Union-Bulletin

WALLA WALLA - Wa-Hi celebrated Homecoming this week and welcomed undefeated Chiawana to Borleske Stadium Friday night for a Big Nine Conference 4A football contest.

The Riverhawks proved to be extremely rude guests.

Quarterback Luc Graff threw three touchdown passes and running back Jordan Downing rushed for two scores to lead Chiawana to a 37-0 victory over the Blue Devils.

Graff completed 11-of-16 passes for 174 yards and Downing rushed 20 times for 129 yards.

The Riverhawks improved to 2-0 in league and 4-0 overall while Wa-Hi slipped to 0-2 and 1-3.

"They were much more physical," Wa-Hi coach Mike Gobel said. "They have a very talented running back. He's been doing that all year."

"We were able to run the football," said Chiawana coach Steve Graff. "I didn't think it would be like that, but I'll take it."

Downing set the tone early with a first-quarter touchdown runs of 6 yards and 1 yard. His initial six-pointer ended a 61-yard, eight-play drive at the 6:49 mark and the latter - with 1:55 on the clock - completed a 56-yard march on 10 snaps, one of which was an 11-yard pass out of punt formation from Graff to Brett Adamson.

"He's been running the ball well," coach Graff said of Downing. "The guys up front are doing their job and he has places to run."

The Riverhawks' second series commenced after an Adamson interception.

Chiawana doubled its two-touchdown edge in the second quarter by going to the air. Graff tossed scoring passes to Miquiyah Zamora and Adamson for 39 and 30 yards, respectively.

Zamora's touchdown occurred with 8:44 left in the period and came one play after a Downing pick.

The Riverhawks converted a fourth-and-5 from the Wa-Hi 30-yard line to produce touchdown No. 4. Graff beat a Blue Devil blitz with a dump-off pass to Adamson in the left flat with 4:24 to go.

Pilate Lopaya converted all of his PAT kicks and Chiawana went into halftime with a 28-0 lead.

The Riverhawks picked up where they left off on their first possession of the third quarter. Graff threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Duckworth that finished off a surge of six plays and 62 yards at the 9:45 mark.

Chiawana ended the scoring with 1:18 showing in the final quarter. Lopaya kicked a 32-yard field goal - the final snap on a 17-play jaunt in which the Riverhawks advanced the ball 78 yards and took just over 10-and-a-half minutes off the clock.

Defensively, Chiawana held the Blue Devils to 152 yards of total offense, only 18 of which was through the air.

"A few times, we let them off the hook," Coach Graff said. "It was good enough. Not our best, but good enough."

The Blue Devils will look to rebound this Friday when they travel to Yakima for a league counter with Davis.

"They are extremely athletic," Gobel said of Davis. "Their senior class went undefeated as freshmen.

"We don't want (the team) to forget about it," Gobel said of the Chiawana loss. "We want them to file it away, remember how it feels, and get better next week."

Chiawana 37, Wa-Hi 0

Chi 14 14 6 3 - 37

Wa-Hi 0 0 0 0 - 0

Chi - Downing 6 run (Lopaya kick).

Chi - Downing 1 run (Lopaya kick).

Chi - Zamora 39 pass from Graff (Lopaya kick).

Chi - Adamson 30 pass from Graff (Lopaya kick).

Chi - Duckworth 12 pass from Graff (kick failed).

Chi - Lopaya 32 FG.

Chi Wa-Hi

First downs 18 9

Rushes/yards 33-173 38-134

Passing yards 174 18

Passes (att-comp-int) 17-11-0 9-2-2

Punts 1-16 2-39.5

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 2-17 4-29

Individual Statistics

RUSHING - Chi: Downing 20-129, Higgins 11-34, McNiel 1-8, Duckworth 1-2; Wa-Hi: Hoe 20-76, Filan 5-34, Watson 11-18, Leonetti 1-6, Deal 1-0.

PASSING - Chi: Graff 11-16-0, 174 yards, 3 TDs, Zamora 0-1-0, 0 yards; Wa-Hi: Watson 2-9-2, 18 yards.

RECEIVING - Chi: Adamson 4-76-1, Edrington 3-36, Zamora 2-45-1, Duckworth 2-17-1; Wa-Hi: Rowley 1-14, Handcox 1-4.