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Posted Oct. 3, 2002
Week 3: Kennewick
football celebrates
Week 2: When is too much?
Week 1: Kennewick volleyball spikes up
Kennewick football celebrates
By René Ferrán
Herald staff writer
Two lengthy Big Nine football streaks came to an end within minutes of each other Friday night.
While Walla Walla put the finishing touches on Pasco's 21-game conference winning streak, routing the Bulldogs 35-7 at Borleske Stadium, a couple hundred miles to the north, Kennewick held off Eastmont 31-28 to end the Lions' 20-game Big Nine losing streak.
"This was huge for us," said first-year coach Bill Templeton. "I'm looking at the kids after they're game, and some of them are crying, hugging one another. And to add to the celebration, we'd had some extra fundraising money, so we'd arranged to have pizzas ordered earlier in the week."
The Lions took the lead with 10 minutes left on Mark Mace's second touchdown pass of the game, this one to Ryan Looseveldt. They then stopped three successive Eastmont drives to try and tie or win the game.
"Both teams have struggled to get wins this year, so neither knew how to take control of the game," said Templeton, who watched his team come away without points three times inside the Wildcats 15. "Our kids just hung in there though and made some plays."
Kennewick's reward for its first win since Week 1 of the 2000 season is a game tonight against undefeated and 10th-ranked Moses Lake at Lampson Stadium. Having a short week to prepare for the Chiefs' triple-option attack isn't ideal, but the Lions have a little extra spring in their step following last week.
"We just want to come out and start off well," Templeton said. "The first three games, we buried ourselves in the first five minutes because of turnovers, and last week we didn't make any huge mistakes. If we can do that again (tonight) and make some plays, hopefully we'll be in position at the end to get a win."
No. 3 Mead, No. 4 Eisenhower and No. 5 Kamiakin will reprise their battle from last week's Sunfair Invitational, in which the teams were separated by just four points in finishing 2-3-4 behind Mount Spokane.
Typically, all four schools would be at Carmichael Middle School on Saturday afternoon, but with Sunfair having taken place last weekend and Richland not playing host to regionals this year, many top programs are skipping the Invite to rest their kids.
Mead's boys, for instance, won't be returning to try for a fourth straight 4A title, nor will Eastmont, which won the last three 3A girls titles. Twenty-three schools have committed to take part Saturday.
"The size of the Invite is down this year because many teams opted to go to Sunfair and have chosen to sit out our meet for recovery purposes," said Bombers coach Mike Mills, who serves as the meet director. "It's a little bit disappointing that the Big Nine schools are not supporting this meet like in the past. But in a way, it's kind of good because it allows other teams to come out from the shadows."
Mead's girls won the 4A title last year and return 2001 individual champion Jamie Geissler. Her toughest challengers will include Ike's Julie Baird and Molly Carmody, Kelsey McCallum of Edmonds-Woodway, Marysville-Pilchuck's Maryanne Hinks, Kristi Jensen and Kelly Turner of Kamiakin and Jennifer Kronvall of Pasco.
Kelso's boys are back to defend their 3A title and are led by Chris Rodriguez. He'll be challenged for individual honors by Robbie Barany of Eisenhower, Brian Hedengren of Richland, Woodinville's Mark Erickson and Arayer Gobena of Nathan Hale.
The first of the varsity flights starts at 11:30 a.m., with the top flight scheduled to run at 1:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Prior to the Invite, there will be a fun run at 8:30 a.m. Cost is $15, which includes a T-shirt.
After seeing her team win nine of its first 10 Big Nine matches, however, Hatley now has something to talk about.
After Tuesday's 15-7, 15-5, 10-15, 4-15, 15-13 victory over Eisenhower, the Bombers sit in second place in the conference's South Division, one game behind undefeated Walla Walla.
Last season Richland went 7-6 in the conference and was bounced in the first round of the district playoffs by Wenatchee. This season, with essentially the same team, they are contending for a conference championship.
Why?
"The girls are staying happy this year," Hatley said. "They are a true team. They are unselfish, they don't whine about playing time and they respect each other. When you've got a group of kids this selfless, it's much easier. Everyone has a role, and they play that role very well."
Team captain Michele Frix said: "Winning is good, but it's more important for us to stay together and keep working hard. No matter what our record is, we'll be happy if we continue to play as hard as we did (Tuesday)."
But after upsetting No. 7 West Valley on Oct. 1 in Yakima and completing the first half of the Mid-Valley League season with one loss, the Greyhounds have shown their bite is no less sharp.
"We may have had an advantage before, but I don't think we're sneaking up on teams anymore," said coach John LaFever after Tuesday's three-game victory over Ellensburg improved Grandview's record to 11-1, 7-1 in MVL play.
LaFever's daughter, Orejeona, who won NWAACC player of the week honors last month, and Kara Gonzalez, now at Northwest Nazarene, were the leaders of last year's team that placed eighth at state.
This year's team features only one senior (Francine Andrews) in the starting lineup along with four juniors (Megan Metteer, Danica Pickel, Keitha Robertson and Teagan Johnston) and sophomore Danelle Cowan.
Along with its win over West Valley, the Greyhounds also boast a victory over No. 10 White River on the Hornets' court in the title match of their tournament.
"We start a very young lineup, but we knew we were tough enough to play good volleyball," LaFever said.
On Saturday the pool will be drained, and Monday, Apollo Construction will begin digging a new pool about 50 feet away from the current site that is scheduled to open in June.
The existing pool is being decommissioned because of structural problems - at the deep end there is a leakage problem where water drains itself out, said Kathy Piper, swimming coach for both Richland and Hanford.
Piper's squads will now be forced to practice at the Tri-City Court Club starting Monday and swim the rest of this season's meets on the road, both of which won't make Piper's job any easier.
"The club is working really hard to make sure we're accommodated, but when you go from a 20-lane pool to a four-lane pool, it will hurt us," she said during the last meet of the year at Prout on Tuesday. "In terms of going on the road, there's pros and cons, but we've been planning for it and working on a strategy."
There is no diving board at the club, but Piper said her divers might practice at Serier Pool in Kennewick.
While the existing pool features 20 racing lanes and a diving board, the new pool will have only six lanes and be about a third of the size of the existing pool, Piper said.
An issue to be decided is whether Walla Walla's swim team will have to forfeit diving points to the Bombers at a conference dual meet next week in Walla Walla. Those 13 points could decide what figures to be the meet to determine the conference champion.
Whitman College, where Wa-Hi holds its meets, removed its diving board several years ago, but the pool is deep enough to hold diving according to national federation rules. Piper contends because of this, Wa-Hi should have to forfeit the points to Richland.
The conference rules, however, state that if a school gives enough notice that it cannot hold diving events, the event will not be included in the meet point total.
Other topics on the agenda include a Big Nine proposal to have both leagues create district qualifiers to next year's regional cross country meet; whether to continue a combined 3A/4A regional track meet past this year; and the number draw to determine tiebreakers in fall sports.
Kissinger, who led the Eagles to a 15-11 record and a berth at the 2A state tournament in only his second season last year, did not discuss details about why he resigned, saying only, "There's still some stuff going on."
A reliable source at the high school, however, said Kissinger - who remains as a social studies teacher - resigned under pressure from several of the players' parents.
Athletic director Chuck Lee also declined comment about Kissinger's resignation. He said the school has begun the application process and hoped to fill the position within the next couple of weeks.
"We're going to try to make a good situation out of a bad one," Lee said.
The game-winning touchdown was scored after Bellevue blocked a field-goal attempt by Skyline. As the Wolverines began celebrating, the Spartans' Jake Randolph picked up the live ball and ran 15 yards into the end zone.
Bellevue, ranked sixth in the first poll, missed an 18-yard field goal
that would have won the game in the first overtime.
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