Yeet! - By Sean Thonney

    There is no better way to come back from a loss than a win on the road. 2-0 was the final score for yesterday's game at Hermiston with your Richland Bombers on top. The first half was well-matched between the two teams, with the ball possession almost at an even split. It wasn’t until the near end of the first half that Richland brought out their usual energy. With 2 minutes to go in the first half outside defender Lucy Howard threw the ball in, just missing Bunnage but fortunately found Kukes. Kukes then attempted to send the ball forward and nailed an outstretched arm of a bulldog midfielder giving a free to the lady bombers. Emry Law stepped up with courage and took the shot unlucky missed the shot just high of the top left corner.
    To add to the excitement with the added time of the first half Richland lost possession giving the ball to Hermiston. As Hermiston sent the ball forward forcing Richland to recover back into defensive position. Emery Law took over and recovered the ball looking to drop the ball back to the Bomber's goalkeeper, Kenzie Christian. Unexpectedly Emry’s kick was too soft and Christian took matters into her own hands making a sliding kick, rocketing the ball all the way to the other side of the field to find one of last year's top scorers, Kylee Kukes. If it wasn’t for a questionable call by the referee just moments before Kukes smashed the ball into the net, the Bombers would have been up 1-0. Unfortunately, the ball was handed back over to the Hermiston Bulldogs as a result of a foul just before the excitement of sophomore Kylee Kukes. This was the Bombers' last chance at scoring in the first half.

    By the time the first half was over the crowd's energy was hysteric. The game had both fan bases on the edge of their seats eagerly waiting for the next half. The score was still a whopping 0-0 and who knew what side was going to come out on top with the win. During halftime, I asked a Richland fan if he would answer a couple of questions. He agreed only if he could be anonymous. The question was how he thought the game was going so far? He answered saying "Both teams are playing lethargic. Neither seems like they want to be here and the Bombers need to clean up the passing." The lady Bombers were having a hard time keeping their passes clean and keeping the ball in our possession. At the start of the second half, the energy spiked to an all-time high for the night. This was started by three bomber fans yelling “yeeet” every time the lady bombers would through in the ball. The group of three quickly expanded to about eleven fans. This little action may not have necessarily affected the girls any, but sure got the fans involved changing the vibe of the stands.

    Only two yellow cards were handed out during this game. Both went Richlands' way. The first one was in the second half towards the head coach Justin Almquist. Not exactly sure what was said but overheard him talking to the refs and they did not want to hear it. The second red card was handed to Niyah Gallegos. This was also for having unwanted conversations with the referees.

    It was not until about sixty-three minutes in when the Richland fans' energy took a turn when an amazing ball from Maddie Morasch split the Hermiston defenders to find Bella Bunnage on a perfectly timed run. Bunnage had a phenomenal shot drilling the left side netting giving the lady Bombers the lead 1-0 Bombers and got a boost of energy themselves with roughly only twenty minutes to go. After that head coach for the bombers shifted the formation from a 4-3-3 (four defenders, three mid-fielders, and three attackers) to a 4-2-4 (four defenders, two mid-fielders, and four attackers) But Bunnage was not done there. She would come back in the final seventy-fifth minutes to assist Kylie Kouches with the second goal to tie the knot on the lead. This gave the bombers a boost of energy, they were able to shut down the bulldogs and watch them fall apart.

    After the game, I talked with Richland's MacKenzie Thonney about how she thought the game went overall and she responded "It was a tougher game for sure. But the competition is good for us. Making us a better team all around and preparing us for what lies ahead in the future." This was interesting because there was talk of this game being a walk in the park for Richland. Clearly, that was not the case.


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