KENNEWICK -- Grant Woods was in eighth grade when the Kennewick football team last won a state playoff game.

He's hoping the Lions' latest win, a 39-6 victory over Southridge in the first round of the 3A state playoffs, will leave as big an impression on future Kennewick players as the 2007 team did on him.

"To be a part of the team doing it now is awesome," Woods said. "There's got to be some eighth graders out there watching."

The senior running back gave them something to cheer about Saturday at Lampson Stadium, rushing 26 times for 158 yards and two touchdowns, and taking a screen pass 65 yards for another score to help lift Kennewick into the 3A quarterfinals next Saturday against Kamiakin.

That's the same Braves team that beat them 14-6 back in Week 4, still the Lions' ony loss.

"That's pretty neat. We get a quarterfinal rematch," Woods said. "It's going to be a big game."

Before the Lions even thought about that game, however, they had to take care of business against a Southridge squad loaded with weapons.

The Lions got to it quickly, as quarterback Bryce Leavitt threw a simple screen pass to Woods just a minute and 20 seconds into the game and watched the CBBN 3A scoring leader cruise down the left sideline for a 65-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

The Suns answered back with a 12-play drive that ended with a 46-yard field goal by Chandler Mertens that cut the lead to 7-3.

That's when Leavitt and Woods, behind a punishing front five, started to take over. The two combined for 282 yards and three scores on the ground, but Leavitt set the tone with a mad scramble on third and 1 from the Kennewick 40-yard line. The 6-foot-4 senior zig-zagged back and forth across the field until, before it was over, he had a 41-yard gain.

That set up a 1-yard sneak by Leavitt that pushed the lead to 13-3.