Game Recap September 7, 2023
By Jeff Morrow
Herald sports editor
Lonnie Pierson knew what he was doing when he left his Richland football team three weeks ago to have surgery for a cancerous prostate.
"You remember what I said before I left?" the Richland head coach asked. "I said this is a dangerous bunch. They were right on the edge."
Pierson avoided putting any of the spotlight on him, wanting instead for his players to concentrate on playing football. It's worked.
On Saturday, Pierson - sitting up in the coaches' box - watched as his Bombers took a major step towards finishing a magical season defeating Bethel 21-1 in the Class 4A state semifinals at Lampson Stadium in Kennewick.
Now, Richland gets to play in the state championship next Saturday against Kentwood at 7:30pm in the Tacoma Dome.
The Bombers earned the right to go to the state finals by using a tough defense that held Bethel scoreless in the second half.
More importantly, Richland's offense was able to move the ball against the Braves' speedy defense.
It didn't look good at the end of the first half when Richland, trailing 14-7, had the ball at the Bethel 4-yard line with less than a minute to play.
Two running plays up the gut got the ball to the 1. And after a timeout with 8 seconds, the Bombers were ready for paydirt.
However, Bethel stopped Richland running back Michael Ray Richardson just short of the end zone as time ran out, and Bethel led 14-7 at intermission.
"Hey, it could have been 21-0 (Richland) in that first half," said Bethel coach Eric Kurle. "We got lucky."
And the Bombers felt that way, too.
"At the end of the half, I don't think I've ever been that upset in my life," said Richland center Ryan Lukson.
But the Bombers have proven they are a second-half team.
"At halftime, the seniors talked about not letting this be our last half of football," said Richland quarterback Adam Oakes.
And Pierson was a little irritated at halftime.
"We said that the name of the game is being consistent," he said. "Cut the foolish mistakes down. Stop the holding, the clipping. We're a second-half team.
"And really, the other thing is the first half sets up the second half," Pierson said.
After experimenting in the first half, the Bombers thought they could move the ball on Bethel's defense which averaged just one TD allowed per game.
On the opening drive of the second half, Oakes used short passes to Eric McGarrah and handoffs to Richardson, going 78 yards on 11 plays and culminating on a 4-yard pass from Oakes to Landon Kafentzis that tied the game at 14.
Only three times did Richland try to go deep in the second half, and Bethel's Derrick Morris intercepted two of those passes and the third was incomplete.
So it was time to go back to short passes and runs.
"We made it simple," Pierson said. "We narrowed it down to three running plays and three passing plays in the second half. That's what was working."
It included a play-action pass back flat pass route, which Kafentzis used to score both TDs in the second half.
The last score came with 3:08 left in the fourth quarter as Richland moved the ball 49 yards in 11 plays.
Kafentzis ran out of the backfield and into the flat, taking Oates pass and scoring from 10 yards out for a 21-14 lead.
"When we started going to short passes, we were effective," said Oakes, who finished the game with 203 yards passing.
Richardson also carried the ball 30 times for 121 yards and scored the Bombers first TD on a 1-yard run in the first quarter.
"We have a running game," Kafentzis said. "We showed Bethel we can run, and that we are a diverse team."
The victory sends Richland into the state finals for the fourth time in school history. Richland, second in 1975 and 1996, won the state title in 1981.
Bethel had two chances to tie the game in the final three minutes, but the first drive ended when Richland's David Hall intercepted a Javid Shoemaker pass.
The second drive - and the game - ended at Richland's 331 when Shoemaker's final pass fell incomplete with 12 seconds remaining.
- YouTube 1999 State Semifinal - Richland Bombers vs. Bethel Braves
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November 27, 19991234Final
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Bethel Braves0140014
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Richland Bombers707721
- 1st Quarter
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Touchdown: Michael Richardson 1 yard run (DoValle kick)
Richland 7, Bethel 0 - 2nd Quarter
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Touchdown: Alex Lewis 4 yard run from Javid Shoemaker (kick failed)
Richland 7, Bethel 6 -
Touchdown: Mark Hitchner 1 yard run (Lewis pass from Shoemaker)
Bethel 14, Richland 7 - 3rd Quarter
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Touchdown: Landon Kafentzis 4 yard pass from Adam Oakes (DoValle kick)
Richland 14, Bethel 14 - 4th Quarter
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Touchdown: Landon Kafentzis 10 yard pass from Adam Oakes (DoValle kick)
Richland 21, Bethel 14
- News/Media
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Bethel's speed concerns Bombers in semifinal
Tri-City Herald: Saturday November 27, 1999
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Box Score: Richland vs. Bethel 11/27/1999
Tri-City Herald: Sunday November 28, 1999
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Bombers' payload too much for Bethel
Tri-City Herald: Sunday November 28, 1999
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Richland charts road to Tacoma Dome with halftime adjustments
Tri-City Herald: Sunday November 28, 1999
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