Dogfight in the Pit - By Andre Ang
Through Richland’s infamous coaching, the Bomber football program has continuously been a powerhouse in the Mid Columbia Conference. They seem to be the team to beat in the MCC. Neighboring teams in town have always had a longing goal of beating the Bombers in hopes of temporarily putting an end to arrogance that has been described by rival schools. The Chiawana Riverhawks had this opportunity Friday night when they beat the Bombers in a back-and-forth matchup 39-27.
Bombers with a 10-14 at the start of the 2nd quarter. Photo courtesy of Megan DeGraaf (RHS Yearbook).
Last year, Richland went head to head with the Riverhawks at Fran Rish, which resulted in a major defensive battle. The Bombers ended up blanking the highly touted Chiawana offense, led by J.P. Zamora, who now plays with Washington State, 14-0. With the new quarterback for this Chiawana offense, DJ Duran, there were doubts that he could not fill the shoes of their star from last year. This past Friday night, he stomped these doubts by throwing for 198 yards and two touchdowns. This year’s matchup was the complete opposite of the previous one. Struggling to make defensive stops, the Bombers let up 39 points.
Bombers take the field at Edgar Brown Stadium.
DJ Duran started the game off quickly, shooting a bullet through the hands of Kade Smith and into the hands of Marco Elizondo, who took it to the house for six. After, the Bombers swiftly responded by driving down the field with their short passing game. The drive finished with a nine-yard fade to Tanner Schuster from Josh Woodard, causing the student section to “go bananas”.
The student section for Richland is a big part of Bomber tradition, which typically results in large turnouts for any game. But at Edgar Brown Stadium, the Richland student section was packed and appeared in a sea of white. They continued to roar all game, and there seemed to be battles between both Chiawana’s student section and Richland’s.
'White Out/White Lies' was the crowd theme for the RHS visiting crowd.
The true success of Chiawana’s offense was their running game. In the first quarter, the Bombers prevented the pass game by applying pressure, so they needed to find a way to get their offense going. So, they established the run game early with their RB1, Ian Mohl, who ended up having a monster game with 227 rushing yards and one touchdown. The Riverhawks responded to the Bomber’s first Schuster score by running the ball down the field and kicking a field goal.
Then, the most spectacular play I have ever seen in high school football happened. After the field goal, Chiawana kept chanting, “We can’t hear you!” The visiting Bomber crowd had no response, so senior Seth Shook took matters into his own hands. Chiawana’s kicker had a decently deep kick, all the way to the seven-yard line where Seth caught the ball. He made a couple of cuts, shaking off defenders, and made his way up the field, where he received even more blockers. He gets through the last defender, and the crowd goes into a frenzy.
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Seth Shook with a kick return touchdown. Photo courtesy of Megan DeGraaf (RHS Yearbook).
At the end of the first quarter, the score is 14-10. The second quarter was a dogfight. Both defenses are out for blood and quickly rally to the ball each time someone has it. Both defensive lines were solid in this quarter and forced each other to punt on almost every drive. But before the half, Chiawana runs the ball down the field, and Braxton Feldmann runs it in from the fourteen-yard line.
In the second half, the Bombers struggled to find their groove on offense. This Chiawana defense seemed prepared as they stumped most of their plays and forced them to punt. Richland’s run game struggled most of the second half, and almost nothing seemed to be working. This was the opposite for Chiawana, as they were able to create two successful drives, which resulted in a touchdown and a field goal with a score of 14-26 in favor of the Riverhawks.
In the fourth quarter, the Bombers decided to turn things around. Against talented teams, the Bombers don’t seem to turn things up until crunch time. The Richland crowd needed something to cheer about. A couple of fans began to yell at some opposing players, specifically Kade Smith. Feeling ‘the love’ from Richland fans and their 14-26 lead, he gave the student section a heart with his hands. On the next play, freshman Brody Bocek blazes past him and catches a twenty-eight-yard pass, igniting the crowd. During their two-point conversion, a holding penalty forced the Bombers to unsuccessfully try to convert from the thirteen-yard line. With momentum now, kicker Jason Slack kicks a deep one, the ball gets muffed by the returner, and the Bombers recover on the four-yard line. They score the next play with a run by Landon Charlton and are now up 27-26.
Richland kicking off in the fourth quarter. Photo courtesy of Megan DeGraaf (RHS Yearbook)
In less than a minute after the RHS touchdown, another extraordinary play occurred. Running back Ian Mohl gets wrapped up and almost tackled but lands on a defender’s back and goes all the way to the end zone for a 71-yard touchdown. This play changed the tide of the game, and when Richland tried to respond, they could not succeed. A bullet from Josh Woodard went through the hands of Seth Shook and into the defender’s for an interception. This essentially marked the end for the Bombers and was capped off by another touchdown for the Riverhawks. With this disappointing loss, Richland is now 3-1 and Chiawana moves up to 4-0.
The Chiawana Riverhawks had been studying and working the entire week relentlessly to prepare for this battle. After previously beating Kamiakin in overtime last week, they came with momentum and were ready to keep their win streak going. According to Kade Smith, Riverhawk’s wide receiver and defensive back, this game was different. Players showed up that Friday morning to school, locked in and ready for a fight. He mentioned that the majority of his teammates were not acting like their usual selves. They became so focused before the matchup that they did not talk to anyone and had one goal in mind; Beating the Richland Bombers.
This rivalry had run deeper than that of Kamiakin, and Chiawana was out for blood. Kade also claims that the team he really wanted to beat the most was the Bombers, and it has always been that way, even growing up. Opponents around the conference seem to hate Richland utterly due to their historical success in athletics. Now, it is Richland versus the world.
