Lakeland nabs playoff berth

SANDPOINT - Two teams that were dead even on paper proved mostly even on the gridiron as well, but ultimately Lakeland made a few more plays than Sandpoint in the end, earning a hard-hitting 24-14 win on Friday night at Barlow Stadium.

Colton Butcher carried 22 times for 74 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Hawks (5-4, 2-0 4A Inland Empire League), who punched their ticket to state with the win and will host Skyview of Nampa next Friday in the first round of the playoffs.

"It's been a long road, and the kids have worked hard," Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said. "They deserve this. Sandpoint is a great team."

"This was a hell of a football game," Sandpoint coach Satini Puailoa said. "Tip of the hat to Lakeland. They made a few more plays than we did."

The Hawks drew first blood when Dylan Piva drilled a 31-yard field goal in the first quarter.

After Sandpoint (4-5, 1-1) took a 7-3 lead, Butcher nearly broke the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, giving his team a short field before Joe Williams wrestled a fade pass away from defender Eric Paull from nine yards out to give the Hawks a 10-7 lead.

Sandpoint pulled within 17-14, but once again, the Hawks had an answer, as Butcher scored his second touchdown from 20 yards out for a 24-14 lead midway through the third quarter. From there, the Hawks' swarming defense made the lead stand up, with Brett Webb and Kenny Cooper each nabbing fourth-quarter interceptions. Cooper's came on the 1-yard line as the Bulldogs were looking to cut the lead to three with two minutes left.

"Our defense played really well tonight. They were flying around and hitting," Kiefer said. "At times offensively we were out of sorts, but we did enough to win."

Lakeland 10 7 7 0 - 24

Sandpoint 7 0 7 0 - 14

LL - FG Dylan Piva 31

Spt - Tyler Harris 11 pass from Nate Loutzenhiser (Quinn Pearlstein kick)

LL - Joe Williams 8 pass from Tyrel Derrick (Piva kick)

LL - Colton Butcher 1 run (Piva kick)

Spt - Kyle Perry 32 run (Pearlstein kick)

LL - Butcher 20 run (Piva kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - LL, Zeke Weiss 3-2, Joe Williams 3-3, Colton Butcher 22-74, Tyrel Derrick 8-18, Tuekota Tate 1-18, Kenny Cooper 3-(minus 1), Brett Webb 2-8. Spt, Kyle Perry 14-83, Cody Millard 7-29, Nate Loutzenhiser 5-(minus 1), Tyler Harris 3-2, Thomas Edwards 2-(minus 5), Curtis Roop 2-19, Chase Rodriguez 1-(minus 1), Matthew Timothy 1-5.

PASSING - LL, Tyrel Derrick 9-17-0-159. Spt, Nate Loutzenhiser 14-19-1-173, Kyle Perry 0-1-1, Chase Rodriguez 0-1-0.

RECEIVING - LL, Kenny Cooper 1-0, Jackson Kunas 4-39, Riley Crane 7-59, Britt Dickens 2-53, Joe Williams 1-8; Spt, Matthew Timothy 3-27, Thomas Edwards 5-70, Tyler Harris 2-16, Chase Rodriguez 4-60.