Othello’s ground game leads to high-scoring win streak

OTHELLO – The Othello Huskies have been lighting up the scoreboards as of late, averaging close to 56 points per game in their previous four matchups against Selah, Grandview, Prosser and Ellensburg.

“We all bought in, I think we all think we can go far in state,” sophomore offensive lineman Mason Perez said. “Everyone’s been working really hard and bringing a lot more effort into it.”

Othello, 6-1, has used their ground-and-pound style of offense to propel themselves into first place in the Central Washington Athletic Conference with two weeks remaining in the regular season.

“We’ve got so many weapons on that side of the ball, we’re really difficult to defend,” Othello defensive coordinator Kevin Hale said.

After a Week 2 loss to Royal, the Huskies bounced back with a road win over Ephrata. Receiver Sonny Asu caught a last-second touchdown from quarterback Maddox Martinez for a 14-13 win over the Tigers, sparking Othello’s five-game win streak. Since then Othello defeated Selah 70-7, Grandview 70-0, Prosser 28-17 and Ellensburg 55-7. Othello offensive lineman Giovanni Love said that a focused mentality on gamedays has led to the recent offensive success.

“I think it’s been the attitude on gamedays,” Love said. “We take it pretty serious, if someone’s not we have our team leaders get on the players that aren't and make sure everyone’s accountable for getting the job done.”

Love, a senior, said that the offensive line play has improved since the 2021 season.

“Going from this year to last year, our offensive line has been doing all their jobs better,” he said. “I don’t think we make as many mistakes, and when we do we seem to fix them.”

The improved line play has allowed the four-headed run game to strive this season, with the Huskies rushing for 1,250 yards in the past four games.

“You gotta tackle a guy that’s really fast and hard to get to, Alex (Mendez); you got a guy that’s really fast and big, Sonny; then you got a guy that’s just a truck, Julian (Alegria); and then you’ve got just like a steamroller in Terrill (Freeman),” Hale said. “Good luck trying to tackle those guys all game long.”

Mendez said that the offensive line’s play makes it easy for the senior back.

“It’s too easy,” Mendez said. “Every time you hit the hole, all you see is green.”

Along with the run game, Othello has other offensive weapons in a strong receiving corps.

“When Sonny goes out and plays receiver, you have to go and respect it,” Hale said. “But then we’ve got (Mendez), we’ve got Adriel (Deleon), we’ve got T.J. Murdock, Collin Simmons. We’ve got guys, we’ve got weapons all over the place.”

Despite all the weapons the Huskies have on offense, Hale said that the heart of the team is still their ground-and-pound style of offensive football.

“It’s still, on the offensive side, Roger Hoell-Othello football,” Hale said. “That’s who we are and that’s what we do, we take that team execution and it’s our identity. It’s Othello football, and it’s what we want to do.”

The Huskies defense has complemented the offense through this four-game span, allowing under eight points per game. Hale said that Othello runs a 4-2-5 nickel defensive scheme and that the players have gained familiarity with running it over the years.

“The defense is simple, but our execution is pretty darn good,” Hale said. “These guys have been in this system, this is the third year that we’ve run it, and I’ve got a big group of seniors (that) just know their responsibility.”

Othello claimed the lead in the CWAC with its win over Prosser two weeks ago, and now only have one league game remaining this season when they host 6-1 East Valley in two weeks.

“Since freshman year we’ve been good and been doing well,” Freeman said. “We’ve seen the potential in each other and seen each other perform and how good each other are. We just want to show this year what exactly we’re able to do.”

On Friday, Othello travels to 3A Kelso to face off against the 5-2 Hilanders. Hale said that Kelso plays a similar style to Othello offensively, and is a ground-game dominant team.

“It’s probably going to be the shortest game in modern history with all the running going on,” Hale joked. “That’s going to be a fun one.”

Playing a class above will prepare the Huskies for competitive playoff games, Mendez said.

“I’m really excited because I know they’re a good team and I know it’ll be pretty close,” Mendez said. “That’s something we need because it’s going to be like that in the playoffs, and we need to know how we’re going to reach when we’re in that situation.”

Kickoff between the Huskies and Hilanders is at 6 p.m. on Friday.

“The last couple weeks have been good, but this week we’ve got a really, really high-quality opponent,” Hale said. “We expect a real battle on Friday.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.