Kennewick credits mental sharpness in string of last-second playoff wins: Central and Eastern Washington high school football notebook

The Lions won its first round and quarterfinal games on blocked PATs, dramatic finishes.

Randy Affholter knows you could have the most physically gifted team in the country, but that alone won’t be enough when the game is on the line. 

“You better be mentally sharp in those situations,” Affholter said.

Through the season, culminating over the past two weeks, that’s where the first-year Kennewick head coach has seen his team thrive. 

The 5-seed Lions are in the 3A state semifinals against top-seeded O’Dea on Saturday, the program’s first semifinal appearance since 1992. 

And they’ve advanced by way of two of the closest games in the entire playoffs — a 35-34 first round win over Yelm and a 21-20 win over Bethel. Kennewick blocked last-minute PATs to win both games. 

• PHOTOS | Kennewick upsets Bethel in 3A state quarterfinals

Close games are nothing new to the Lions. Last week’s quarterfinal win over 4-seed Bethel was their fourth by less than a touchdown this season. 

Affholter credited defensive sharpness stopping Bethel’s last-second Hail Mary attempt after a recovered onside kick and blocking a field goal earlier in the game. 

“Every time we went back on D, we got stops, turned ball over,” Affholter said. “The D said ‘don’t worry, we’ll get ball back.’ They showed strength and resolve.”

Multiple players threw up from exhaustion after the game, according to the coach. 

Affholter knows it’s going to take a little bit more to beat top-ranked O’Dea. The key, he says, is not allowing them to do what Bethel did — hold onto the ball for large chunks of the game. 

Mental acuity can’t be simulated, but it can be taught, Affholter said. That’s why the team has weekly meetings where he plays videos focusing on grit, mental resolve and how to not let emotions carry over from one play to another. Russell Wilson is the guiding example of that, he says.

Affholter is the only first-year head coach who is new to the school remaining in the Washington state football playoffs, across all classifications, and stepped into a group of players he deemed capable of making it to this stage. 

Kennewick head coach Randy Affholter (left) celebrates win over Bethel. (Vince Miller photo)

But the senior-heavy roster that featured 15 returning starters still had to buy in to a brand new coach. 

That process started with an attitude change. 

Affholter told the team over the summer that for too long, the Lions had been the “little guy on the block,” and that now, with 25 seniors and plenty of all-league talent, they needed to start thinking like the “big guy.”

His words carried weight. Perhaps that has to do with his resume. Affholter coached 2A Ellensburg for 22 years, racking up four state semifinal appearances, 11 trips to the playoffs and seven conference championships.

KENNEWICK’S CHAVEZ A WEEK AWAY

The Lions have been without their starting quarterback throughout the postseason and while nearing a return, Blaine Chavez is still at least a week away. 

Chavez underwent an operation to treat staff infection that reached his shin bone after Week 7, and has missed the last four weeks recovering. 

Wide receiver Elijah Tanner has been serviceable in his place under center (scored two TDs against Bethel), and Affholter said Chavez’s leadership and mentorship with Tanner has been instrumental to the team’s success.

He also didn’t rule out a return for Chavez if the Lions were too upset O’Dea and make the 3A state championship. 

“If we get this one, we play next Saturday, we’re rollin’,” Affholter said.

CONNELL ISN’T AFRAID OF 1A FAVORITE ROYAL

Wayne Riner and the Connell Eagles aren’t surprised they are competing in the 1A state semifinals as a 13-seed — the highest seed left in the tournament across all classifications.

“We’re on cloud nine,” Riner said of his three-loss Eagles.

They’ve seen their steadily play improve over the last six weeks of the season, and crescendo with state playoff upsets of 4-seed La Center and 5-seed Mount Baker. More importantly, Connell knows what it’s up against when it takes on area opponent Royal, the overwhelming 1A favorite. Royal already beat the Eagles 34-0 in Week 6.

At the time, the loss dropped Connell to 3-3 after early losses to Othello and Sandpoint (Id.). Riner says the coaching staff was getting used to new offensive coordinators Brian Anderson and Scott Forsyth. Riner called both offense and defense for the last five seasons, but handed off the offense this season. 

As the season went on, the offense began to find its stride. Senior Jekoby Tuttle has accounted for more the 1,300 yards rushing this season, and his junior brother Jaxsen Tuttle has served as a standout secondary back. Quarterback Traver Johnson has stepped up as a first-year starter, too. 

But despite Connell’s size and resilience through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Royal, which has won its first two playoff games a combined 128-13, is a different beast. 

“We’re going run into a wall, I realize that, Royal’s that good — but we’re going to give them hell,” Riner said.

Many of Royal’s players are familiar to Connell players from playing against each other growing up in youth football. 

“Some kids are intimated by them, but my kids are not intimated,” Riner said. “They don’t back down to nobody. They don’t back down. They’ve been playing Royal since 7th grade. They know ‘em.”

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Andy Buhler is a reporter with Scorebook Live Washington; Email: andy@scorebooklive.com; Twitter: @AndyBuhler; Instagram: andy.buhler.