CWAC football: Time for losing is over

With the Central Washington Athletic Crossovers and Championship Game just a month off, the time for losing is over.

Ellensburg fell off the grid a year ago with an 0-4 start and East Valley wasn’t in the picture, leaving Ephrata and Othello to slug it out for the two top spots and the chance to advance to the Glue Crossovers and the 2A state tournament.

For the time being, the Bulldogs (1-2-1, 1-0 CWAC North) and the Red Devils (2-2, 0-0) are still in the 2018 conversation, so Friday night’s game between CWAC-leading Othello and Ephrata at Kiwanis Field is a critical juncture for whoever moves on.

A year ago, Ephrata (1-3, 1-0) went into the Othello match-up with an unblemished 4-0 record, having beaten Ellensburg for the first time in 10 years. The Huskies were 2-2, as they are at this point in 2018. The Huskies took sole possession of the CWAC North with the victory and advanced to the CWAC championship against Selah. Ephrata did take the second seed in the CWAC North and ended up fourth with a loss to Prosser in the third-place game.

The time for losing’s over.

The South Division is where the power is at with four teams at 3-1 overall going into this week. Toppenish and Prosser, which beat Selah last week, go into the week 1-0 in the conference, while Grandview will take its place in the South pecking order this week against the Mustangs.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it’s a whole different dogfight this season in the CWAC North with Ellensburg’s victory over Ephrata last week. The Bulldogs started the season 0-2-1, but opened the CWAC schedule with their first victory to remain in second place. Othello ran away from Quincy (1-2, 0-1) in its CWAC opener and now hosts Ephrata with a chance to gain some separation.

It’s a little early, but Friday Night Lights at Husky Stadium is big. Huskies running backs Isaac Barragan (12-128) and Isaiah Perez (11-91) combined for 219 yards rushing and brought Othello power running back to the fold against Quincy. On the scoring front, Perez scored twice in the 43-0 one-sided win, while Steven Ochoa, Gage Pruneda, Logan Hollenback and Barragan had a touchdown apiece. Place kicker BJ Garza had five extra points.

On the flipside, the Tigers are finding success through the air. Quarterback Trenton Kleyn has a couple of stellar receivers in 6-foot-5 Josh Benthem and 6-4 Hunter James. The size advantage with the Tigers receivers will be the most challenging and most interesting matchups of the night for two teams that can ill afford to lose at this point in the season.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com