PASCO – Scott Bond went into the locker room at halftime with his Chiawana football team trailing visiting Walla Walla 13-7 on Thursday night.

A week after losing at home 30-27 to Southridge, the Riverhawks head coach was looking for someone to step up and start making some plays.

So what happened at the start of the second half? Wa-HI’s Kalama Roberson returned the opening kickoff for 89 yards, a score and a 19-7 Blue Devils lead.

Huh.

“That kickoff was a microcosm of everything that was going on in the first half,” said Bond. “They were flat this week. I challenged them to see who was gonna make a play. I mean, they practiced OK this week. But when that kick return happened, I thought, ‘OK, well that’s what you get.’”

It turned out to be a temporary problem though, as Chiawana then scored 31 unanswered points for a 38-19 Mid-Columbia Conference win at Edgar Brown Stadium.

That’s when Emmett Osterdock, Zaiden Martinez, Cooper Cissne, Cole Hultgrenn and Brussel Brink started making those plays for Bond.

“I wasn’t too happy after that kickoff return,” said Osterdock, who had thrown two first-half interceptions. “But you gotta keep your cool and keep going. You make a good play, you forget about it.”

Osterdock had a short memory then.

The junior quarterback spread his 19 completions around to six receivers for 297 passing yards and two TD strikes — a 10-yarder to Shawn Ramey and a 13-yard TD pass to Cooper Douglass.

Losing the week before to Southridge, said Osterdock, might have been the best thing for the Riverhawks.

“We needed for (Southridge) to show us we’re not invincible,” said Osterdock. “We thought we were invincible here. We were looking to air it out tonight. Our running back (Cissne) was a bit banged up after last week’s game. And Zaiden (Martinez) had a great game.”

Indeed he did.

The senior receiver and defensive back caught 5 passes for 109 yards. On defense, he had 4 tackles and a pass breakup. But he also forced a fumble and then recovered it himself.

Martinez also finished the scoring when he picked off Wa-Hi quarterback Lincoln Heinrich and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown.

Bond tried to limit Cissne’s carries. But the junior still rushed 10 times for 89 yards, scoring on runs of 46 and 7 yards in the second half. He also caught 2 passes for 29 yards.

For the Blue Devils, Heinrich finished with 306 passing yards and two TD passes – a 16-yard strike to Derrick Bingham Jr., and a screen pass to Roberson that turned into an 80-yard scoring play.

In the end, though, the Blue Devils just started to run out of healthy bodies.

“We obviously play a lot of guys both ways,” said Wa-Hi coach Justin James. “At some point we started losing guys to cramps, and we started getting thin at some positions. We’re super proud of our guys. We just got tired.”

NOTES: Chiawana improves to 1-1 in MCC play and 3-1 overall. Wa-Hi is also 1-1 in MCC play, and 2-2 overall. … The Riverhawks were flagged for 15 penalties and 116 yards; the Blue Devils had 7 penalties for 71 yards. … Chiawana linebacker Cole Hultgrenn had 5 tackles (3 for loss), and 3 quarterback sacks. He also recovered a fumble. Defensive lineman Brink added 4 tackles (2 for loss) and 2 sacks. He also batted down two passes. … The senior McCauley twins — Braedon and Trey — led the Blue Devils defense. Trey had 5 tackles (1 for loss) and a pass breakup. Braedon added 5 tackles (1 for loss). Both each had an interception.