Game Recap October 31, 2009
The Richland Bombers took one on the chin tonight at The Apple Bowl in Wenatchee as the Panthers turned out to be inhospitable hosts in a 40-7 blowout.
The Bombers started out very strong and it looked like they had shaken whatever virus they caught in the fourth quarter of the Walla Walla game. After quickly shutting down the vaunted Panther running game in the first drive, the Richland offense fired every engine. Jake McKinney was driving through the Wenatchee defense like his feet were on rails and the team had a swagger as they moved down the field. All that changed, though, when Jake lost the ball on the Wenatchee 12 yard line.
The Bombers were still formidable on defense and held the Panthers on the next drive, forcing them to punt at the Richland 45. The punt was a thing of beauty as it bounced at the ten yard line and took an immediate 45 degreen turn and headed right for the one-half yard line. On the very next play from scrimmage, the Wenatchee defense caught McKinney in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead. Then it got ugly.Coyote ugly, or in this case, Panther ugly.
The Panthers proceeded to score on 4 of their next five drives and scored at will. A 24 yard run by Jacob Selby, a 15 yard touchdown pass from Cam Hoey to Blair Dorn, a 51 yard run by Dorn, and capping the first half with another Hoey touchdown pass. The Bombers went quietly into halftime down by 30 points.
Richland came out for the second half and seemed determined to show the Apple Bowl crowd that they were not going down quietly. Once again, the Bombers engineered a 75 yard drive in eight plays including 28 yard and 14 yard catches by Elijah Gardaya and runs of 16 and 14 yards by Jake McKinney. Jake finished off the drive with a 1 yard touchdown drive and a glimmer of hope starting peeking over the horizon. If Wenatchee can score 30 points in a half, why can't the Bombers score 31?
Wenatchee answered that question quickly and emphatically with a 67 yard drive of their own capped off by a 13 yard pass from Hoey to Lucas Sealby to make it Panthers 37, Bombers 7. The Panthers did score once more late in the game when they decided to give their kicker, Angel Guerra some practice from 44 yards out.
For the Bombers, it was the end of their playoff dreams, but not the end of their season. According to my sources, the Bombers will have a home game next Friday night, November 6 against a yet-to-be-determined opponent from the Greater Spokane League. Apparently they are going to have a three-way playoff to determine their last seed in the state playoffs. I will update the entries as soon as they clear up.
Go Bombers!
-
October 30, 20091234Final
-
Richland Bombers7
-
Wenatchee Panthers40
