Post Falls keeps 'mo' on its side

RATHDRUM - Momentum is a big deal in football.

Start fast, you can do some pretty big things with it.

Having plays called back due to penalties can kill it.

On Friday night, Post Falls' used a fast start to build the lead. Lakeland, behind 11 penalties, two of which nullified touchdowns, could never get going.

Post Falls senior quarterback Dalton Thompson threw for 356 yards and three touchdowns as the Trojans beat the Hawks 41-21 at Corbit Field in the Battle of the Prairie game.

"It was a good win," Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz said. "We wanted to keep that momentum going because we've got league coming up in a couple weeks, so we've got to keep improving as a football team."

Post Falls jumped out to a 14-0 lead early on a 1-yard score by Collin Hildreth, then Gunnar Sciortino blocked a punt and Mark Roman recovered it in the end zone with 4:06 remaining in the first quarter.

"We'd seen on film that they were weak up the middle and had been planning on going up the middle," Roman said. "We blitzed with Gunnar and I, and were able to get a piece of it and I jumped on it in the end zone."

Lakeside bounced back on a 53-yard touchdown pass from Tyrel Derrick to Mike Bodak to cut the deficit to 14-7 after the first quarter.

Thompson then took over, throwing for three touchdowns, including a 72-yard strike to Jacob Koski to give Post Falls a 34-7 lead early in the third quarter.

On that play, the pass appeared to be intercepted before Koski was able to wrestle the ball away from the Lakeland defender and race to the end zone.

"I just broke to the outside on a short thrown ball," Koski said. "It looked like he was going to pick it (off), but it ended up going through his hands and getting stuck between my chest and his helmet. He started to fall, so I just grabbed it and I just sprinted to the end zone."

"Dalton did a fantastic job of throwing and running the ball, and taking care of it with no turnovers tonight," Hinz said. "He did a great job of running things tonight. The kids performed well offensively, defensively and on special teams today. Our defense played really solid assignment football tonight and the blocked punt helped."

Lakeland scored on a 34-yard pass from Derrick to Jason Rose to make it 34-14 with 4:12 remaining in the third quarter. The Hawks finished with 11 penalties for 100 yards.

"We were just out of synch all night," Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said. "Whenever we had something going, there was a mystery call or something and it felt like we were playing 16 on 11 all night long with that five-man crew calling against us. But it is what it is. We were out of synch, and it's on us and there's no excuse for that."

Tuekota Tate-Vandever finished with 15 carries for 104 yards for Lakeland (3-2), which travels to Timberlake next Friday.

"We've got a lot of cleanup work to do," Kiefer said. "I thought we ran the ball really well, but just kept getting into those penalty situations and were getting double sticked where we couldn't run the ball. I told the kids at halftime we were going to run the ball regardless in passing situations because of the yards we were getting, but it was too much, too late. I thought Mike and Tuekota were doing well, but it was weird getting put in those situations."

Post Falls (3-2) hosts Moses Lake next Friday in its final nonleague tuneup before opening 5A Inland Empire League play at Lake City on Oct. 10.

Post Falls 14 13 7 7 - 41

Lakeland 7 0 7 7 - 21

First quarter

PF - Collin Hildreth 1 run (Nathan Gregory kick), 5:07

PF - Tom Roman punt block recovery in endzone (Gregory kick), 4:06

LL - Mike Bodak 53 pass from Tyrel Derrick (Cade Coffey kick), 1:21

Second quarter

PF - Zach Hillman 60 pass from Dalton Thompson (kick failed), 9:55

PF - Kaden Nelson 6 pass from Thompson (Gregory kick), 4:21

Third quarter

PF - Jacob Koski 72 pass from Thompson (Gregory kick), 10:33

LL - Jason Rose 34 pass from Derrick (Coffey kick), 4:12

Fourth quarter

PF - Kamden Johnson 20 interception return (Gregory kick), 3:49

LL - Bodak 18 run (Coffey kick), :21

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - PF, Jackson, 8-38, Thompson, 8-68, Hildreth, 3-2, Bailey, 5-2, Nelson, 1-5. LL, Derrick, 13-54, Tate-Vandever, 15-104, Bodak, 3-28, Marshall, 2-6.

PASSING - PF, Thompson, 16-27-0-356. LL, Derrick, 8-21-1-160.

RECEIVING - PF, Koski, 3-97, Nelson, 3-59, Welker, 1-4, Hillman, 3-76, Gering, 1-5, Gregory, 1-6, Jackson, 1-63. LL, Rowe, 4-110, Bodak, 1-53, Marshall, 2-2, Tate-Vandever, 1-3.