OTHELLO – The Othello Huskies made a strong start to their season after earning a 49-0 win on the road over Ellensburg on Saturday evening. 

“We’re senior-dominated, we have guys with a lot of experience,” said Huskies defensive coach Kevin Hale. “We have all-state quality guys at certain positions, so we expected to do well, and we did on both sides of the ball.” 

The Huskies' offense kept things simple, running more base plays, which allowed them to do what they wanted to do on the field and put up a strong offensive performance, said Hale. 

“One of the things that we have this year is where we’ve got a lot more dynamic playmakers all over the play, so we’re going to be tough to defend,” he said. 

On defense, the Huskies earned three turnovers and came close to securing five interceptions, according to the coach.  

The game was initially slated for Othello on Friday for the Huskies, but was delayed to Saturday and then moved to Ellensburg due to air quality concerns in the Basin over the weekend. The game ended with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter due to thunderstorms in the area, said Hale. 

To prepare the Huskies’ players for the sudden change in their scheduling, the coaching staff told the team that they would do what they needed to do, no matter where they play. While it was disappointing for the seniors to lose out on one of their last home games with the team, Hale said that it was just as important for them to have the opportunity to prove themselves on the field. 

“Home or away, a game is a game, treat it the same,” said the coach. “We know we’ve got a good team, and we wanted to send a statement. And I think we did for the most part.” 

The biggest takeaway from the game was coming home with a win in week one, but Hale said that the Huskies also learned some key points that the team will need to work on in the future. 

He said that one issue that popped up for the Huskies throughout the game was the number of penalties that were called on them. Cleaning up those mistakes and working on mental focus will be a point of emphasis at practice as they prepare for the season ahead. 

Outside of that, the Huskies plan to continue with the physicality they are known for and just improve upon that on both sides of the football.  

“If we want to be a Dec. 5, Dec. 6 type of team, then we can’t have games with 100 yards in penalties, so we’ll fix that,” said Hale. “We’re not going to change too much of what we do. We are who we are and we’re going to play Roger Hoell Othello football.” 

The Huskies’ next game will be on the road against Connell this Friday with kickoff at 7 p.m. 

BOX SCORE: 

OTHL: 16-19-7-7: 49
ELLN: 0-0-0-0: 0 

Othello Huskies 2025 roster: 

Name, Jersey, Position 

RJay Garza, 2, WR/DB
Camilo Mendez III, 3, LB/RB
Hilario Gonzalez IV, 4, QB
Gavin Carl, 5, LB/RB
Andrew Sorenson, 6, LB/RB/K
Julian Ruiz, 7, WR/DB
Micah Lockard, 8, WR/DB
Alejandro Silva, 8, LB/WR
Stadye Stromberg,9, LB/TE
Nate Flores, 12, WR/DB
Kingston Valdez, 12, LB/RB/K
Syrus Peppinger, 15, WR/DB
Josh Lawson, 16, WR/DB
Austyn Miller, 18 WR/DB
Pablo Ruiz, 20, WR/DB
Christain Woodley, 21, WR/DB
Daniel Cruz, 22, WR/DB
Miguel Sandoval, 22, LB
Alex Garza, 24, DL/OL
Tyler Suarez, 26, WR/DB
Cain Gonzalez, 28, OLB/RB
Pedro Ruiz, 31, OL/DL
Armoni Zuniga-Mendez, 32, RB/LB
AJ Gonzalez, 34, LB/RB
Abel Cantu, 38, OLB/RB
Josh Siguenza, 43, WR/DB
Taz Perez, 44, OL/DL
Robbie Flores, 54, OL/DL
Miguel Zuniga, 55, OL/DL
Kason Alvarez, 60, OL/DL
Josiah Garza, 62, OL/DL
Donaven Deleon, 67, DL/OL
Josue Gutierrez, 68, OL/DL
Richard Vo, 70, OL/DL
Aiden Valdez, 72, OL/DL
Carlos Castillo, 75, OL/DL
Ryan Ramirez, 76, OL/DL
Alex Munoz, 77, OL/DL
Robert Arrieta, 78, OL/DL
Jon Garza, 79, OL/DL
Devyn Suarez, 81, TE/DE
Ben Meredith, 83, WR/DB
Zayvier Olazcon, 84, WR/DB
Hayden Robbins, 90, OL/DL
Samuel Leal, 92, WR/DB
JD Rico Rico Torres, 96, OL/DL
German Alcaraz Mendoza, N/A, OL/DL
Jay Nunez, N/A, WR/DB
Luke Ross 

    Huskies’ running back Gavin Carl makes a run in a game last season. Now sporting the number five jersey, Carl was the first to score in the Huskies’ game against Ellensburg.
  

    The Huskies’ defense makes a stop against the opposing team’s run last season. The defense had a strong performance against Ellensburg where they earned three takeaways and nearly picked off the ball five times.