Prosser vs. Othello

Prosser vs. Othello


Tri-City Herald

Fassler leads Prosser past Othello 33-14



By Craig Craker, Tri-City Herald



PROSSER -- The CWAC title still runs through Art Fiker Stadium.

The Mustangs, led by a dizzying aerial attack and an opportunistic defense, hammered Othello 33-14 in a game many figured would be for the league title.

"All this week and all summer we heard about how Othello was the team to beat," Prosser coach Benji Sonnichsen said. "The kids were motivated by it and had something to prove."

And did the Mustangs ever prove it.

Junior quarterback Ryan Fassler threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns, while the defense forced four turnovers against a punchless Othello attack.

"Playing Othello is assignment football," Sonnichsen said. "Our defensive line hadn't played very well, and we challenged our kids up front. We did a good job of squeezing the running lanes and playing the option the right way."

Leading 14-7 coming out of halftime, the Mustangs defense stepped up.

After a Prosser punt, Othello's Caleb Garza -- who was banged up and didn't get as many touches as normal -- was stripped and Rodolfo Cruz recovered.

The next play was a 22-yard fade route from Fassler to Danny Raap to the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Isaac Anderson punched it for a 21-7 lead.

Just one Othello play later, quarterback David Garza kept the ball on an option play and while struggling for more yards, he put the ball on the ground as well. Wyatt Baker scooped it up at the Othello 38.

Eight plays later, running back Joey Hurtado scored on a cutback and the Mustangs' rout was on.

"We liked our matchups in the air and took advantage of them," Fassler said. "We just played a great game."

Fassler was sharp from the beginning, completing 10 of 14 passes in the first half for 153 yards and two touchdowns.

He hit Raap on a pass down the right sideline from an empty backfield, as the Othello corner bit on a pump fake less than 3 minutes into the game.

After Caleb Garza tied it on a 38-yard option pitch, Fassler went back to work. He hit Hurtado on a 15-yard slant and then Sterling Clark caught back-to-back passes to score from 19-yards out with just 51 seconds left in the half.

"He threw the ball right to me (tonight)," Clark said. "He's a good quarterback."

Othello did get back into the game briefly late in the third quarter after Fassler was intercepted on a tipped pass by Alec Alvarez.

David Garza hooked up with Trevor Walker on a 27-yard pass and Joey Gomez eventually scored to pull the Huskies within 27-14.

But once again the Prosser aerial show was too much.

Facing second-and-9 from the Mustangs' 39, Fassler found Anderson on a seam route up the middle.

Anderson briefly bobbled it, but regained control and then was off to the races.

"From watching tape, we knew if we lined up in a spread set, we could look and see what they were giving us," Sonnichsen said. "Isaac called that play. He told me that they were giving us that."

Anderson finished with four receptions for 89 yards. Hurtado led the ground game, rushing 10 times for 65 yards. Fassler finished 19-for-28 for 300 yards with two interceptions, while Clark had five catches for 65 yards.

Caleb Garza finished with 58 yards rushing on seven carries, while David Garza threw for 101 yards. Walker had three receptions for 54 yards.

While the Mustangs were happy with the result, they know that a win over the No. 3 team in the state does not guarantee a league title.

"We have to keep practicing," Clark said. "We can't get too cocky."


Prosser 33, Othello 14

Othello 7 0 7 0 -- 14

Prosser 7 7 13 6 -- 33


SCORING PLAYS

P--Danny Raap 46 pass from Ryan Fassler (Trino Flores kick), 8:44.

O--Caleb Garza 38 run (Matt Jones kick), :18.

P--Sterling Clark 19 pass from Fassler (Flores kick), :51.

P--Isaac Anderson 1 run (Flores kick), 8:37.

P--Joey Hurtado 6 run (kick failed), 4:46.

O--Joey Gomez 1 run (Jones kick), 1:45.

P--Anderson 61 pass from Fassler (pass failed), 11:49.


STATISTICS

RUSHING--O, Caleb Garza 8-58, David Garza 7-23, Gomez 10-15. P, Hurtado 10-65, Diego Magana 7-62, Anderson 10-25, Fassler 3-(-18).

PASSING--O, D. Garza 9-28-2--101. P, Fassler 19-28-2--300, team 0-1-0--0.

RECEIVING--O, Trevor Walker 3-54, Dustin Rodgers 2-24, Juston Lind 2-13, C. Garza 1-6, Gomez 1-4. P, Clark 5-65, Josh Lopez 5-42, Anderson 4-89, Raap 3-90, Hurtado 1-15, Wyatt Baker 1-(-1).

FIRST DOWNS--O, 9; P, 21. FUMBLES-LOST--O, 3-2; P, 1-0. PENALTIES-YARDS--O, 9-65; P, 7-63.

Yakima Herald

Fassler guides Prosser to convincing victory in CWAC showdown

PROSSER, Wash. — On a night when one former Prosser quarterback was displaying his All-America passing skills on national television, another star was being born on the very field that prodigious predecessor honed his craft. While Kellen Moore is now a record-setting senior at Boise State and well on his way to becoming the first two-time Heisman Trophy finalist in the history of Prosser — or, for that matter, in the history of Washington — back at Art Fiker Stadium this is Ryan Fassler’s time.

Just don’t expect him to say it. Or, apparently, even think it.



After his 300-yard, three-touchdown passing performance turned Friday night’s CWAC showdown with Othello into a 33-14 runaway, Fassler was asked about the game and his answer touched on a lot of things: the hard work the Mustangs had put in all week, the tremendous blocking done by the linemen in front of him, the great job done by the receivers … Uh, Ryan, what about how you did? “I didn’t play that good,” he said.


Really? A 19-for-31 night? For 300 yards and touchdown strikes to three different receivers?

“The wideouts had a good night,” Fassler said, again with emphasis.

What about that first touchdown, in which Fassler hit a wide-open Danny Raap, streaking down the right sideline, in stride for an easy 45-yard touchdown on the Mustangs’ first possession?

“Danny’s a real good player,” Fassler said. “And he’s fast.”

Fassler was simply not interested in talking about himself. His receivers, on the other hand, were plenty eager to talk about the guy whose only two interceptions came on a batted ball and on a long pass that was simply played perfectly by Husky defensive back Austin Roylance.

“He’s a good quarterback. I have a lot of faith in him,” Raap said. “He’s young, but he’s smart — he understands the defense and he doesn’t always throw to the same receivers. He’s smart.” Raap grinned. “Coach’s kid.”


That Fassler, the son of Mustangs defensive coordinator Doug Fassler, was on target Friday night turned out to be fairly important since Othello did a pretty good job of bottling up prolific Prosser running back Isaac Anderson. Anderson managed just 26 yards rushing on nine carries, including a one-yard scoring dive, but he also snared a 61-yard touchdown bomb from Fassler.

Fassler also threw a 19-yard scoring pass to Sterling Clark, who put a move on his defender on a corner route and was wide open.

Fassler and Clark also abused Othello’s defense four times with a little bubble screen the Huskies simply couldn’t defend.

“He threw the ball just right to me every time, right to my chest. He’s a good quarterback,” said Clark, who finished with five receptions for 66 yards. “I was surprised it kept on working — we did it quite a lot, it seemed like.”


Prosser (2-0 CWAC, 2-1 overall) had plenty of standouts on defense, notably James Wildman, who came up with a pair of interceptions, and end Rodolfo Cruz. And Joey Hurtado had some nice moments at running back for the Mustangs, including a six-yard touchdown run.

Othello (1-1, 1-2) was clearly shackled by the fact that running back Caleb Garza, last year’s CWAC offensive player of the year after rushing for more than 1,800 yards, was at far less than 100 percent.

Hampered by a back injury, Garza didn’t touch the ball on either the Huskies’ first two possessions, and ultimately finished with just six carries.

Even his 38-yard touchdown run was less anything that he did than a heady play by Othello quarterback David Garza, who — while fighting for extra yards on an option keeper — spotted his speedy running back alone near the sideline and pitched the ball to him. Caleb Garza had clear sailing down the sideline for the score.


Without a full-strength Garza at running back, Othello couldn’t overcome its four-turnover night and certainly had no answer for Ryan Fassler.

“We didn’t know just what we had (in Fassler) going into the first week,” Mustangs coach Benji Sonnichsen said. “But his FBI — his football intelligence — is just really good. He goes through his reads really well, he reads the defense well. Hey, he’s a coach’s kid.”

Yep, just another Prosser coach’s kid who’s got game.