Blackhawks steamroll Moscow Bears 48-6

About the only thing the Cheney High School football team did wrong last Friday night against Idaho 4A school Moscow was let them score.

The Blackhawks ran through, over and around the Bears for about a third of a mile in rushing yardage, getting three touchdowns from running back Austin Kline and two more from Brayden Butikofer in a 48-6 beat down of the visitors in Cheney's home opener.

Kline capped a seven-play opening drive with a 20-yard scoring run, quarterback Josh Martin topped an 11-play drive with a 1-yard TD plunge on the second possession to put Cheney up 14-0 with 3 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Butikofer picked off Bears quarterback Devin Carscallen at the Moscow 19 and five plays later, Kline was in the end zone again for a 21-0 lead with 2:07 to go in the first.

Cheney's fourth possession was thwarted by a Logan Vach interception off a Martin pass at Cheney's 21, and the Bears finished the short drive on Jack Akey's leaping grab of a Carscallen pass in the corner of the end zone to trim the margin to 21-6 early in the second quarter. After that, it was pretty much all Cheney.

Kline bolted untouched through the right side of the line for a 28-yard score at 5:29, and Ty Graham hauled in a 15-yard Martin pass for another score and 35-6 lead right before the half. Butikofer capped the Blackhawks scoring with pair of second half touchdowns.

Moscow did mount a threat on its first possession of the third quarter, using a Carscallen to Bryson Bennett 20-yard pass to highlight a drive from their own 23 to the Blackhawks 12. But on fourth and one from the 3, Cheney's defense stuffed Vach's run up the middle, ending the threat and forcing Moscow to turn over the ball on downs.

"They're starting to thrive in those situations, with their backs against the wall," head coach Bobby Byrd said of Cheney's defense. "I think they've grown to embrace them."

Byrd said it was the Blackhawks first real complete offensive effort of the season, beginning the scoring on its first drive and never letting up. It helped that senior tight ends Kennan Williams and Brett Wyborney were inserted in the backfield as fullbacks, providing extra blocking, but Byrd felt the offensive line as a whole executed well.

It also probably helped that Cheney was playing in front of the hometown crowd for the first time this season, after opening with five straight road games.

The Blackhawks are now 5-1 overall, 1-0 in Great Northern League play with two of their remaining three games at home, beginning with a key GNL match up this Friday against visiting West Valley. The Eagles come in at 3-3, 1-1 in GNL play.

Four of those games have come against common opponents with Cheney, losses to Idaho 4A Lakeland (31-7) and Northeast A Colville (34-21) and wins over Moscow (42-7) and last Friday's 17-15 GNL-squeaker at home over East Valley. Cheney's only loss among those four was to Colville, 12-10 in the season opener.

That still leaves Byrd feeling very leery of what the Eagles will bring to Tom Oswald Field, beginning with a desire to spoil the Blackhawks Homecoming. That, and the bad taste likely left in their mouths after being denied a playoff appearance last year because of a 20-14 overtime loss at home to Cheney.

West Valley returns 21 starters from last year's squad, led by All-GNL wide receiver Tevin Duke, all-league defensive back Alex Hall, 240-pound defensive lineman/running back Jace Malek and quarterback Austin Lee. Byrd said the Eagles are well coached, solid on the defensive line and do a little bit of everything offensively.

"At this point it will be our toughest challenge and it will be big to see how our kids step up," Byrd said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].