A Thorne in Timberlake's side

SPIRIT LAKE - After being beaten up last week against East Valley, Lakeland High coach Tim Kiefer wasn't sure what could go right for his Hawks.

And after a 47-minute battle with Timberlake, it didn't look like the week things were going to bounce their way, either.

But on the final play of the game, senior Cory Thorne broke through the defensive line from less than a yard out as time expired to give the visiting Hawks a 27-26 nonleague win over the in-district rival Timberlake Tigers at Van Tuinstra Memorial Field on Friday night.

“In the last two weeks, it’s felt like whatever could go wrong has,” Kiefer said. Lakeland was without starting receivers Daniel Whitesitt and Sam Mallory, who were out with injuries. “Our kids stepped up tonight. I’m extremely proud of them right now.”

Lakeland (1-2) senior running back Brendon Kedish had 27 carries for 202 yards and one touchdown.

“Brendon was running really hard tonight,” Kiefer said. “Brendon was a man possessed. I told him at halftime he was hurting them too much on offense, so I pulled him out on defense to try to rest him. He just took over the game on offense and did a great job.”

Thorne took the Hawks’ second play from scrimmage 76 yards on a streak pass from Eric Cooper to set up a 16-yard touchdown run by Kedish. Thorne had a 15-yard touchdown reception from Cooper to put the Hawks up 21-20 with 5:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“We showed a lot of heart tonight,” Thorne said. “It was a complete team effort tonight to get a win.”

“This game means a lot,” Kiefer said. “After the season we had last year (2-8) — this is exactly what we needed. For the kids and the school. This was an amazing win.”

Timberlake drove the field following the Lakeland touchdown, getting a 25-yard gain on a pass from Brian Cronnelly to Devin Smith on a simultaneous catch with Thorne to give the Tigers a first down on the 12-yard line.

Cronnelly found senior Josh Zaroni on a 12-yard touchdown pass to put the Tigers up 26-21 with 42.9 seconds remaining.

Both of Cronnelly’s completions in the second half accounted for touchdowns, as he found Smith on a 24-yard touchdown to give Timberlake a 20-14 lead.

“Congrats to Lakeland,” Timberlake coach Roy Albertson said. “They made more plays than us tonight. As a team, we’re not good enough right now. We just need to get better as a team.”

Christian Heth had 18 carries for 64 yards and two touchdowns for Timberlake (0-3), which faces Fruitland on Friday in Kamiah.

“We had some good blocking at times,” Albertson said. “We made some big catches in the second half. We’re a running team — and they completely shut it down in the second half. We need to have some more grit up front.”

Lakeland hosts Post Falls on Friday.

Lakeland 7 0 7 13 — 27

Timberlake 0 14 6 6 — 26

LL — Brendon Kedish 16 run (Cody Vandever kick)

TL — Christian Heth 3 run (Heth run)

TL — Heth 6 run (run failed)

LL — Cory Thorne 2 run (Vandever kick)

TL — Devin Smith 24 pass from Brian Cronnelly (run failed)

LL — Thorne 15 pass from Eric Cooper (Vandever kick)

TL — Josh Zaroni 12 pass from Cronnelly (pass failed)

LL — Thorne 1 run (no conversion attempted)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — LL, Thorne 2-(-10), Kedish 27-202, Cooper 2-3, Cederblom 2-10. TL, Heth 18-64, Cronnelly 4-(-11), Smith 9-52, Shaffer 3-1, Williams 8-38, Aga 2-6.

PASSING — LL, Cooper 10-25-208. TL, Cronnelly 8-20-122.

RECEIVING — LL, Grey 5-73, Arno 1-8, Campbell 2-32, Thorne 4-112. TL, Smith 4-56, Cecil 1-15, Theil 1-10, Zaroni 1-12.