The regular season is down to two weeks. Sure, teams expect to play 10 games, but with Week 10 saved for crossover and since last year, state-playoff qualifiers, the regular season, for all intents and purposes, ends on Oct. 30 or Halloween night.

So, what’s been learned about the CBBN, CWAC and SCAC through a month and a half? Here’s a quick look of the Stat Hound landscape after Week 7:

MOSES LAKE CAN RUN THE BALL: For anybody who followed Mike Leach when he coached at Washington State, they’d probably know that one of the knocks against him was his stubbornness to veer too much from the Air Raid offense he helped build. Many times, Cougar faithful would bemoan Leach’s pass-at-all-times approach.

Well, while Moses Lake coach Brett Jay runs a similar offense, he proved Friday night at Eastmont that the Mavericks can run the ball when they need to.

With the Wildcats at time dropping eight defenders into pass coverage, the were few open receivers for record-setting Mavs quarterback Brady Jay to find. The senior finished with just 38 passing yards and threw two interceptions.

Moses Lake junior running back Elijah Burns, however, found the running lanes open, finishing with 143 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the 21-0 victory. He had five runs of 10 yards or more, including a 15-yard scoring scamper.

“That’s what our offense is – we take what they give us,” Brett Jay said.

The final margin didn’t represent how tight the game was. Twice Eastmont reached the red zone, but an interception and a missed field goal ended those threats. On the latter drive, Wildcats running back Bodie Yale was flagged for trying to leap over the pile from the 1-yard line.

Eastmont coach Jay Foster, who was the defensive coordinator when the Wildcats beat Moses Lake two years ago, had a great game plan. Their Wing-T offense kept the clock going – the game finished in less than two hours – and they kept the Mavs’ passing attack in check.

PLENTY OF WEAPONS FOR THE RED DEVILS: East Valley’s run for its first CWAC championship since 2004 has been fueled by a senior group that plays tough defense and high-scoring offense.

That offense can beat you with quarterback Jaxon Berg throwing to a receiver corps topped by Montana State-bound Greyson Stevens, or running the ball with the 1-2 punch of Braden Albrecht and Cody Gasseling. Albrecht is the flashier of the two, while Gasseling has bulled over plenty of defenders this year, and also has been Berg’s second-favorite target.

East Valley’s conference-title pursuit continues Friday in Quincy before Senior Night against Ellensburg on Oct. 30.

STILL SORTING THINGS OUT IN THE CWAC: While the Red Devils are on track for the conference title, and Othello seems poised to finish second after winning at Prosser on Friday, the final three CWAC berths to the state-qualifiers have plenty of contenders.

The Mustangs and Selah both have 4-2 league marks and will meet Oct. 30 at Karl Graf Field. The Vikings also have to visit Ephrata, which is 3-3, with losses to the top three teams.

Toppenish (3-4) hosts Othello this Friday, and has a nonleague game in Week 9.

Ellensburg sits at 2-4 and could play its way in. However, with Prosser and East Valley still on the schedule, the Bulldogs will face two teams eyeing a berth in the qualifier or trying to improve their seeding.

RANGERS REVIVAL: Naches Valley already has guaranteed itself a .500 or better record this season. The Rangers face a daunting final two conference games with Royal visiting on Friday followed by a trip to Cashmere, but at 4-2 and tied for third with Zillah, it’s hard to think they’ll fall below fifth place.

The fifth-place finisher gets to play the Caribou Trail League’s second place for a berth in the Week 10 state-qualifying round.

All this after a winless season for Naches Valley. But many of the same players from that squad are leading this year’s squad, including Miguel Gaut, who leads the SCAC in rushing.

“The players decided they didn’t want to go through another season like that,” Rangers coach Matt Keeler said. “They committed during the summer and off season to work. They have embraced the offensive changes we made and have bought into what we are doing.”

TWO TIERS AT THE TOP: While it’s been Royal and everybody else in the SCAC in the recent past, two tiers seem to have formed this season.

The first tier has the Knights, who are ranked No. 1 and pursuing their sixth straight Class 1A title, and Cashmere, which made it to the semifinals a year ago, and took Royal to overtime Oct. 3.

The second tier again consists of Zillah and Connell. The Leopards escaped with a 6-0 opening-week victory against Eagles, due in great part to Henry Davis chasing down a Connell receiver at the 2-yard line.