Heartbreak at Art Dawald - By Garrett Mills

    Anyone that is around sports knows that it is hard to beat a team three times in a season. The two MCC powerhouses meet again and the winner goes to the district championship. It was a close game all the way through, but Chiwana came through victorious 69-66. The Riverhawks are now in the state playoffs. For Richland, it is a different story. Coach Earl Streufert said in a postgame interview with Atomic TV “I've been on both ends of this game. I've gone into tournaments as the four or sixth seed and beat the number one team, for them to go get a trophy at state. That is our goal.” The Bombers have to win every game from here to stay alive, they play Hanford on Thursday. 

    Richland has beat the Riverhawks in both of their matchups in the regular season first 85-63 and 69-55. The two student sections were fired up from the beginning, ready for a great matchup. Some key players from both sides are Josh Woodard and Donvan Young. 

Photo courtesy of Megan DeGraaf (RHS Yearbook).

    Young wins the tip over and easily goes down to score the night's first points. Jack Forbes is quick to respond with a mid-range jumper. Throughout the first quarter, it was a good defensive battle. With three minutes and 55 seconds left in the first quarter, Richland calls their first timeout. The score is 9-8 with the bombers leading. Neither team had scored in 2 minutes. Each student's sections were quiet, longing for someone to score. Another minute went by and Young made a 3. Richland had many shooting fouls, letting the Riverhawks capitalize on second-chance points. At the buzzer, Jordan Valencia made an easy layup to increase the Bombers' lead to 19-15. 

    With the start of the second quarter, the Bombers seemed ready for more. Good looks by Woodard and Landon Northrop's shots began to fall. Richland had some momentum going their way. Chiawana called a timeout down 25-17 to try to slow down the Bombers. At the end of the first half, it was the Bomber 35, Chiawana 28. Even though Richland was up by seven the vibe in the air seemed like they were down. 

Photo courtesy of Megan DeGraaf (RHS Yearbook).

    The third quarter was underway and Chiwana was off to a hot start with a three by Dion Wright. The Hawks were in command of the ball- forcing a couple of turnovers, shrinking the Richland lead. The Riverhawks started the second half with a 10-0 run. The Bombers were scoreless for the first 5 minutes. The run was interrupted by Luke Westerfield, the Bomber's big man. Later in the quarter, Jordan found Jase Vopalensky underneath the hoop. Jase put it up with his left hand and got fouled in the process. The and 1 sent the crowd into a frenzy. With Jase making the free throws this looked like the break the Bombers needed. On the next drive, Jordan created a turnover and forced a foul, he made both free throws. The quarter came to a close and it was a small Richland lead of 46-44. 

    For the Bombers a couple of bad calls and missed shots they still found their way to leading 52-49. With 4 minutes left in the fourth Cade Smith found DJ Duran for a wide-open three. With a minute left in the game, Westerfield slams down a monster dunk, but Young went right down the court, making a sky hook. Now the Bombers found themselves trailing 62-61. With 20 seconds left, Woodard drove into the lane getting fouled in the process, he made both, and they still trail 65-63. Mason Castillo finds Young wide-open for a great dunk. Vopalensky inbounds the ball to Woodard who drives down and sinks a three with 4.2 seconds left. After a Riverhawk inbound Bombers foul Young, he makes both. The game is 69-66 Riverhawks. The Bombers with one last opportunity get the ball to Woodard, he shoots a three and it barely comes up short. With the buzzer sounding Chiwana won with their leading scorer Donovan Young who had 24. The Bombers' leading scorer was the big man Westerfield who had 18. 

Photo courtesy of Megan DeGraaf (RHS Yearbook).

    The Bombers next play their cross-town rival, the Hanford Falcons. In the two meetings before, Richland won both 106-40 and 91-39. Even with two huge wins by the Bomber, the Falcons are no one to look over. Hanford is just coming off a big win against Central Valley. As stated earlier, it is hard to beat a team three times. I talked to Vopalensky about the game and he said “We weren't playing to win, we were playing to not lose. None of us wanted it really bad. That game lit a fire in us because we know that isn't how we play. We all know our roles and we have no excuses. We tweaked some plays and we are hungry.” We have seen all season this team put games far out of reach that the opponent wasn't gonna come back. Chiawana came to play and they played great. They capitalized on turnovers and had quite a few second-chance points. On that Tuesday night this wasn't’ the Bomber team that the student section was familiar with seeing. Thursday at 7 pm the Bombers play at home versus Hanford, where Richland is looking to bounce back.