Royal, Kennewick, Liberty Christian in top 10 in latest AP football poll

The latest Associated Press state high school football poll came out on Tuesday, and Royal maintains its stranglehold on the top spot in Class 1A.

The Knights, who have won the state title three consecutive years, are 5-0 this season.

Kennewick (4-1) dropped from fourth in the 3A poll to No. 7, after the Lions lost to Chiawana 19-9 last Friday night.

And in the 1B poll, Liberty Christian of Richland (5-0) stays at No. 3, while DeSales (4-1) received votes.

Here are the No. 1 teams in each classification: Graham-Kapowsin (4A), O’Dea (3A), Tumwater (2A), Royal (1A), Okanogan (2B) and Liberty Bell (1B).

Signings

There are some early signings for area athletes that will take effect for the 2024-25 school year, starting with two frontline hitters for Kamiakin’s volleyball team.

Peyton Arland has committed to Bushnell University, while Julie Whitley has signed with Eastern Oregon University.

Meanwhile, Kamiakin schoolmate Gracie Rainsberry, a midfielder for the girls soccer team, has committed to Eastern Oregon’s women’s soccer team.

College Place senior Nell Dodds has signed a letter of intent to play women’s golf for Walla Walla University.

Offers

To watch Southridge senior Gavin Allen play either tight end or defensive end for the Suns, it’s easy to tell he has the frame and talent to play at the next level.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pounder has been getting noticed by colleges. So far he’s had offers from Eastern Washington University, Minot State, Carroll College and Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore.

He’s also made visits to a number of other campuses, including Pullman and Corvallis.

Baseball

Taking a look at the teams who made Major League Baseball’s playoffs, there are three former Tri-City Dust Devils on rosters.

Milwaukee has two of them, with relief pitcher Trevor Megill and infielder Owen Miller.

Houston has reliever Phil Maton, and the Astros have a first-round bye.

▪ The Vancouver Canadians beat the Everett AquaSox 3 games to 1 to win the Northwest League championship last month.

The Canadians, a Toronto Blue Jays’ farm club, finished the regular season with a 77-54 record — best among all six NWL teams.

Everett (Mariners) was second with 74-58, and the rest in order were Eugene (Giants) 66-66, Spokane (Rockies) 62-67, Tri-City (Angels) 58-72, and Hillsboro (Diamondbacks) 56-76.

As for the Dust Devils, the team had some outstanding performances this season.

According to the Baseball Reference website, Gustavo Campero was the league’s top hitter for average (minimum of 137 at bats) with a .337 batting average over 62 games.

Outfielder Joe Stewart was ranked fourth in the league in games played (119), stolen bases (42) and hits (115).

Outfielder Alexander Ramirez had five triples, the fifth most in the Northwest League.

Infielder Adrian Placencia ranked second in walks with 82.

Pitching-wise, starter Chase Chaney threw the third-most innings in the league at 111.2, and he was tied for fourth in wins with 7.

The 2024 Northwest League season will begin in early April.

Prep volleyball

They’re just beginning the second half of the double round-robin schedule in Mid-Columbia Conference volleyball play this week, but it looks like Kamiakin, Kennewick and Richland are the teams to beat this season.

Kamiakin and Richland are usual suspects, but it’s nice to see Brandy Sonderland’s Kennewick Lions up there in the standings.

But keep an eye out for Chiawana. Jim Steach’s team started out 0-3 in MCC play but has won five straight conference matches.

Here are the MCC standings as of Tuesday night: 1, Kamiakin 8-0; 2, Kennewick 7-1; 3, Richland 6-2; 4, Chiawana 5-3; 5 (tie), Hermiston and Walla Walla 3-5; 7, Hanford 3-6; 8, Southridge 1-7; 9, Pasco 0-8.

Big matches coming up: Richland at Kamiakin, 7 p.m., Oct. 12; Kamiakin at Kennewick, 7 p.m.; Oct. 17; Kennewick at Richland, 7 p.m., Oct. 19.

▪ Liberty Christian is on top of the Southeast 1B West volleyball standings through matches of Tuesday.

The Patriots are 6-0 so far, while DeSales is second at 5-1. The rest of the standings: Sunnyside Christian 3-2, Prescott 2-3, Yakama Nation Tribal 1-4, Waitsburg 0-2, Touchet 0-5.

Liberty Christian visits DeSales at 6:15 p.m., today, Wednesday, Oct. 4.

College football

Keegan Bishop (Liberty Christian), a true freshman at North Dakota State College of Science, got his first start at quarterback a few weekends ago, and he led his team to a 41-10 win over Minnesota North College Vermilion.

Bishop was 4 for 10 for 77 yards passing, and he tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass.

NDSCS is 4-1 this season.

▪ Defensive lineman Jax Lee (Richland) had 6 tackles (3.5 for loss) and 2.5 quarterback sacks as Redlands College defeated Pacific Lutheran 24-14 in a non-conference football game on Sept. 2.

▪ Defensive back Josh Mendoza (Richland) led the Eastern Oregon University defense with 10 tackles (6 solo) in a 49-31 football loss to Montana Tech two weekends ago.

Mendoza is a graduate student at the La Grande, Ore., school.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.