OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (1-2) lost a hard-fought battle to the Selah Vikings 33-18 Thursday. Though the effort was there, the Huskies might've beat themselves, head coach Jerome Learman said.  

"We did not play smart," he said. "Beat ourselves repeatedly with penalties, blowing assignments, stuff like that. Obviously, Selah is a good team (and) well coached. Our players played hard, but I also know we're a lot better team than we show, capable of a lot more." 

The Vikings came out strong by getting on the scoreboard first 6-0, before the Huskies tied it up just before halftime. Othello seized momentum to open the second half with a 66-yard touchdown by Shane Perez. However, Selah responded with back-to-back scoring drives to take an eight-point lead. The Huskies managed to find the endzone again and cut the deficit to 20-18, but two more scores by the Vikings sealed the win 33-18. 

Despite the loss, Learman felt his players improved from the previous weeks loss against Prosser on the road.  

"I felt like there's still more room for improvement. We didn't take as big a step as we needed to or should have," he said.  

First half 

After the Vikings scored a 21-yard touchdown off a screen pass, the game slowed down as each team battled for momentum. The remainder of the quarter went scoreless, but the Huskies offense was starting to find success.  

With the ball in the second quarter, Othello put together a long drive as they moved the chains consistently. Othello found themselves in do-or-die situations multiple times this drive, including Noah Ozuna converting a fourth down play to keep it alive.  

Moments later, he found a receiver over the middle for a pass completion to put the Huskies in the redzone. However, it seemed too good to be true after Othello eventually found themselves on fourth and seven.  

They were initially intercepted when they went for a shot at the endzone, but a roughing the passer penalty on Selah revived the Huskies drive. Soon after Ozuna found Jonah Hahn on third down for the touchdown.  

After redoing multiple two-point attempts, Othello ultimately was unsuccessful. The game remained scoreless the rest of the second quarter, leaving the game tied 6-6 at halftime.  

"I do feel like our pass protection (has) gotten better," Learman said. "We're hurting ourselves with penalties, things like that. We want to be able to run and throw the football and obviously we want to dictate (that). But we didn't do a good job of doing that. Particularly with penalty stuff, we put ourselves behind the chains and put ourselves in bad positions to run the football." 

Second half 

After the halftime break, the Huskies took the ball first and captured momentum instantly. On a creative misdirection play, Perez smashed through the trenches with nothing but green grass on the other side for a 66-yard touchdown, claiming a 12-6 lead.  

The Vikings didn't take long to respond on their next drive forcing some Othello missed tackles for a long touchdown run to jump ahead 13-12. After a Huskies three-and-out, Selah put together another scoring drive to extend their lead to 20-12.  

Othello rallied just before the end of the third quarter, methodically moving the ball downfield before Sammy Marroquin punched it in to put them within two points at 20-18. Just before time expired in the third, Marroquin made another highlight play on the Vikings next drive by intercepting the quarterback to get Othello the ball back.  

"He stepped up, he had a really good off season, and really proud of his work ethic," Learman said. "You can tell he takes it serious, and he's very unselfish. He wants to make plays for the team, and he did an excellent job of doing that tonight." 

The Huskies had a chance to capitalize early in the fourth, but penalties derailed the drive, forcing a punt. From there, the Vikings stacked their lead with two scoring drives to make it 33-18 and seal the win.  

The Huskies look to rebound over the next week before traveling to Ephrata on Sept. 25 to play the Tigers at 7 p.m. Despite the loss, Learman feels confident has seen enough this season to believe this team can turn it around.  

" I have no doubt in my mind that we have the capability to go on a run here," he said. "Obviously, we got to play smarter football. Our problems are not physical. Our problems are mental, bottom line, that comes down to coaching. I got to figure out a way to communicate expectations and what they need to do. If it takes you know 1,001 ways, I got to find out the first 1000 ways that don't work and find that 1,001 that does work." 

BOX SCORE: 

SELH: 0-6-14-13: 33 

OTHL: 6-0-12-0: 18

    The Othello Huskies defense piles on a Selah ball carrier to make a stop in the backfield.
  

    Cain Gonzalez (7) fights off a Selah defender while trying to advance the ball up the field.
  

    The Huskies' Jonah Hahn (5) celebrates in the endzone after scoring a touchdown against Selah on Thursday.