Mavericks earn first win of the year

EPHRATA — The Moses Lake Mavericks earned their first win of the 2022 campaign, defeating Ephrata on the road 21-14 on Friday night.

“Ephrata played a great football game,” Maverick head coach Brett Jay said. “Coach (Patrick) Mitchell, had them coached up. No. 4, Hendrick, he’s a dude, man. He made play after play.”

Moses Lake tight end/defensive end Tell Rathbun, receiver/defensive back Joel Middleton and running back/linebacker Jonah Robertson all reached the end zone in the win, with quarterback Travis Hendrick scoring both of Ephrata’s touchdowns.

Following a bad snap on fourth down for Ephrata, Moses Lake began their first offensive drive on the Ephrata 33-yard line. The Mavericks opened scoring with quarterback Brock Clark finding Rathbun in the right side of the end zone for a 7-0 lead after the converted extra point.

On the ensuing Tiger drive, Middleton ripped the ball out of an Ephrata receiver’s hands and returned the fumble 70 yards for a touchdown. After the extra point, Moses Lake held a 14-0 lead just under seven minutes into the first quarter.

“On that play, I was trying to get outside contain,” Middleton said. “I had him outside and he cut back in, he got in front of me, and I just went for the ball, stripped it, took it to the crib.”

After Maverick defensive back Carson Hightower picked off Hendrick, Hightower’s first of two interceptions on the night, Moses Lake drove down the field once again, where Robertson pummeled his way into the end zone. Moses Lake held a 21-0 advantage entering the half, but the Tigers weren’t finished.

“We made some mistakes in the first half that kind of hurt us, but to the team’s credit, they stayed together,” Mitchell said.

On the opening drive of the second half, Clark was sacked on back-to-back plays, stalling the drive deep in Maverick territory. Ephrata drove down the field and scored on a five-yard run by Hendrick, who had 37 rushing yards of his own on the drive. The Ephrata offense utilizes Hendrick’s speed on designed quarterback runs where Hendrick, a former running back, can make defenders miss.

“They were moving the ball pretty good, they played disciplined,” Middleton said. “We were up 21-0, and we weren’t disciplined enough.”

Down 21-7, Ephrata got the ball back late in the third quarter and drove down into the red zone, running the ball on eight of the nine plays of the drive. Hendrick found the end zone once again, this time from three yards out on a quarterback power play.

“We’ll build off of him as a thrower, and giving him some looks,” Mitchell said of his quarterback’s first start. “It’s his first full game starting at quarterback, and coming into it there’s the possibility of some growing pains, but his ability as a runner – forcing the defense to defend 11 players, is a tough thing to do.”

The Mavericks were able to move the ball inside the Ephrata 10-yard line, but failed to reach the end zone and turned the ball over on downs. The Tigers had the ball down by seven points and just over four minutes left to play. After three false start penalties, Hendrick scampered 18 yards for a first down near midfield.

“(We) challenged the kids at the beginning of the game, that they’re going to get a four-quarter slugfest against a good Moses Lake team,” Mitchell said. “It was gonna come down to the end, and it did – the kids fought hard like I knew they would.”

Three plays later it was fourth down for Ephrata, where Hendrick ran 41 yards to the Moses Lake four-yard line – however, the play was called back due to a holding penalty. On fourth-and-13, Hendrick’s pass fell incomplete and the Mavericks took over on downs, kneeling the clock out for a season-opening win.

“A win’s a win,” Jay said. “For us, it wasn’t pretty but our guys walked away with a win. Now what we’re going to do is go back to the drawing board and see what we got to do differently.”

Hendrick finished with 124 yards and two scores on the ground, throwing for an additional 44 yards passing. Clark threw for 109 yards and added eight yards rushing.

Moses Lake has its home opener against Kamiakin and Ephrata travels to Quincy next week. Both kickoffs are at 7 p.m.

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