Hawks upended in opener

RATHDRUM - The season could not have started any worse for Lakeland on Friday at Corbit Field.

Lewiston's Andres Nunez returned Cade Coffey's opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, as he sailed down the sideline untouched in a 14-5 nonleague win over Lakeland.

Just 11:08 later, Nunez struck again, this time on defense in the season opener for both teams. Lakeland's Hayden Nosworthy took an outside sweep but fumbled as he was dragged down to the ground. Nunez fell on the ball in the end zone for another TD and a 14-0 Lewiston lead.

The Hawks' defense allowed them to hang in there, coming up with two fumble recoveries, a sack and a safety. It also stuffed run plays twice on fourth-and-one.

Defensive end Tyler Finlay led the way, with a safety, a fumble recovery and a sack.

"Take away those two scores and we win," Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said. "Defensively, we played amazing. Our kids played amazing, the way they hustled to the ball."

Tuekota Vandever ran the ball strong for class 4A Lakeland, rushing for 180 yards on 22 carries against 5A Lewiston.

"I just kept my feet moving and looked ahead," Vandever said. "Our defense was phenomenal."

Lakeland could not punch it in from the 5-yard line on two drives. Penalties pretty much erased the first scoring drive, moving the ball all the way back to the 23. Then Vandever fumbled the ball with 1:35 left in the game, at the Lewiston 4.

With 45 seconds left in the first half, Jason Rose had the longest pass reception for Lakeland, taking a toss on a play-fake 22 yards to the Lewiston 43. Intercepting Tyrel Derrick's next pass was none other than Nunez, who also caught four passes for 102 yards.

Derrick struggled early in his varsity debut at quarterback, starting out 1 for 6. Derrick finished 9 for 18 for 54 yards. Derrick replaced last year's starter, Derek Bayley, who is sitting out this season following surgery for a dislocated left shoulder.

"I think up front we figured some things out," Kiefer said. "We're playing a lot of juniors offensively who are playing their first varsity game. It took us a little time to get it going and in the second half, I think we did. We started to realize what we can do."

Bengals coach Shawn Nilsson gave the Hawks their due respect.

"We made a couple of big plays to start the game," Nilsson said. "We struggled in the red zone. In the second half, I thought they outplayed us."

Lewiston won last season's game, 20-7. Before last season, the teams had not played each other since 2005.

At halftime, Lakeland honored its 1988 state championship team, its 1962 undefeated team and the charter class of the Lakeland High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Tim Granger played offensive tackle on the 1988 squad. His biggest memory was to "not to upset the coach." He added the honor brought back a lot of memories.

Lakeland travels to Pullman next Friday.

Lewiston 14 0 0 0 - 14

Lakeland 0 0 3 2 - 5

Lew - Andres Nunez 96 kickoff return (Nunez kick)

Lew - Nunez 2 fumble return (Nunez kick)

LL - FG Cade Coffey 40

LL - Safety, Tyler Finlay tackled Drew Melton in end zone

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - LL, Vandever 22-180, Butcher 5-31, Piva 1-18, Harrison 1-4, Marshall 1-0, Nosworthy 1-0. Lew, Ralstin 12-18.

PASSING - LL, Derrick 9-18-2-54. Lew, Melton 9-16-0-174.

RECEIVING - LL, Webb 3-7, Nosworthy 2-15, Rose 1-22, Harrison 1-9, Butcher 1-3, Bodak 1-2. Lew, Nunez 4-102.