MOSES LAKE – A year ago against Eastmont, Moses Lake running back Elijah Burns rescued the Mavericks when their air attack struggled to get off the ground.

Friday night, the senior had a starring role from the geto-go.

Burns rushed for 271 yards and three second-half touchdowns on 36 carries and Nolan Decubber threw three touchdown passes – two of them to Case Anderson – and seventh-ranked Moses surged past Eastmont for a 40-20 victory Friday night at Lions Field.

The victory secured a third consecutive CBBN championship for the Mavericks, who have won 17 straight conference games.

“I love that I get to run it; just go downhill,” said Burns, who after the game looked fresh enough to lug it another dozen times.

Burns topped a ground attack that churned out 396 yards, and wore down an Eastmont defense that was thinned early when standout lineman Rylan Walt left injured.

It’s a big shift from last fall when the Mavericks ran for just more than 400 yards – the entire regular season.

“Just run it, run it, run it,” first-year coach Kyler Haneberg said of the approach. “The goal for these running backs is to get 300 yards on the ground and we got there.”

Moses Lake’s stout defense, which has held four opponents to a touchdown or less, limited Eastmont to just 32 yards on the ground, and all but 24 of the Wildcats’ 168 passing yards came on two plays.

“(The rushing attack) was something we knew they wanted to lean heavily into,” Haneberg said. The Wildcats had produced more than 200 rushing yards per game entering Friday. “We wanted them to put it more into their pass game, and granted they had some shots and they got them, but we knew we wanted to shut that down.”

For a time, though, the passing attack under first-year coach Rory Rosenbach kept Eastmont even with Mavs.

On the first play of the second half, junior quarterback Peyton Zelinski found Conley McGinnis wide open for an 89-yards scoring toss. The two – who also hooked up for 55-yard score before intermission – connected again on the two-point attempt to knot the score.

Then, however, Burns and the defense took over.

The senior rushed for 158 yards and all three of his TDs in the second half. He scored on runs of 11, 3 and 36 yards, the latter on his final carry of the game with just under 2 minutes left in the contest.

Moses Lake forced three straight three-and-outs, and  scored on two of the ensuing possessions.

The Wildcats would have just one sustained drive after halftime, going 70 yards in eight plays with Ethan Akpodiete’s two-yard TD run the capper.

“We couldn’t get a rhythm on offense,” Rosenbach said. “That's a good football team, and they know how to apply the pressure.”

Decubber, who took the reins after the graduation of record-setting Montana recruit Brady Jay, completed 10 of 19 passes for 130 yards. He found Anderson for a 25-yards scoring pass on the game’s first drive, and again connected with the senior with time having expired in the first half as the junior QB scrambled to keep the play alive.

Taggart Rathbun caught a 20-yard TD pass from Decubber to answer Eastmont’s first score in the second half.

Moses Lake (7-1 overall, 5-0) finishes its conference schedule next Friday with a trip to Eisenhower. The Mavs then will wait for their Week 10 marching orders in the Class 4A round of 32.

“It reassures me that the standard is the same,” said Haneberg, a 2028 Moses Lake graduate. “We have a great foundation and we’re building upon it.”

It was the first loss of the season for the Wildcats (7-1 overall, 4-1 CBBN. Eastmont hosts Davis to cap CBBN play next week, and will take the CBBN's second of four spots in the Week 10 state play-ins.

Zelinski finished 10 for 20 passing for 225 yards, and also threw a 55-yard TD pass to McGinnis. The Mavs, however, had two interceptions – one by Anderson and another by reigning CBBN Defensive Player of the Year John Rainey after Zelisnki was hit, altering the pass.