River View outlasts biggest rival Burbank to clinch 2B EWAC East football title
Kris Welch stood on the River View sideline Thursday night, wearing his old lettermen’s jacket and displaying the Panther pride that is in his heart.
“I just love small-school football,” said the head coach at River View.
That’s especially true when the Panthers are winning. And doing it over your biggest rival — in this case Columbia-Burbank from across the Columbia River — by a 26-13 victory makes it even better.
It makes sense. Football can bring a community together.
In this case, the fans out in Finley are pretty tight knit right now. River View’s victory gives the Panthers a 4-0 record in 2B Eastern Washington Athletic Conference East Division play, a clinching of the top seed heading into the EWAC crossovers in two weeks, and a 7-1 overall record.
Beating Columbia-Burbank is just the icing on the cake, said sophomore running back Karson Rawlings, who rushed for 80 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Panthers never trailed.
“Playing (Burbank) is a big part of our season,” said Rawlings. “We’re dialed in and focused for it.”
That started early, as Rawlings rushed for a 5-yard score in the team’s second series of the game.
But if River View fans thought this was a beginning of an early Panthers’ blowout win, the visiting Coyotes had other ideas. Neither team could score the rest of the half.
“I told our guys at halftime (to think that) it was 0-0, and we have two more quarters to do something,” said Coyotes coach Trevor Curtis. “I told them we need to come out and get a defensive stand.”
Welch had the same idea at intermission.
“I told them at halftime this was gonna come down to our defense,” said Welch, a former linebacker at the school.
So what happened in the third quarter was Burbank came out and moved the ball 15 yards before having to punt.
The Panthers then took the ball 74 yards in 13 plays, with Rawlings finishing the drive with a 2-yard TD run for an insurmountable 14-0 lead.
And that River View defense? It stepped up. Although Burbank senior running back Elijah Kinsey had an outstanding game — 173 yards rushing on 24 carries — the Coyotes failed to match the Panthers score for score.
Senior defensive lineman Nate Clinton had a monster game for the Panthers, with 9 tackles (two for loss) and two quarterback sacks to end the game.
Burbank (2-1 EWAC East, 5-3 overall) will play host to Tri-Cities Prep next Friday, Oct. 27, with the winner clinching the No. 2 East seed, and the loser grabbing the 3 seed for the upcoming crossovers.
Rawlings added another 5-yard rushing TD, but the backbreaker came from Panthers QB Hyatt Clark, who found senior David Olivera behind the Burbank secondary for a 44-yard touchdown pass to give River View a cushion.
“We have a lot of weapons on this team,” said Rawlings. “Our offensive coaches have done a great job of spreading the ball around. And the seniors on this team are great leaders.”
Welch, sporting his letterman’s jacket with pride, had stressed the importance of the cross-river rivalry constantly to his players.
“This rivalry is amazing,” he said. “When I was a player, including middle school, we won six years in a row. Undefeated. One thing I love about this team is that every coach here is a River View alum.”
RIVER VIEW 26, COLUMBIA-BURBANK 13
Columbia-Burbank 0 0 0 13 — 13
River View 7 0 7 12 — 26
SCORING PLAYS
RV — Karson Rawlings 5 run (Hyatt Clark kick)
RV — Rawlings 2 run (Clark kick)
CB — Logan Beck 7 run (Beck kick)
RV — David Olivera 44 pass from Clark (kick blocked)
RV — Rawlings 5 run (kick blocked)CB — Elijah Kinsey 16 run (run failed)INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CB, Kinsey 24-173, Matthew Wilder 10-35, Beck 6-minus 14, Total 40-194. RV, Rawlings 14-80, Austin Eckhart 10-39, Cody Brown 7-25, Clark 3-minus 3, Team 1-minus 31, Totals 35-110.
PASSING — CB, Beck 10-21-1-85 yards, Wilder 0-2-0-0. RV, Clark 11-20-1-161 yards.
RECEIVING — CB, Crew Pariera 7-68, Wilder 1-4, Sam Bendotti 1-7, Jayden Hanson 1-2. RV, Brown 4-50, Olivera 1-44, Trayce Teagle 3-42, Connor Harper 2-16, Eckhart 1-9.
FIRST DOWNS — CB 19, RV 17. FUMBLES-LOST — CB 0-0, RV 1-1. PENALTIES-YARDS — CB 5-35, RV 9-57.
DEFENSE — CB, Kinsey 7 tackles (1 for loss), QB sack, fumble recovery; Brandon Leahy 4 tackles, interception, pass breakup; Justin Good 4 tackles, force fumble; Bendotti 4 tackles, cover, pass breakup. RV, Nate Clinton 9 tackles (2 for loss), 2 QB sacks; Brown 7 tackles (1 for loss), 2 pass breakups; Eckhart 6 tackles, QB sack, pass breakup.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
