PROSSER – You just knew it was going to come down to the final play.

For 47 minutes on Friday night, the visiting Selah Vikings and the Prosser Mustangs were in a bruising battle at Art Fiker Stadium.

A slugfest, if you will.

With Selah trailing 14-10 and holding the football with 3 minutes and 50 seconds remaining at its own 48 yard line, the Vikings went with their star running back, handing senior Calen Wuitschik the ball.

But Wuitschick — who hadn’t really broken loose on this night, but he wasn’t completely contained — got just 4 yards on three plays.

It took a 30-yard pass to Jarrid Scribner to Clayton Bucknell to get Selah into the Red Zone.

On a fourth and six from the Prosser 8, it all came down to one final play.

Scribner set up to pass to find a receiver in the end zone. But the ball was deflected by Prosser defender Ben Colgan into the hands of Mustangs teammate Brody Buxton for an interception, a touchback, and a 14-10 victory.

“The play before that, right before they snapped it, I saw (Scribner) looking our way,” said Buxton. “I let Ben know. He deflected it. So really, it was Ben (who made the play).”

Prosser coach Corey Ingvalson looked drained after the game.

Even moreso, he was emotional when he tried to talk to his players at midfield. And he brought up the godfather of Prosser’s program (and Ingvalson’s coach when he was a player).

“This program means a lot to me. Coach (Tom) Moore means lot to me. It’s special to uphold the program and try to live up to that legacy,” said Ingvalson. “These guys work hard to find their identity and culture. And Selah is heck of a team. They got warriors at running back, and they’ve got warriors on the line.”

Indeed.

Third-year head coach Greg Haste was matter-of-fact after the game after his team’s first loss of the season.

“It was a very even game. That was fun,” said Haste. “It hurts to lose but it’s part of the game. It’s a bloodbath out here, man.”

Haste wanted his defense to take away Prosser’s quick access passes and make them throw deep.

That worked.

At halftime, the game was tied with a low score of 7-7.

Selah scored first when Bucknell picked up a fumble and returned it 60 yards for a 7-0 lead.

Prosser responded on the ensuing series, marching 52 yards on 11 plays, with Daniel Diaz connecting with Scott Martin on a 4-yard TD pass.

In the third quarter, the Vikings took the opening kickoff and moved 53 yards in 10 plays, culminating in a 29-yard field goal by Tallen Hall.

Now trailing 10-7, the Mustangs quickly responded.

Diaz marched the Mustangs 75 yards in 9 plays. He found Xzander Espino on an out pattern in the end zone from 14 yards out for a score. Espino just got his feet in the end zone for the score.

At that point, Prosser’s defensive unit (which never surrendered a touchdown) provided a bend-but-not-break attitude, keeping the Vikings out of the end zone and stopping their final two drives at the 9 and the touchback interception.

Wuitschick still got his yards, rushing 28 times for 128 yards.

But the bigger problem came for the Vikings, with 16 penalties for 167 — including four for personal fouls. Prosser had 9 penalties for 76 yards.

More importantly for Prosser, it meant that the Mustangs (7-0 CWAC, 8-0 overall) won their first Central Washington Athletic Conference title since 2021.

No matter what happens next Friday when Prosser travels to Ephrata to finish the regular season, Mustangs coach Corey Ingvalson’s team will be the top CWAC seed when the Class 2A round of 32 begins postseason play in the first week of November.

Meanwhile Selah (6-1 CWAC, 7-1 overall) plays host to East Valley-Yakima at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 30. The game will determine the CWAC’s 2 and 3 seeds to the postseason.

“This was a slugfest,” said Ingvalson. “In these games, you just try to find a way. In the end, we probably made one more play than they did.”