Non-league football: Columbia River 45, Black Hills 7

Columbia River’s receiving corps, like everyone else’s, runs tip drills at practices each day.

Jacob Bystry may not have thought it would ever be needed before Friday’s nonleague home game with Black Hills, but he was sure happy to have had the practice afterward.

The Chieftains senior worked the tip drill to perfection, catching a deflected ball from Nathan Hawthorne and stepping into the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first half, giving them a 38-0 lead en route to a 45-7 victory at River Stadium.

“I saw the ball going over there, and I just decided to stay behind for possibly the opportunity it would be tipped up in the air,” said Bystry, who finished with four catches for a game-high 63 yards. “I thought Nathan would grab it out of the air, and I just happened to be there.”

Bystry also had a pair of interceptions, including one just before halftime on which he raced 15 yards from his deep zone coverage to step in front of a Wolves receiver at the Black Hills 37.

“I saw that (the ball was short), so I just broke right to the hip of the receiver,” he said. “The ball went right into my hands.”

Three plays later, quarterback Gabe Evenson scored on a 1-yard run, one of five touchdowns he had a hand in scoring.

“The first three games, we’d started off slowly, so we wanted to show tonight that we could come out fast,” said Evenson, who also tossed four TD passes and finished 17-of-26 for 199 yards, while also rushing for a game-high 72 yards.

Hawthorne caught six balls for 58 yards and two TDs, and Carson Bassett had four catches for 36 yards and a touchdown.

As efficient as the Chieftains (4-0) were on offense, scoring on seven of their first nine possessions and racking up 21 first downs, their defense keyed Friday’s rout of the 2A Wolves (2-2).

Besides Bystry’s two picks, Hunter Graham also had an interception and Columbia River had 10 pass breakups as it made life miserable for Black Hills quarterback Jaydon Troy (19-of-39, 112 yards).

“We really worked on taking away the corner routes they like to run,” Bystry said.

After picking on the Wolves this week, the Chieftains, ranked No. 7 in 3A, know they’ll face a much stiffer test next week when they travel to Tumwater (2-0), ranked No. 2 in 2A after losing in the state title game the past two years after winning it all in 2010.

“That’ll be a real challenge,” said coach John O’Rourke, whose team then opens Greater St. Helens League play the following week against Fort Vancouver. “I thought tonight we played through three quarters with a lot of intensity. All of our top four receivers played really well and made some really great plays.”

COLUMBIA RIVER 45, BLACK HILLS 7

Black Hills 0 0 0 7—7

Columbia River 17 21 7 0—45

First Quarter

CR — Garrett McKee 27 FG

CR — Nathan Hawthorne 10 pass from Gabe Evenson (kick blocked)

CR — Nic Briggs 1 run (Rory Menagat run)

Second Quarter

CR — Evenson 1 run (McKee kick)

CR — Carson Bassett 29 pass from Evenson (McKee kick)

CR — Jacob Bystry 30 pass from Evenson (McKee kick)

Third Quarter

CR — Hawthorne 10 pass from Evenson (McKee kick)

Fourth Quarter

BH — Conner Furu 4 run (Drew Kimmel kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING — Black Hills, Jordan March 10-48, Furu 7-37, Josh Boyd 4-21, Jaydon Troy 2-7, Mark Melendres 1-5, Jason Kramer 1-(minus 1). Columbia River, Evenson 12-72, Briggs 7-15, Vincent Daniels 6-64, Paul Meister 5-12, Dalton Garrett 1-15, Bassett 1-6.

PASSING — Black Hills, Troy 19-39-3-112. Columbia River, Evenson 17-26-1-199, McKee 0-2-0-0.

RECEIVING — Black Hills, Alex Romero 5-37, Melendres 5-25, Tyler Gatterman 3-24, Jason Kramer 3-15, Gabe Adamson 2-11, Boyd 1-0. Columbia River, Hawthorne 6-58, Bystry 4-63, Bassett 4-36, Holden Fielding 2-27, Menagat 1-15.