The Rogers Pirates came to town on Thursday night hoping to uphold a recent tradition of Greater Spokane League domination over the Big Nine. Instead, the Richland Bombers showed they still had something left in the tank and handed the Pirates a 47-15 defeat.

The game started off in typical Richland fashion. Starting the game at their own 37 yard line, Jake McKinney ran through the Rogers line like grape juice through a two-year old completing runs of 13, 18, and 17 yards, capping the 5 play, 2 minute drive with an 8 yard touchdown. The extra point missed it's target but the Bombers still owned an early 6-0 lead.

Rogers showed a lot more pop on offense, though, and engineered a long scoring drive starting at their own 20. Cody Brewer provided most of the yardage and, at times, seemed to be plowing the field. Unlike the Bombers, the Pirates were content with controlling the clock and finally scored when QB Tyler Lehman ran in from 1 yard away. Rogers drive consumed 80 yards in 15 plays and took nearly 8 minutes off the clock. In the end, the Pirates led 7-6. This was Rogers last, remote sniff of a lead for the rest of the night.

Richland came right back with Jake McKinney and BK Robinson punishing the Pirate line. Junior Chris Hayes got his chance at some varsity time and completed two passes, the first to Elijah Gardaya for 18 yards and the second to Nick Martens for a 16 yard touchdown. Jake ran for the extra points and Richland took the lead back for good at 14 to 7.

Richland scored twice more in the second quarter with both scores resulting from BK Robinson runs of 25 and 3 yards respectively. The Bombers entered halftime leading 27 to 7.

The Bombers really opened the flood gates in the third quarter. Nick Martens scored on another 10 yard pass from Hayes, and Robinson completed his third touchdown of the night with a nifty 30 yard dash. Richland finished the scoring late in the fourth quarter when Brad Baird scampered for 13 yards, making the final 47 to 15. Rogers scored a safety and a touchdown in the fourth quarter but by then the fight had already been settled.

Jake McKinney ran for 159 yards and broke the Richland High School single season record with 219 total carries. BK Robinson had a great night  with 112 yards and his three touchdowns and Chris Hayes looked quite poised at quarterback. All three will be back for more next year and that should give the Bomber faithful some hope for a great 2010 season.

This is the last game of the 2009 season and I want to congratulate Coach Mike Neidhold and the coaching staff on another job well done. The record may not be what they but considering the talent that left last year, and the youth of this year's team, I think they all did another outstanding job. Mike's team plays with a great amount of heart and they play the entire game and make Richland proud.

I would like to thank all of you who visit bomberfootball.org throughout the year. I really hope that you enjoy reading about the exploits of the Richland Bombers as much as I enjoy seeing the games and writing about them. If you have any suggestions or things you'd like to see on the site for next year, please drop me a line using the Contact Us page and I will see what I can do.

Go Bombers!