ACH prepares for big matchup against DeSales
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 months, 1 week AGO
Warriors quarterback Caden Correia decides to run with the ball himself during last week’s game against Naselle where he would soon after earn a run in touchdown.
CALEB PEREZ/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Max Grindy, a junior for ACH, sprints downfield and speeds past the Naselle defenders during last week’s quarterfinals matchup.
Freshman running back Nolan Grindy from the Warriors powers through a tackle from a Naselle defender during the quarterfinal round of the state tournament.
COULEE CITY — The four-seeded Almira/Coulee Hartline Warriors football team will be headed to Walla Walla tomorrow to face the number one-seeded DeSales in the semifinals of the 1B state tournament. This will be the final matchup before facing either Liberty Christian or Wahkiakum in the championships at Husky Stadium.
The battle between these two 1B juggernauts will take place Saturday at Walla Walla High School with a kickoff at 3 p.m.
“We’re excited about our team. We have a bunch of good athletes, and they’re great kids,” said Warriors head coach Brandon Walsh.
The Warriors continued their postseason push after a dominant win over Naselle on Lions field last week. ACH came to the field at full throttle and continued this momentum throughout the game to win 61-26.
DeSales won their quarterfinals matchup in a similar fashion against the number nine-seeded Neah Bay. The Irish kept their opponent at bay for the entirety of the game only allowing them to score one touchdown each quarter, while the DeSales offense progressively scored more, with the most points being scored in the fourth quarter at 28.
Looking at the seasons both teams had leading up to this week’s matchup, the Warriors finished off the regular season 7-1 after going on a six-game win streak after their week two 44-18 loss against Liberty Christian. Since then, the Warriors have won each of their games by at least a 30-point margin, even in the postseason, which earned them the top spot in the Northeast 1B.
Their opponent in DeSales had great success this season as they went undefeated in the regular season to earn the top spot in the Southeast 1B Grape. Much like the Warriors, DeSales has won all but two games by at least 30 points, with the exceptions being their week five 38-27 win over Liberty and week eight 36-28 win over Liberty Christian. DeSales also earned two shutout victories this year, beating Yakima Tribal 62-0 and Mabton 54-0.
Only the top four seeds remain in the 1B state football tournament, and the Warriors will have to play to their full potential this weekend to get into the championship game. Walsh said the Warriors spent the last week getting ready for both the physical aspect of the game, but also building their confidence following their last victory.
“Against any good team, you’ve got to be disciplined in your assignments, got to be physical, you’ve got to play hard for four quarters and the mental part of the game, I think at this stage is the most important part,” said Walsh.
Max Grindy, a junior for ACH, sprints downfield and speeds past the Naselle defenders during last week’s quarterfinals matchup.
Freshman running back Nolan Grindy from the Warriors powers through a tackle from a Naselle defender during the quarterfinal round of the state tournament.ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
BBCC eyes budget and spring enrollment
MOSES LAKE — During Big Bend Community College’s April 30 board meeting the college President, Sarah Thompson Tweedy, shared the counts for spring enrollment and Full Time Enrollment numbers for Spring of 2026 along with updates on where the budget sits. “We still have some work to do in terms of systematically going through our expenses and seeing how much of the requests that we have before us, how many of those we can put off,” said Thompson Tweedy. “There’s the opportunity to close that gap by reducing our expenses, but the challenge is, we’ve also had some expenses go up.” As of April 15, 2026 the spring quarter head count was up nearly 18% from 2025, but total FTE’s and state-funded FTEs were down 6.9% and 11.6% respectively, according to the board agenda.
Huskies best Tigers in OT
Othello moves on to second round of districts
OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (11-5) extended their postseason push after earning a close 2-1 victory in overtime against the Ephrata Tigers (7-10) in the first round of the 2A district tournament. The game winning goal came in second overtime when Othello sophomore Samuel Marroquin knocked the ball into the back of the net. “It was a tough game, Ephrata is definitely a tough opponent, but I feel like we had prepared well for the week,” said Marroquin. “We definitely had a good game plan and we just gave everything. We knew if this was our last game we were going to go out with a bang.” The game was a tight battle from the very beginning as the Tigers and Huskies battled under the hot sun. Othello scored in the first half and maintained their lead in throughout, going into halftime 1-0.
BASIN SPORTS SCHEDULE: May 4-11, 2026
COLUMBIA BASIN — The postseason has begun for high school athletes in our area with teams gearing up to compete against the best of the best. Check out where our local teams are heading this week.