Duchow, T-Wolves find a way

POST FALLS — Despite winning just one of its first six games in nonleague play, Lake City stepped up and showed it can find a way to win when it mattered most Friday in a 5A Inland Empire League opener at Post Falls.

Post Falls showed that never-say-die attitude, also when it mattered most.

But something had to give, and in this league, it figured it came with only 51 seconds left, when Timberwolves quarterback Matt Duchow sped with the pigskin around left end for the go-ahead touchdown and a 21-15 win over the Trojans.

Duchow also threw for two touchdowns in the first half, finishing with 100 passing yards and 110 yards on 12 carries, operating at times out of the read-option for Lake City (2-5, 1-0).

“We hadn’t had a good record at all,” Duchow said. “I hadn’t had a good year. It’s been a little rough, but we’ve got nothing but league coming up, so it doesn’t matter. It’s all about league. We got this first win, then we’ll just go from there.”

On the game-winning TD, Duchow faked a handoff to the right to running back Cameron Chun, then he found almost nothing but daylight the other way. Post Falls blocked the PAT kick, then advanced the ball near midfield, but with no timeouts and a Trojan player tackled inbounds, quarterback Mark Haines was unable to spike the ball before time expired.

“It was like a fake right and we pulled and ran a counter the other way,” Duchow said of his touchdown run.

Lake City coach Van Troxel talked about the process of trying to field a team that is trying to reach the state tournament.

“It’s a work in progress, they’re getting better,” Troxel said. “We had a falloff last week against Sandpoint and we came back. What I loved was they responded, they came back and probably had the best week of practice we’ve had. They took it hard, they took it to their heart and as a football team, we played better. Matt really played well and he learned last week that it’s a team game.”

The Trojans (3-4, 0-1) took advantage of a blocked punt by Gage Ficklin early in the fourth quarter which led to running back Austin Jackson’s 9 yard score, then they tied the game on another run by Jackson and a two-point conversion run by Collin Hilldreth, after defensive lineman Bradley Noesen recovered a Lake City fumble.

With less than 3 minutes remaining, Post Falls had to punt. Chun picked up a key 12-yard run on third and four with just over a minute left.

“We definitely got down there a little bit,” Duchow said. “But our defense was awesome towards the end.”

Both teams play Friday in 5A IEL action. Lake City hosts Coeur d’Alene, while Post Falls plays at Lewiston.

Lake City 0 15 0 6 — 21

Post Falls 0 0 0 15 — 15

Second quarter

LC — Phil Blank 36 pass from Matt Duchow (Kobe Murphree kick), 7:02

LC — Brady Davis 16 pass from Duchow (Pierce Seaver pass from Duchow), 2:34

Fourth quarter

PF — Austin Jackson 9 run (Braden Vaughan kick), 10:31

PF — Jackson 6 run (Collin Hilldreth run), 10:14

LC — Duchow 8 run (kick failed), :51

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — LC, Duchow 12-110, Dakota Kielblock 18-73, Cameron Chun 6-18, Austin McMaster 2-5. PF, Austin Jackson 13-60, Mark Haines 4-7, Jayden Gering 3-14,

PASSING — LC, Duchow 9-15-1-100 PF, Mark Haines 10-16-0-99,

RECEIVING — LC, Brady Davis 2-29, Phil Blank 1-36, McMaster 2-19, Brandon Stapleton 2-7, Kielblock 1-3. PF Gering 4-58, Zach Hillman 2-18, Preston Bourgard 1-7, Matt Mills 1-3.