COULEE CITY The Moses Lake Christian Academy/Covenant Christian School Lions came out on top of a defensive battle Saturday night, defeating the Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors on the road 50-46 to improve their record to 6-1.
“This is one of toughest places to play,” MLCA/CCS coach Emerson Ferguson said. “I know they’ve (ACH) got some injuries, but this has always been a tough place. We knew it was going to be tough, plus it’s our first game back after the break. The experience was the biggest factor in being able to win a close game.”
The Warriors opened the game on an 8-5 run, with the Lions tying the game on a three-pointer by sophomore Johnny Ferguson and the Warriors quickly retaking the lead with a three by senior Jaxon Baergen. MLCA/CCS closed the first quarter with a layup in transition by senior Jonah Robertson to take a 15-11 lead.
COULEE CITY – Up by eight at the end of the third quarter, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos held the Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors to just six points over the final eight minutes of Saturday’s non-league matchup in Coulee City to win 52-39.
LRS picked up its second win of the season, having defeated Kittitas 72-45 the night prior.
MOSES LAKE Facing off against No. 11 seed Concrete, the No. 6 Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors overcame an early double-digit deficit to advance into the second round of the 1B State Football Playoffs, defeating the Lions 42-26 at Lions Field in Moses Lake.
“It feels great,” ACH coach Brandon Walsh said. “Obviously last year we lost out in the first round; for a lot of these kids, getting that monkey off their back was a big deal. Hopefully, we got some of the mistakes out of our system, because we didn’t play the cleanest football we ever have today.”
HARTLINE – With 19-0 and 11-1 wins over Columbia (Hunters) on Tuesday, the Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors improved to 9-0 on the year.
The Warriors entered Tuesday’s doubleheader coming off 10-0 and 7-4 wins against Northport on Saturday, who was 9-1 entering the weekend.