MOSES LAKE — Down 28-6 at the half, Moses Lake was able to put points on the board and cut the deficit to 10 points in the fourth quarter, but the Chiawana Riverhawks made key plays down the stretch to defeat the Mavs 49-32 at Lions Field on Friday night.

Chiawana bled the clock out by converting on fourth-and-short late in the game, then returned an interception for a touchdown on Moses Lake’s penultimate drive. 

“We started the game out in red light, for sure, but we challenged our guys at halftime and they showed their character,” Moses Lake coach Brett Jay said. “We have a great locker room of young men, and the fact they came back and fought and made it a 10-point game in the fourth quarter says everything about who they are and what our program’s about. Just couldn’t quite get past it.”

Maverick senior Kyson Thomas caught a screen pass on the opening play of the third quarter, then scampered past the Riverhawk defense for a 65-yard touchdown. Moses Lake added two more scores in the third quarter, with senior Hayden Throneberry and sophomore Carson Huberdeau catching touchdowns from 10 and six yards out, respectively. Senior Joel Middleton caught a 10-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to make the score 42-32 in favor of Chiawana.

“Character, the ability to not roll over,” Jay said. “It’s who we are, it’s who our kids are. We’ve got great kids, and the fact that they took it as a challenge — they just started slowing it down for themselves and really getting through our progression.”

Despite finding success moving the ball on offense, Moses Lake struggled to stop Chiawana’s physical run game throughout the night. Riverhawk running back Hunter Taylor ran for over 250 yards and four touchdowns.

“We couldn’t stop the run, and that’s on me,” Jay said. “They’ve got some dudes up front who run block well, that running back ran well, ran hard and made it tough on us.”

“That was the gameplan, just try to keep the ball out of their hands and capitalize on those fourth downs, those third-and-shorts to keep them off the field,” Chiawana coach Scott Bond said. “The kids did a great job.”

Moses Lake got the ball back down by 10 with under three-and-a-half minutes remaining, but Chiawana linebacker Tayten Cissne intercepted Maverick quarterback Brady Jay and returned the ball for a touchdown, Cissne’s second pick-six of the night.

“You really can’t, unless you match it on the other side,” Brett Jay said of overcoming the turnovers. “In a big game, you can’t turn it over. We’ll keep fighting that battle.”

The Riverhawk defense intercepted four passes Friday night.

“We’re going to bring pressure, and I think they knew we were going to bring pressure so they were looking to get it out quick, so we were able to jump in some of those quick spots,” Bond said.

After punting on its opening possession, the next two Moses Lake drives ended with interceptions that set up the Riverhawks with a short field, which Chiawana used to build a 21-0 lead with under eight minutes remaining in the second quarter. The Mavs got on the board with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jay to senior Caleb Jones, but the Riverhawks scored on an interception returned for a touchdown with 3:07 left in the half.

“They’re just such a complicated defense, they do it so well,” Jay said. “It’s unique, we’ve only seen it one other time. It just causes chaos, it gets players in what we call red light; gets them spinning. For us to get in rhythm, it took a little bit to get some confidence.”

The Riverhawks entered Friday’s game after an emotional week, as former assistant coach Robert Booth had passed away earlier in the week. Booth hadn’t been coaching with the Riverhawks this season, but had still been present on the sideline for multiple games, Bond said. A banner reading “We Play For Booth” was hung up on the visitor’s stands at Lions Field, behind the Chiawana bench.

“This team’s pretty special,” Bond said. “... This week, with all the things going down, we talked about it. ‘Hey, the emotions are going to come, it’s going to be like this, but you’ve got to focus when it’s time.’”

Moses Lake’s season ended with the loss, finishing 2023 with an 8-2 record. The Mavs will have 19 players graduate off its roster, and Jay said he hopes for next year’s returning players to take away from what the seniors did for the program.

“The seniors left their mark,” Jay said. “21 wins in three years is pretty good, and I was proud of them. They left the program better than it was when they got here as freshmen, and that’s a big deal for us. For our underclassmen it’s like, ‘Okay, this is what the seniors did to get it here; now it’s our job to get it to the next phase.’”

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

Box score

Chiawana: 7-21-7-14 49
Moses Lake: 0-6-19-8 32

    Moses Lake receiver Kyson Thomas (5) runs up the sideline on a 65-yard touchdown catch.
  

    Moses Lake junior Brayden Kast (60) pulls to his left as junior Tommy Ranson Jr. carries the football.
  

    Chiawana running back Hunter Taylor (40) ran for more than 250 yards and scored four touchdowns on Friday night.