Tigers grab 20-17 win in OT

EPHRATA — With the game in overtime, the Prosser Mustangs leading 17-14 and the Ephrata Tigers down to their last couple of chances, Ephrata quarterback Travis Hendrick took the snap.

The football bounced away on the wet turf.

Kiwanis Field was in pandemonium, players from both teams were scrambling for the ball, but Hendrick got there first. He scooped up the ball, ran out to the left and threw downfield. Running back Hudson Sager was in the end zone and caught the pass for a touchdown and a 20-17 overtime win for Ephrata.

“It wasn’t the perfect throw, but (Sager) made the perfect catch,” Hendrick said after the game. “... I just try to keep calm.”

The winning touchdown came after the Tigers converted a long fourth down; Coach Patrick Mitchell opted not to try for a game-tying field goal. It was starting to rain, and Mitchell said field conditions played a part in his decision.

And besides, he liked the Tigers’ chances.

“We want to put it with our guy,” he said. “And our guy is number 4.”

The Tigers are 4-4 for the season and 3-2 in the Central Washington Athletic Conference. Two of their CWAC losses were by one point, one on the last play of the game and the other in overtime.

“We’ve been on the other end of that a couple of times this year,” Mitchell said.

Even with the disappointments, the Tigers have kept fighting, he said.

“Never give up,” he told the team in the postgame huddle.

The first half was dominated by the defenses, and the game was 0-0 at the half.

“Good defense on both sides,” Mitchell said.

Both sides suffered from penalties, including a remarkable sequence in the first half where Ephrata was faced with a first down and about 35 yards to go after a series of penalties. Ensuing penalties gained back all the yardage and left them with a first-and-10 at the spot where they started the drive. Prosser’s Isaac Kernan intercepted a pass from Hendrick, but the play was disallowed on offsetting penalties. But neither team could generate much offense until late in the third quarter.

Hendrick scored for Ephrata on a one-yard run with 2:33 left in the third quarter. Prosser was moving downfield when Mustang quarterback Kory McClure threw a pass downfield that Hendrick intercepted and returned 21 yards to the one-yard line. He scored on a one-yard run.

The Tigers were in a coverage they don’t play much in practice, Hendrick said of the interception. He went with his instinct.

“When I see the ball coming, I just go for it,” he said.

The Tigers had a 14-0 lead at the end of the third quarter, but Prosser came back early in the fourth. Nehemiah Medrano scored on a 30-yard run with 11:46 left in the game. Medrano scored again, on a one-yard with 56 seconds left to tie the game. The Mustangs were stopped on their first drive in overtime but kicked a field goal to take the 17-14 lead.

Mitchell acknowledged it got a little intense toward the end.

“I lost a couple years off my life,” Mitchell told the team in the postgame huddle.

The Tigers are tied for second in the CWAC with Prosser, East Valley (Yakima) and Ellensburg. Ephrata finishes the regular season at Ellensburg Friday.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columibabasinherald.com.