Like it has all season, Richland's defense steps forward to show Bombers path to victory - and Class 4A state playoffs

KENNEWICK - Richland’s football team is 8-2 this season, and defense is one of the reasons the Bombers have been so good.

Time and again, Richland coach Mike Neidhold has had to call on that unit to get things under control.

That happened again Friday night as Richland shut out visiting Central Valley in the second half en route to a 21-10 Class 4A regional playoff victory at Lampson Stadium.

"Defense," Neidhold said. "It was all about our defense tonight. And we were worried about everything Central Valley does. It’s a proud program. They’re well-coached, and they don’t quit."

But Bombers' defensive end Elijah Rodriguez set the tone early, sacking Central Valley senior quarterback Luke Abshire twice, and hammering Bears running back Sam Cann two more times for losses.

"Someone to look out for was their quarterback," said Rodriguez, who has committed to play linebacker next fall for Eastern Washington University. "We have a good defense. We let our defensive backs do their thing, and same thing with our linebackers and D-linemen."

Meanwhile, Bombers quarterback Cameron Kitchens did enough damage to find the end zone three times — an 11-yard TD pass to Kenyon Coleman, a 2-yard scoring strike to Landon Charlton, and a 1-yard keeper into the end zone himself.

That pass to Charlton in the second quarter gave Richland the lead for good, and the Bombers went into the locker room at intermission with a 14-10 lead.

At halftime, Neidhold had to bring out the lecture hat.

"I told our guys to quit making mistakes," he said. "We getting offside. We don’t line up right. We’re dropping balls. We’re not taking care of the little things. You can’t expect to do that in the state tournament and win."

It wasn’t until late in the game that the Bombers were able to salt away the contest. Kitchens engineered an 11-play, 52-yard scoring drive — culminating in his own touchdown run — to give Richland a 21-10 lead with 2:35 to go.

Central Valley wasn’t completely done, though.

Abshire moved the offense from the Bears’ 28 down to the Bombers' 1-yard line in the final few minutes.

But again, the Richland defense stiffened, keeping the Bears out of the end zone.

Charlton, in fact, ended the drive with an interception in the end zone and had nothing in front of him for 100 yards. But the play was blown dead.

"The official had an inadvertent whistle," said Neidhold. "He feels terrible about it."

Central Valley ends its season at 7-3.

Bears coach Ryan Butner said the game, on paper, looked like two mirror images.

"It was very evenly-matched," Butner said. "I told our guys after the game I was at a loss for words. I was proud of them, especially the seniors."

The Bears were missing two of their standout starters: top wide receiver Justin Finn was sidelined with mononucleosis; middle linebacker Zach McMurtry was out with a stinger.

Still, Dylan Gravelle stepped in for Finn, catching 11 passes for 130 yards. And Abshire finished with 259 yards passing.

The Bombers needed a good bounce-back game after losing their final Mid-Columbia Conference game last Saturday, 27-7, to Kennewick.

"We came in to tonight’s game looking for blood," said Kitchens, who finished the game passing for 208 yards and completed passes to nine different receivers.