Frankly, QB leads Columbia River past Heritage

Quarterback Clayton Frank accounted for more than 400 yards of offense and five touchdowns Friday for Columbia River.

The Chieftains needed every bit of it.

Frank rushed for 130 yards and three scores while throwing for 277 yards and two touchdowns as host Columbia River opened its season with a 40-34 non-league victory over Heritage.

“I knew they were going to blitz a lot,” Frank said, “so when they came, some holes opened up.”

“He’s a real good playmaker and he has a lot of experience,” coach John O’Rourke said of the senior, a third-year starter. “He improvised some things, which is what you need a quarterback to do.”

But while Frank had the Chieftains’ offense rolling up 519 yards, Heritage nearly kept pace.

Timberwolves quarterback Loren Standiford threw for 305 yards and four touchdowns, keeping the game from ever getting out of reach, but Heritage was limited to 58 yards on 25 carries.

River led 7-0 after one quarter and took a 13-0 advantage early in the second. That’s when the offenses got untracked.

Starting with a 21-yard scoring pass from Standiford to Jacob Gardiner with 5:10 to play in the first half, the teams combined to trade four touchdowns in the span of 3:18.

That included a screen pass from Frank that Remick Kawawaki turned into a 77-yard touchdown, and an 80-yard scoring connection from Frank to Clark Bryant.

“They were blitzing hard up the middle,” Kawawaki said of the screen pass. “Good play call.”

River had a 27-13 lead at halftime, and when the Chieftains marched 60 yards for a score to open the second half, they appeared to have the game in hand.

But Heritage got a 7-yard scoring run from Standiford, and the Timberwolves later marched 87 yards in five plays to pull within 33-26 midway through the fourth quarter.

“I think we got a lot of positives coming out of this,” Heritage coach Jack Hathaway said. “We’ve got a lot of firepower.”

Tim Hergert finished with 10 receptions for 145 yards, and E’Lon Mack had six catches for 97 yards. It wasn’t quite enough to keep up with Columbia River.

“The one thing we didn’t do well tonight was tackle,” Hathaway said. “We tackle, we win the game.”

COLUMBIA RIVER 40, HERITAGE 34

Heritage 0 13 7 14–34

Col. River 7 20 6 7–40

First quarter

CR — Clayton Frank 18 run (Nathan Pyles kick)

Second quarter

CR — Frank 4 run (kick failed)

H — Jacob Gardiner 18 from Loren Standiford (Bailey Thomason kick)

CR — Remick Kawawaki 77 from Frank (run failed)

H — Tim Hergert 48 from Standiford (kick failed)

CR — Clark Bryant 80 from Frank (Frank run)

Third quarter

CR — Frank 1 run (kick failed)

H — Standiford 7 run (Thomason kick)

Fourth quarter

H — Hergert 2 from Standiford (kick failed)

CR — Kawawaki 23 run (Pyles kick)

H — E’Lon Mack 2 from Standiford (Robby Cueneta from Standiford)

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Heritage — Jay Allen 10-23; Loren Standiford 11-15; Tim Hergert 1-12; E’Lon Mack 1-10; Victor Duran 1-(-2). Columbia River — Clayton Frank 17-130; Remick Kawawaki 23-126.

PASSING — Heritage — Loren Standiford 22-35-305-1; Tim Hergert 0-1-0-0. Columbia River — Clayton Frank 13-26-277-0.

RECEIVING — Heritage — Tim Hergert 10-145; E’Lon Mack 6-97; Jacob Gardiner 2-27; Victor Duran 2-22; Jay Allen 2-14. Columbia River — Remick Kawawaki 2-104; Clark Bryant 2-90; Jawara Pennington 2-17; Marcus Gaylor 2-16; Dante Coleman 1-15; Zac Hudson 1-15; Eli Eveson 2-12; Trey Walker 1-7.