MOSES LAKE — There were talks of high-flying offense and big wins on last week’s episode of the STUDIO BASIN podcast, as Sports Reporter Ian Bivona was joined by Moses Lake football head coach Brett Jay as well as his son Brady Jay, Moses Lake’s starting quarterback.

The trio recapped the Mavs’ 8-2 year, an improvement on last year’s 6-4 mark.

“We won six games the year before, got to 6-1 at one point and slid a little bit at the end,” Brett Jay said on the STUDIO BASIN podcast. “Guys were hungry, both the coaches and players were really excited to build off that. I just liked the fact that no one was content with winning six games.”

After an off-season of hitting the field with teammates once a week and competing in seven-on-seven tournaments to create chemistry for the upcoming year, it didn’t take long for Brady Jay to get acclimated to being the full-time starter for Moses Lake. In his first start of the 2023 season against Ephrata, a 58-3 win, he completed 24 of 31 passes for 266 yards and six touchdowns, three of which went to receiver Joel Middleton.

“I got the first-game jitters out in the first game, and then we just started winning games and we kept going,” Brady Jay said. 

The Sept. 1 win set the tone early for Moses Lake's first eight weeks of the season; after a close 15-14 win on the road against Kamiakin the next week, Moses Lake averaged 47.6 points per game against Eisenhower, Central Valley, Wenatchee, Davis, Sunnyside and West Valley (Yakima), while holding their opponents to 14 points per game over that span.

A talented skill position group allowed for Brady Jay to find open receivers, he said.

“We had such explosive receivers, so you just get the ball to them and they’d make plays,” Brady Jay said. “And, we’ve got good running backs.”

Moses Lake’s receiving corps consisted of seniors Kyson Thomas, Joel Middleton, Hayden Throneberry, Keston Roylance and Caleb Jones, running a spread offense that allowed receivers to find separation against defenders.

“Having weapons at each position makes the defense stay balanced,” Brady Jay said. “It allows us, and Brady, to take what they give you. You can’t cover everything at one, and if we have a weapon at every position, somebody’s going to be open based on what they do.”

Early in the season, Moses Lake’s offensive line was a young unit; from left to right, the Mavs had two sophomores at left tackle and left guard, a freshman at center, a junior at right guard and a freshman at right tackle. Moses Lake only surrendered two sacks this season, Brett Jay said. The first one didn’t come until Week 7.

“That’s unheard of for me, and it says a lot to our offensive line coaches that they were able to get those guys up to speed, and the courage (the players had),” Brett Jay said. “You’re able to step in on the offensive line at such a young age, and it allowed our skill guys to really take off.”

The pass-heavy approach to the season began during the off-season when coaches went through the 2022 campaign and saw what was working on the field while taking a look at which players would be back for another year in the maroon and gold. With experience returning at skill positions, plus a younger offensive line, a quick passing approach was determined. 

“Let’s take the pressure off of our o-line in trying to create run lanes by distributing the ball to our receivers,” Brett Jay said. “I knew Brady was ready for it, so that was what got that going. What happens is defenses will start dropping – we’ve seen defenses start dropping nine this year. I hadn’t experienced that before.”

Moses Lake’s high-powered offense lit up the scoreboards and was the catalyst for the 8-0 start to the year. Brett Jay said the “process” the team went through each week allowed the team to stay consistent throughout the regular season.

“It was the systematic approach we took to it,” Brett Jay said. “Week in and week out, from Saturday morning breaking down the next opponent until Friday kickoff. We created a nice approach, and both offensively and defensively, it’s a lot of fun that way. We try to have a session for everything we do from that Saturday morning until kickoff on Friday.”

“We just never got satisfied, and stuck to the process,” Brady Jay added. 

Week 9 saw the Mavs travel to East Wenatchee for a matchup with Eastmont, where both teams met with 8-0 records and with the Columbia Basin Big 9 title on the line. Moses Lake found success moving the ball on offense but red zone struggles let the Wildcats walk away with a 35-8 victory and the Big 9 title.

Moses Lake went 1-4 in the red zone against Eastmont.

“Our opportunities were there,” Brett Jay said. “A couple of different play calls here, a couple of different play calls there, maybe finishing this run there. It’s a million things — it’s not anyone in particular’s (fault), we don’t believe in any sort of blame game. We’re just going, ‘How could we have finished those?’”

Despite the loss, Moses Lake still had a shot to qualify for the 4A State Football Tournament the next week in a crossover game against Chiawana, whose strong defense came to play early; the Riverhawks took advantage of early Maverick turnovers to lead 28-6 at the break, later winning the game 49-32 after an attempted Moses Lake comeback got the Mavs back within 10 points late in the fourth quarter.

“It took us a minute to get adjusted to it, and we threw some picks there — you can’t turn it over, especially in big games like that,” Brett Jay said. “We dug ourselves a hole, but then we got going. We put up 32 points against them, the most they’d given up the whole year. Threw for 406 yards. We ended up rolling, we just dug ourselves too big of a hole.”

Brady Jay finished the year completing 258 of 375 attempts for 3251 yards and 48 touchdowns, but threw 16 interceptions.

“I don’t want to throw as many interceptions next year, and we’ve got to win games down the stretch,” Brady Jay said. 

Brett Jay credited the team’s 20 seniors for the success the team found in 2023, setting a high bar for future years.

“I think that next group got a taste of that, and our seniors set the bar as high as it’s been; to be 8-0, ranked top-five in the state, it’s definitely (a testament to) their leadership,” Brett Jay said. “We’re grateful for that. The message to our young guys is they raised the bar that high — 21 wins in three years — and now it’s your time to take it to the next phase.”

Moses Lake will look to return to the 4A state tournament for the first time since 2021 next fall.

“Offensively we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing,” Brett Jay said. “40-plus a game, we threw for 48 touchdowns this year — that’s the most I’ve experienced as a head coach in 15 years. We’re going to keep putting the pressure on every angle we can … defensively, we’re going to get more takeaways next year. That’s been a goal of ours the last couple of years.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Moses Lake senior Joel Middleton, right, catches a pass against West Valley (Yakima).
  

    Moses Lake senior Kyson Thomas, left, stiff-arms an Eastmont defender to fight for extra yards.
  

    Moses Lake junior Tommy Ransom Jr. (21) carries the football against Chiawana.