Hornets Sting Champs

B-11 football

The little Hornets kept buzzing around and eventually they stung the Gorillas.

Snagging two loose balls out of the air in the final 88 seconds, No. 6 Oroville shocked defending state champion Davenport 28-27 in the first round of the State B-11 football playoffs Friday night.

Oroville halfback Braxton Cleman threw the ball up for grabs and it was tipped three times before David Jenkins grabbed it and fell into the end zone to tie the game with 1:28 to play. Travis McNall’s kick gave the Hornets their only lead of the game.

“Jimmy (O’Hara) tipped it twice, it was just right there,” said Jenkins. “I was just thankful for that.”

The halfback pass was necessary on the fourth-and-9 play from the 11 because three plays earlier Oroville quarterback Chris Silva was taken off the field in an ambulance with a dislocated elbow.

“I saw two guys and I knew we needed to get down to the end zone. I just threw it up,” Cleman said. “I didn’t even see what happened.”

Fourth-ranked Davenport (7-2) responded by reaching the Oroville 6 with 50 seconds left when Dale Buchanan’s pass bounced off Cody Rodenbough and Cleman snatched it in the end zone and returned it to the 16 to secure the win for the Hornets (9-1), who lost to Davenport in the semifinals last year.

Oroville plays DeSales in Kennewick next weekend. The Irish defeated Reardan 50-37 in Kennewick.

“That’s just the way football is,” dejected Davenport coach Skip Pauls whispered. “That pass had been open all night. Turnovers hurt us. Poor play calling on my part, maybe. Those kids played hard; they didn’t deserve this.”

Davenport threatened to blow the game open twice. The Gorillas went 75 yards in just six running plays after the opening kickoff to take a 6-0 lead, and when Clemon fumbled on his 6 on Oroville’s first play it was quickly 13-0.

The Gorillas’ next two possessions ended with turnovers, a pass that bounced off a Davenport player to Silva and a fumble on the Hornets’ 10. After the fumble, the Hornets went 90 yards in 14 plays, converting on third down four times while chewing up 6:14. They added a TD 1 second before halftime for a tie.

Davenport put together two punishing drives to make it 27-13 a minute into the fourth quarter. On the second kickoff, fielded by lineman Shad Turner at the 30, the ball was pitched back to Cleman, who was bottled up at the 40 before breaking outside and racing down the right sideline for a touchdown. The Hornets’ two-point conversion made it 27-21.

Davenport was marching for a clinching score before fumbling the ball away on the Oroville 9 with 7 minutes left. The Hornets converted three third downs before scoring on fourth down.

Oroville 28, Davenport 27

Oroville 0 13 0 15 -28

Davenport 13 0 7 7 -27

D-FitzPatrick 2 run (kick failed) D-Hall 1 run (Telecky kick) O-Jenkins 6 pass from Silva (McNall kick) O-Jenkins 5 pass from Silva (kick failed) D-Telecky 5 run (Telecky kick) D-Telecky 10 run (Telecky kick) O-Cleman 70 kickoff return (Bell pass from Silva) O-Jenkins 11 pass from Cleman (McNall kick)

DeSales 50, Reardan 37

Brian Lindgren completed 23 of 33 passes for 404 yards and two touchdowns to lead the No. 8 Irish (9-1) past the seventh-ranked Indians (7-3).

Lindgren also rushed for a pair of touchdowns.

Reardan quarterback Nathan Graham tossed two TD passes and finished with 178 yards passing and Travis Titchenal rushed for 92 yards, caught six passes for 75 yards and scored four TDs.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo