Prosser, Othello, River View get off to winning starts in regional football

There were plenty of highlights from the smaller schools this past weekend in the Mid-Columbia high school football contests, starting with Prosser beating visiting Sunnyside 29-23 in overtime.

Gayge Thiemann, a fullback transfer from Idaho, rambled 13 yards for a touchdown in the OT to give Prosser the victory.

Mustangs QB Kory McClure passed for 209 yards, while Ethan Avalos passed for 254 yards and three touchdowns for the Grizzlies.

Here are the rest of this past weekend’s high school football scores:

OTHELLO 27, CONNELL 20: The host Huskies should be one of the better 2A teams in the state this season.

Connell opened the Scott Forsyth era down 20-0 at one point before rallying.

The Eagles’ Carson Lloyd passed for 179 yards and three TDs in the loss, while Jackson Forsyth rushed for 82 yards on 10 carries.

Kellen Riner added 9 receptions for 74 yards for Connell, while Max Andersen led the Eagles defensively with 11 tackles.

ROYAL 35, TOPPENISH 7: The Knights began defense of their 1A state title with a rout of the Wildcats.

Lance Allred had a monster game (see below) for Royal, while Case Christensen added 7 catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

Middle linebacker Jared Lee led the Knights defensively with 13 tackles.

GRANDVIEW 20, WAHLUKE 9: Nate Montes De Oca paced the host Greyhounds with 131 yards rushing on 16 carries for two touchdowns in the non-league win.

RIVER VIEW 48, KIONA-BENTON 6: Karson Rawlings dominated on the ground (see below) and quarterback Hyatt Clark made his starting debut, going 12 for 16 for 153 yards passing and two TD passes, as the Panthers routed the visiting Bears.

Other scores

College Place 43, Weston-McEwen 21

DeSales 32, Tekoa-Rosalia 0

Liberty Christian 38, Pomeroy 26

Okanogan 47, Columbia-Burbank 7

Sunnyside Christian 46, Dayton 14

Tri-Cities Prep 42, Umatilla 0

Waitsburg 50, Touchet 20

Warden 39, White Swan 8

5 players who caught my eye Week 1

▪ Lance Allred, Royal. Every year, someone new steps forward to lead the way for Royal, a three-time state 1A champion.

This time it’s the junior, who takes over at quarterback. Allred had 218 yards passing with two TD strikes, and he rushed for 166 yards and two more scores, as the Knights routed Toppenish 35-7.

▪ David Kuku, Kamiakin. I give Chiawana credit for throwing the defensive back’s way. It was courageous. As it was, the junior had 4 tackles (1 for loss), an interception, two pass breakups, and a cover in the Braves’ 20-13 overtime win.

▪ Carter Poland, Kamiakin. Team player.

This guy stepped in at quarterback last season when starter Trent Woodhouse went down with a knee injury in Week 1. And he led the team to the postseason.

So where does he go this year with Woodhouse back at starter? Kamiakin coach Scott Biglin asked him that.

“He said ‘Coach, I want to play everywhere,’” said Biglin.

Poland caught the game-tying TD pass in regulation, had two catches for 15 yards, played in the secondary and had three tackles and a pass breakup, punted, kicked and kicked off.

In other words, he’s the Braves’ new Payton Graham (who played a few years ago).

“He’s made us a better football team,” said Biglin. “I know he was disappointed about not playing quarterback. But he’s all about winning.”

▪ Karson Rawlings, River View. The Panthers routed Kiona-Benton 48-6 on Friday night, and a big contributor is this sophomore. He carried the ball 14 times for 153 yards rushing, scoring two TDs.

Rawlings also caught two passes for 34 yards.

Seems like Kris Welch has a solid young backfield, especially when you add new quarterback Hyatt Clark.

▪ Shaun Youngblood, Kennewick. I love defense and special teams. This junior caught my eye easily on Thursday night in the Lions’ 59-14 win over Pasco.

He was Kennewick’s gunner, or headhunter, on kickoffs. That means he sprints downfield as fast as possible on the kickoff and either breaks up the other team’s blocking wedge or — more importantly — finds the ball carrier.

Youngblood did that at least three times, providing a solid tackle each time that elicited ooh’s and ahh’s from the crowd — including myself.

Dust Devils on the move

When the Los Angeles Angels surprisingly dropped a number of veterans last week, it was obvious that there were going to be some corresponding moves up the Angels farm system.

This week, for example, former Tri-City Dust Devils shortstop Kyren Paris got called up to the big club from Double-A Rocket City.

Others called up the ladder to Triple-A Salt Lake City from Double-A Rocket City were pitchers Nick Jones, Robinson Pina and Kenyon Yovan — all former Dust Devils.

A number of Dust Devils were sent up to Rocket City on Friday: pitchers Michael Darrell-Hicks, Sammy Natera Jr., Bryce Osmond, Dylan Phillips, Hayden Seig, and Willian Suarez; as well as infielders Adrian Placencia and Arol Vera.

In Rocket City, they’ll join former Dust Devils outfield D’Shawn Knowles, who was promoted Aug. 22.

Now, the problem lies with Inland Empire, the Angels’ Low-A affiliate in the California League. The 66ers are involved in the league playoffs. So those players stay there.

That means the Dust Devils will give an opportunity this week to Angels players from the Arizona Complex League: shortstop Caleb Ketchup (who had been here earlier this season); pitchers Keythel Key, Haminton Mendez, Andre Sanchez, Will Sandy and Cam Tullar; as well as outfielder Erik Rivera.

It’s likely that a number of these newcomers will be playing at Gesa next year too, so here’s a chance to see them before the season ends.

This week’s series — the final series of the season — against the Vancouver Canadians runs Tuesday through Sunday.

A reminder that all start times this week will be at 6:30 p.m.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.