Mavs remain undefeated

MOSES LAKE — Friday night’s game was yet another strong showing for the Moses Lake Mavericks, who improved to 8-0 with a 47-12 win over West Valley (Yakima) on senior night.

The Mavs and Rams were tied at six midway through the first quarter, but Moses Lake stepped on the gas to go up 33-6 at the half.

“Sometimes, whether it’s senior night and maybe there’s some extra emotion involved or any of that kind of stuff, can cause us to either come out flat or too amped up,” Moses Lake coach Brett Jay said. “We were able to get our guys back in the green light and rhythm pretty quickly there just through what we do.”

Sophomore quarterback Brady Jay completed 27 of 32 passes for 406 yards and seven touchdowns in the win, with five different Mavericks catching touchdowns; seniors Joel Middleton, Kyson Thomas, Caleb Jones and Jonah Robertson, and sophomore Carson Huberdeau.

“It was nice to complete passes at a high percentage, it was nice to spread the ball out to a lot of different guys — I think four or five different receivers caught touchdowns,” Jay said. “That makes the defense cover the entire field, that makes them stay balanced. They’ve got to cover all these different dudes because we’ve got guys that can score.”

Moses Lake had just three rushing attempts on Friday night, which Jay said stemmed from taking what the defense gave them.

“We just take what we think works best depending on our opponent and our matchups,” Jay said. “Really, it comes down to how do we get our guys the ball, as many different guys as we can, in space. We don’t really care if it’s a run or a pass. We like to get all of our skill guys touches, that’s the key.”

Friday night was also the fourth-straight game that the Maverick defense has held an opponent to 14 or fewer points, the seventh time they’ve done so this season.

Along with preparation, Jay credits the defense’s success to playing as one unit.

“Coming together as a defensive unit has been the key, whether it’s different schematics and fundamentals complementing each other,” Jay said. “You’ve got your d-line, your linebackers and defensive backs and they’re all on different levels; when they’re complimenting each other, regardless of what scheme you run, it’s pretty tough to move the ball on teams with defenses like that.”

Columbia Basin Big 9 play comes to an end this week and the Mavs travel to East Wenatchee for a matchup against the undefeated Eastmont Wildcats on Friday night, who are averaging nearly 34 points per game while holding opponents to just over 10 points per game.

The run-heavy Wildcats have gained more than 2,200 yards on the ground this season, reaching the end zone 26 times in the run game according to MaxPreps. Eastmont averages 285.5 rushing yards per game this season.

Leading the charge out of the Wildcat backfield is senior running back Gunnar Peterson, who had rushed for 1,318 yards and 11 touchdowns this season according to MaxPreps.

“They run the Wing-T, and they run it really well — as good as anyone around,” Jay said. “Their defensive system is fantastic as well.”

Last year’s meeting between the Mavericks and Wildcats saw Moses Lake overcome a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take a 35-31 lead in the final minute.

Eastmont went on to win the game on a Hail Mary, which was deflected by a Maverick defensive back before being caught by Wildcat senior Adrian Ruffins for a 57-yard walkoff touchdown.

“I don’t think you could ever forget a play like that, that’s as wild as it gets,” Jay said.

Moses Lake and Eastmont kick off at 7 p.m. in East Wenatchee on Friday.

“This is a whole new year, whole new team. We’re excited for this year’s opportunity to play them,” Jay said.

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