'The streak's alive, baby'

COEUR d'ALENE - When the Lake City Timberwolves trudged off their home field Thursday night after losing to the Coeur d'Alene Vikings, they were pretty sure their season was over.

But when Post Falls lost at Lewiston the following night, Lake City was given another chance. And the Timberwolves made the most of it Monday night at Coeur d'Alene High, beating Post Falls and Lewiston in a Kansas tiebreaker to claim the 5A Inland Empire League's second berth to the state playoffs.

Tight end Danny Brum caught a screen pass from Bruce Shipley and strolled into the end zone from 17 yards out for the game-winning touchdown as Lake City beat Post Falls 6-0 in the "title" game.

Lake City (5-4) travels to second-ranked Eagle (8-1) on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT in the first round of the playoffs.

"We're still kicking boys; we're still kicking," said a smiling Lake City coach Van Troxel, whose Timberwolves have now qualified for the state playoffs 15 straight seasons. "We were surprised we were playing tonight; we thought Post Falls was one of the better teams we'd played. We were happier than (heck) that it all worked out this way.

"And for these guys, I couldn't be more excited. As young as we are, and the seniors have really taken over the leadership part, and the juniors are growing up. This is a big thing for them. The streak's still alive, and I've very excited about that, because that's part of what we built this program on."

Coeur d'Alene (9-0) earned the league's top seed, and plays host to Mountain View (7-2) of Meridian on Friday night at 7. Post Falls could have locked up the second playoff berth last week, but lost 37-21 at Lewiston, forcing the Kansas tiebreaker.

On Monday, Lewiston had the first-round bye due to a formula based on margin of victory - and defeat - in the league games between the three teams.

Lake City beat Post Falls 20-14 in the first round, then beat Lewiston 7-0 to advance to the championship round. Post Falls eliminated Lewiston 7-0, then Lake City beat Post Falls for the playoff berth.

"We didn't take care of business last Friday night; we put ourselves in this position," said Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz, whose Trojans were vying for their first playoff berth since 2004. "And you never know how these things are going to go. A play here, a play there, it's anybody's ballgame in these crazy things. ... We didn't get it done in Lewiston; it's our fault."

Under this format, each team got the ball at the opponents' 25-yard line on the first possession, then on the 10 for each possession needed after that.

Because of its loss in the first round, Post Falls had to beat Lake City twice in the championship round.

In the title "game", Post Falls just missed a touchdown on the first play when Johnny Haskew was ruled out of bounds in the end zone when he caught a pass from Joey Pfennigs down the left sideline. Three plays later, Timmy Mueller's 34-yard field goal was wide right.

On Lake City's second play, on second down and 2 from the 17, Shipley rolled right, then threw back left to Brum, who was all by himself on the left side of the field - save for a couple of Lake City linemen and a receiver well down the field, who had the lone Trojan left on that side effectively blocked.

Brum, who scored on the same play last week from 85 yards out against Coeur d'Alene, powered across the goal line, and the Timberwolves came pouring off the sideline and onto the field in celebration.

"We were rooting for Lewiston (last Friday night)," said Brum, who said the Timberwolves were "dead" most of the day Monday before he got them fired up 30 minutes before the game. "Hey, man, they gave us a second shot, and I said 'Thank you,' and look where we are now - we're going to the first round of the playoffs. The streak's still alive, baby."

Post Falls (6-3) played without running back/defensive back Marcus Colbert, who suffered a dislocated left shoulder early in the Lewiston game last Friday.

The first "game" on Monday went three rounds. Post Falls scored first on a 9-yard pass from Pfennigs to Seth Anderson in the back of the end zone, and Lake City matched it on Shipley's 1-yard keeper on fourth and inches.

In the second round, Mitch Bevacqua scored on a 10-yard reverse on the first play for Lake City. Post Falls knotted it on quarterback Taylor Valente's 9-yard keeper on the second play.

In the third round, Mueller missed a 32-yard field goal wide right. Lake City won it two plays later, when Shipley scored from a yard out.

Against Lewiston (5-4), Chris Williams scored on a 4-yard run off right tackle on Lake City's first possession. Lewiston drove to the Lake City 18, but on fourth and 3, Lucky Gaskill was stopped a yard short of a first down and the Timberwolves won.

In the loser-out "game", on third and 10 from the 25, Lewiston's Cole Zacha rolled left and hit Randon Fuentes, who took the ball just inside the 15. But in fighting for extra yardage, he had the ball yanked away by Valente and the Bengals lost possession.

Post Falls missed another field goal, but scored on its next possession when Pfennigs rolled out and hit Auston May in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown.

On third and goal from the 8 for Lewiston, Zacha's pass to a tightly covered Gaskill at the goal line was deflected up in the air by Riley Denney, and Haskew dove in for the game-winning interception, eliminating Lewiston.

"I hate these things," Lewiston coach Emmett Dougherty said of the tiebreaker. "I hate traveling up here for these things. I'm sick and tired of these things. We're going to have to just work to make sure we never get in this situation again."