Hawks grounded

RATHDRUM — The start was good for Lakeland — a three-and-out on defense, followed by a 3-yard touchdown pass from Troy Carr to Cory Thorne.

But the Hawks struggled to move the ball on the ground after that, committed five turnovers and couldn’t stop Sandpoint’s ground game as the Bulldogs beat Lakeland 41-21 in the 4A Inland Empire League opener for both teams Friday night at Corbit Field.

“It was a bit of a roller coaster,” Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said. “Emotionally, we were up at first, and then we had a few things go wrong, and we went down and we let them have a couple scores. And then we were up again ... we didn’t really play an even, solid game.”

Carr, a sophomore who was brought up from the junior varsity earlier in the season to help out at linebacker, got the start at quarterback after starting QB Eric Cooper was suspended for one game for disciplinary reasons. The left-handed Carr, who had been the JV quarterback earlier in the season, completed his first five passes and finished 17 of 30 for 165 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions.

Sandpoint (3-4, 1-0 4A IEL) answered Lakeland’s TD with a 5-yard run by Luther Morgan. The Bulldogs scored twice late in the second quarter — the second one set up by a lost fumble by the Hawks — to lead 21-6 at halftime.

Lakeland (2-6, 0-1) pulled within 21-13 early in the third quarter on a 29-yard pass-and-run from Carr to Gaige Grey.

A fumble recovery by Lakeland’s Zack Schweikert set up a 3-yard run by Thorne that cut Sandpoint’s lead to 34-21 with 8:55 left. But two plays later, Morgan zipped up the middle for a 65-yard touchdown run that put the game away.

Eric Nikssarian rushed for 163 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries for Sandpoint, which totaled 326 yards on the ground.

“We had a hard time stopping them,” Kiefer said. “Initially it was the sweep, and then later on in the second half I think the problem was rectified and it was just a mixture of different things. It was missed tackles, it was us not wrapping up, maybe on occasion not playing physical enough. Just kind of a grab bag of things in the second half.”

Nikssarian was moved to tailback from wide receiver this week to replace injured star running back/kick returner Anthony Gold, who suffered a neck stinger last week vs. Post Falls.

“Eric’s really a good athlete,” Sandpoint coach Mike Mitchell said. “I know we probably bruised some feelings of kids, but I thought he did a great job. It was a great performance by him. The line blocked well up front, and I thought our defense played well tonight. And we really specialize in special teams, and I thought our kickoff team was great all night long; they kept them in bad field position.”

Jacob Clad had two interceptions for Sandpoint, and Morgan and Brandon Hawkins had one each.

After that initial three-and-out, Sandpoint scored on five of its next six possessions, mostly led by its ground game.

Sandpoint forced five turnovers, including four interceptions, two by Jacob Clad. Luther Morgan, who rushed for 110 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries, had the other pick.

Lakeland travels to Moscow on Friday in its regular season finale, needing a victory over the Bears to keep its postseason hopes alive.

Sandpoint 7 14 13 7 — 41

Lakeland 6 0 7 8 — 21

LL — Cory Thorne 3 pass from Troy Carr (kick failed)

Spt — Luther Morgan 5 run (Cole Fuhrman kick)

Spt — Eric Nikssarian 25 run (Fuhrman kick)

Spt — Nikssarian 3 run (Fuhrman kick)

LL — Gaige Grey 29 pass from Carr (Cody Vandever kick)

Spt — Morgan 8 run (kick failed)

Spt — Nikssarian 15 run (Furhman kick)

LL — Thorne 3 run (Hunter Arno pass from Carr)

Spt — Morgan 65 run (Fuhrman kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Spt, Nikssarian 26-163, Morgan 13-110, Hawkins 6-53. LL, Carr 7-5, Kedish 10-25, Thorne 8-18, Cederblom 8-14.

PASSING — Spt, Hawkins 2-8-1-50. LL, Carr 17-30-4-165.

RECEIVING — Spt, Morgan 2-50. LL, Arno 5-51, Thorne 3-25, Grey 7-75, Kedish 1-12, Cederblom 1-0.