 3-1) in the early game at 3:30 p.m. The winner hosts a yet to be determined GNL school on Nov. 4. The loser travels to the GNL.