By Al Camp
Chronicle staff

     OMAK — This year’s Backyard Brawl football game with Okanogan at Omak on Friday, Oct. 16, should include lots of explosive passing and
running.
     Just not necessarily by the same team.
     Omak Coach Nick Sackman said his team follows the lead of C.J. Lockwood’s running to open up passing when needed.
     Okanogan Coach Denny Neely said he’s relied on the passing of Ryan Price to open up lanes for his runners.
     Okanogan (3-1, 4-1) is in second place in the Caribou Trail League behind Cashmere and Cascade, who are both 4-0 in league. That tie atop the league will be decided at the Pear Bowl this Friday in Peshastin.
     Omak (2-2, 2-3) could pull itself out of a tie with Chelan and ahead of Okanogan in a tiebreaker with a victory.
     “It’s pretty big,” Sackman said of the game. “We are in the same situation as last year, with the winner having the inside spot to that third-place position.”
     Sackman suggests a possible outcome can be found by pointing to the scores of the teams lone common foe, Cashmere.
     Cashmere topped Okanogan 38-6 and Omak 38-12.
     “It depends on what team shows up for either side,” Neely said of the scores. “I think the talent is there on both teams. I think both teams will show up. It should be a great game.”
     Though Omak is a game behind Okanogan, Sackman said his team has played a tougher schedule by playing both Cascade and Cashmere already.
     Neely said his team’s pass blocking did well against the larger Chelan team, though he’s yet to play the starting five on the line that he penned onto the lineup at the start of the season.
     This week, the offensive line must contend with a quicker Omak team that blitzes more.
     “Omak has some speed and real good skill kids,” Neely said. “It’s going to be a typical Omak and Okanogan game.”
     “We have to find a way to stop the passing game, to make sure they don’t beat us on any big plays and play good, solid defense,” Sackman said.
     Sackman said he’s familiar with plays used by Okanogan last week to get a lead on Chelan.
     “We’ve seen that one before (double reverse and throw),” he said. “They run that one against us every year.”
     “We think we can run the option on them, inside and power off tackle,” Neely said. “We plan to mix that up. We can cause Omak some problems and Omak can cause us some problems. It will be the typical backyard brawl.”