Trojans respond
<p>Post Falls High School’s Hunter Harmon, right, breaks up a pass to Skyview’s Kyle Pierce during the fourth quarter Friday in Post Falls.</p>
<p>Post Falls’ Zach Hillman posts a hand on the ground while trying to find his balance after breaking a tackle on his way to the end zone for a fourth quarter touchdown vs. Skyview.</p>
POST FALLS — After racing out to a 26-0 halftime lead on a breezy night, the Post Falls Trojans may have thought the second half was going to be a, well, breeze.
But Skyview of Nampa stormed back to take a one-point lead in the fourth quarter, before Post Falls responded with a clutch scoring drive and a pair of big defensive plays to seal a 34-27 victory at Trojan Stadium.
“They didn’t get off the bus, and we didn’t get out of the locker room,” Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz summed up. “It was a little interesting there, but our kids kept fighting, and persevered. We had some extra mistakes that we didn’t have in Week 1 (a 20-19 loss to Sandpoint), but we also cleaned up some things from Week 1. So we just have to build on those positives, and keep charging forward.”
Skyview (0-2) scored on its first four possessions on the second half — two of them set up by turnovers by Post Falls (1-1) — and took a 27-26 lead on Jacob Hibbard’s 9-yard TD pass for Fili Church with 8:50 remaining. That score was set up when Post Falls fumbled away a kickoff return at its 26.
But the Trojans answered quickly. Nathan Gregory connected with Kaden Nelson for 46 yards down the left sideline on the first play. Two plays later Gregory dashed right to escape the rush, threw back over the middle to Zach Hillman, who bounced off a hit at the 10 and proceeded into the end zone with 7:58 remaining to put the Trojans back on top.
On Skyview’s next possession, Bradley Noesen forced a fumble by Hibbard and Dylan Haag recovered.
Post Falls missed a clinching field goal moments later, but pressure from Nate Degraw on fourth down forced an incompletion by Hibbard with a minute to play.
“We’ve got a senior-laden team, but we’re still a little bit young,” Hinz said. “We had a chance to put the foot on the pedal coming out in the second half.”
Sophomore Braden Vaughan rushed for 143 yards on 19 carries for Post Falls. His 50-yard burst early in the second quarter made it 23-0, and he also kicked two field goals in the first half.
“They got hot, and we just lost our momentum (in the second half), overthinking and thinking we had the game won already,” said Vaughan, who totaled 105 of his yards in the first half.
Skyview snapped the ball over its punter’s head twice in the first half, and Post Falls turned both into short-field touchdown drives. Gregory connected the Matthew Mills from 9 yards out to make it 10-0, and Hunter Harmon dashed 16 yards on a jet sweep to make it 17-0 late in the first quarter. Vaughan’s second field goal made it 26-0 at the half.
Pierce hooked up with Kyle Pierce on a pair of TD passes in the second half. Pierce finished with 12 catches for 189 yards, and on his 49-yard score, he reached over top of a Trojan defensive back to haul in an underthrown pass, then sprinted the rest of the way to the end zone.
Post Falls sacked Hibbard four times in the first half and put pressure on him countless other times, with Degraw, Noesen and Gunnar Sciortino doing most of the damage.
“We definitely wanted this win, really bad,” Vaughan. “We’ve been working all summer, and that Sandpoint loss was really tough.”
Post Falls is scheduled to play University High next Friday at 6 p.m. at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.
Skyview 0 0 13 14 — 27
Post Falls 16 10 0 8 — 34
First quarter
PF — FG Braden Vaughan 25, 7:04
PF — Matthew Mills 9 pass from Nathan Gregory (Vaughan kick), 4:33
PF — Hunter Harmon 16 run (kick failed), :05.2
Second quarter
PF — Vaughan 50 run (Vaughan kick), 10:25
PF — FG Vaughan 22, :08.8
Third quarter
Sky — Kyle Pierce 24 pass from Jacob Hibbard (Victor Bustamante kick), 8:37
Sky — Pierce 49 pass from Hibbard (kick blocked), 6:23
Fourth quarter
Sky — Gavin Laws 8 run (Bustamante kick), 11:14
Sky — Fili Church 9 pass from Hibbard (Bustamante kick), 8:50
PF — Zach Hillman 25 pass from Gregory (Kaden Nelson run), 7:58.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Sky, Laws 21-63, Hibbard 6-(minus 12), Schlegel 1-1, Marin 1-1, Team 2-(minus 34). PF, Vaughan 19-143, Gregory 7-(minus 21), Harmon 4-17, Nelson 4-7.
PASSING — Sky, Hibbard 24-42-0-266. PF, Gregory 14-26-0-154.
RECEIVING — Sky, Williams 3-23, Schlegel 5-24, Pierce 12-189, Laws 1-4, Church 3-22. PF, Harmon 2-46, Welker 3-8, Ma. Mills 1-9, Nelson 4-55, Hillman 2-35, Vaughan 2-4.