GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic Ellensburg High School's Dillon Roth breaks up a second-quarter pass intendede for Prosser High School's Kirby Moore. Moore went on to score later in the game.

PROSSER — It says something about a high school quarterback when he can step into a league championship showdown — as Prosser junior Kellen Moore did Thursday night against Ellensburg — and put up this kind of production: 225 yards and three touchdown passes.

In the first half.

It says something about the confidence of a team's players when they can absolutely dominate a title-game foe — as the Mustangs did in their 60-12 dismantling of Ellensburg — and not even be surprised.

"Not really," admitted two-way senior lineman Nick Edwards, when asked if the one-sided victory was at all surprising. "We came out (ahead) 35-0 at the half last year against these guys, and we were hoping to do something like that again."

It says something about the wealth of talent on a team when five different players can score touchdowns and the guy who will hear the most about it will be the guy who didn't.

That's because Bubba Hancock was — cue laugh track — caught from behind.

"Yeah, we were laughing about that on the sideline. The guys were giving it to me pretty good," grinned Hancock, who was getting less credit for his 79-yard run than grief for being tackled six yards from the end zone.

It says something about how well the Mustangs are playing right now that — even though there is a Bellevue looming out there in the playoffs, not to mention a Ferndale and an O'Dea — this Prosser team might be good enough to just keep right on winning.

"We have a lot of talent," Mustangs coach Tom Moore said matter-of-factly after his
9-1 team finished the Mid-Valley League season with a 6-0 mark. "We can put a lot of speed on the field, we can run the ball pretty well and we've got good team speed overall. And we've got a lot of depth — we can play a lot of guys."

First and foremost, of course, is the older of Moore's two sons on the team, Kellen — although Thursday was also a coming-out party for Kellen's freshman brother Kirby. Kellen completed 19 of his 32 passes for 328 yards and five touchdowns, running his season numbers to 3,140 yards and 41 touchdowns — both all-time Valley bests.

Three of those scoring passes came to Kirby, who had only played two previous varsity quarters and was getting his first game action of any kind of four weeks, since breaking three bones in his hand in a freshman game. The brothers connected on scoring passes of 5, 31 and 6 yards, and Kellen also hit Cody Bruns with a perfect 65-yard scoring strike and Ivan Merino with a 1-yarder.

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic Prosser High School's Kellen Crawford is tripped up by Ellensburg High School's Patrick Hampton (bottom) and tackled by Ellensburg's Luke Yarwood in the first quarter as Crawford makes a pass reception to set up Prosser's second score of the game.

Merino and reserves Cody Meeske and Steve Jackson all had rushing touchdowns for Prosser, which racked up 681 yards on remarkable balance — 339 on the ground and 342 in the air. Hancock churned out 137 yards on just four carries, including his ill-fated 79-yarder.

The Mustang defenders, meanwhile, all but negated 1,300-yard Ellensburg rusher Josh Kopczynski, who was held to just 45 yards on 15 carries.

"We've been saying since week one," Hancock said, "our defense is going to say how far we go this year."

Ellensburg quarterback Randle Affholter ran for one touchdown and hit Scott Cooper with another, and Dillon Roth, with 165 yards on a dozen receptions, was Affholter's go-to guy all night. But the only team getting it done on the scoreboard was Prosser.

"We don't worry about the scoreboard," Edwards said. "We just play our game, and the scoreboard will take care of itself."

Ellensburg 0 6 6 0 — 12

Prosser 14 14 13 19 — 60

Pro — Cody Bruns 65 pass from Kellen Moore (Ivan Merino kick)

Pro — Merino 3 run (Merino kick)

Pro — Kirby Moore 5 pass from Ke. Moore (Merino kick)

Pro — Merino 1 pass from Ke. Moore (Merino kick)

Ell — Randle Affholter 3 run (pass failed)

Pro — Ki. Moore 31 pass from Ke. Moore (Merino kick)

Pro — Ki. Moore 6 pass from Ke. Moore (kick blocked)

Ell — Scott Cooper 5 pass from Affholter (pass failed)

Pro —Keegan Pilot fumble recovery in end zone (Ricardo Sanchez kick)

Pro — Cody Meeske 8 run (kick failed)

Pro — Steve Jackson 30 run (kick blocked)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Ellensburg, Josh Kopczynski 15-45, Affholter 4-minus 9, Joe Jenkins 3-minus 3. Prosser, Bubba Hancock 4-137, Merino 20-88, Moore 3-38, Drake Washington 3-18, Jarid Leighty 3-18, Meeske 2-15, Steve Jackson 3-25.

PASSING — Ellensburg, Affholter 21-32-1 209, Jenkins 4-6-0 53. Prosser, Ke. Moore 19-32-1 328, Jordan Durbin 1-1-0 14.

RECEIVING — Ellensburg, Dillon Roth 12-165, Cooper 5-25, Wes Ferrell 2-48, Patrick Hampton 2-22, Kopczynski 1-2, Austin Sterkel 1-5, Tyler Bosko 1-0, Affholter 1-minus 5. Prosser, Nick Boydston 4-30, Serg Torres 3-47, Bruns 2-72, Danny Lochrie 3-60, Ki. Moore 3-42, Merino 2-37, Andy Moore 1-11, Kellen Crawford 1-29, Kenton Childers 1-14.