Kamiakin, Liberty Christian have key showdowns against tough opponents on Thursday
Two interesting high school football games are happening this Thursday night.
Moses Lake (1-0) visits Kamiakin (1-0) at 7 p.m. at Lampson Stadium in what should be a good non-conference matchup between two teams that should battle for their respective conference titles.
Moses Lake is coached by Brett Jay, who for years led the River View program and then took over at Hanford.
Jay had the Falcons a few years ago in the postseason.
Now in Moses Lake, his son Brady Jay is the Mavericks’ quarterback.
Last Friday, in a 58-3 win over Ephrata, Brady Jay passed for 263 yards and six touchdowns.
Teammate Kyson Thomas is an explosive return man. Against Ephrata, he returned a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Kamiakin got by Chiawana 20-13 in overtime on the road.
Makram Altahir gave the Braves a strong running game, rushing 22 times for 115 yards and a touchdown.
Trent Woodhouse passed for 189 yards and two TDs — one to tie the game with 1:11 left in regulation; and then the other in OT for the win.
▪ The other contest seems weird being played so early in the year. But DeSales will take on Liberty Christian at 7 p.m. at Kamiakin High School.
Make note: this game will be at Kamiakin on its turf field, under the lights.
The two teams are both 1-0 and should be at or near the top of the Southeast 1B 8-man standings come November.
Last Friday, DeSales blanked Tekoa-Rosalia 32-0, while Liberty Christian beat Pomeroy 38-26.
In the Irish’s win, Sean Sollars rushed for 103 yards and scored two touchdowns.
For Liberty Christian, junior Charlie Branning was the standout.
He rushed 13 times for 167 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught 3 passes for 160 yards and two more scores. On defense as a free safety, Branning was in on 11 tackles.
Perry Pottle was 9 for 20 for 206 yards and three TD passes for the Patriots.
On defense, freshman linebacker Levi Idler was credited on being in on 25 tackles — 10 solo and 15 assists.
Hero of the week
In this case, Heroine of the Week is Talia von Oelhoffen.
The Oregon State University women’s basketball standout has a fond spot in her heart for Hawaii, where her mother Tondi met her father Kimo von Oelhoffen, and she still has family there.
So when the devastating fires hit Maui last month, Talia felt she had to do something to help.
Last Sunday, von Oelhoffen put together a youth basketball camp at her old high school, Chiawana, with the proceeds from the camp going to the Maui relief efforts.
Classy move, and another reason I have such respect for our young people.
Potpourri
Prosser’s Luke Wolters is heading to Lane Community College this fall to be a member of the school’s men’s track and field team.
▪ Omar Anderson’s Columbia Basin College women’s soccer team, which made the NWAC final four last December, was ranked third in the preseason coaches poll that came out Aug. 16.
The Hawks received two first-place votes and 141 total points from the coaches.
Peninsula received the No. 1 ranking, with seven first-place votes and 166 points. Spokane, with four first-place votes and 159 points, is second.
Walla Walla earned a No. 7 ranking.
The Hawks are off to a 3-0 start and have yet to surrender a goal.
CBC beat Edmonds 4-0 and Portland CC 5-0 a few weeks ago in the NWAC Friendlies in Tukwila. Then the Hawks shut out Tacoma Community College 1-0 on Aug. 30 in Pasco.
Janelly Verduzco (Othello) scored at the 56-minute mark off an assist from Mya Lee (Kamiakin).
CBC opens NWAC East Region play this coming Saturday at home against Wenatchee Valley. It starts at noon, with the men following at 2 p.m.
▪ Evergreen State has three area athletes on its women’s volleyball team.
Kiona-Benton grad Maloree Calzadillas, who played at Tacoma Community College, is listed as a redshirt this season.
But Lucendy Perez, a Chiawana grad who played the last two seasons at Columbia Basin College, is a junior for the team.
Connell freshman Ashley Walker is also a member of the team.
▪ Kamiakin senior Peter Dress will likely have a lot of options to play college basketball.
The sharpshooting guard recently received an offer from Embry-Riddle University out of Arizona.
Dress was the No. 2 scorer last season in the Mid-Columbia Conference, averaging 20.5 points a game.
▪ Kennewick High grad Charlie Tipke Henry is set to play men’s basketball this fall for Walla Walla Community College.
▪ Kobe Singleton — a Chiawana grad who also played at Tri-Cities Prep during his high school career — had probably the most entertaining play of the first weekend in all of college football.
Singleton started his collegiate career at Southern Utah before3 transferring to Liberty University in Virginia.
During Saturday’s 34-24 over visiting Bowling Green, Singleton intercepted a pass and returned it for a 36-yard touchdown play that gave the Flames a 21-0 lead.
After scoring the touchdown, Singleton was on the sidelines and celebrated by donning a Joker mask. It was pretty hilarious.
Singleton added 4 tackles (2 solo, 2 assists) on the day.
▪ Senior Maddie Morgan (Kamiakin) scored five goals in a blowout victory for the Eastern Washington University women’s soccer team in a rout over University of Providence-Great Falls last week.
That earned Morgan the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors this week.
Morgan now has a career total of 20 goals for the Eagles.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Herald.
