Missed chances

COEUR d’ALENE — Finally, the Lake City Timberwolves were able to play their first game in their own stadium this season.

Unfortunately, the football gods did not smile on Lake City, even after the game was pretty much decided on Friday, in a 26-0 nonleague loss to Central Valley.

“We need to prepare them a little bit better,” Lake City coach Van Troxel said of his players. “So when you lose, it’s my fault. I didn’t do a good enough job. We’re young, we’re inexperienced, but those are just excuses. Somewhere along the line, we’ve got to get a little bit better. That’ll be our goal is to continue to go forward.”

On Aug. 28, poor air quality moved the game between Lake City (0-3) and Rocky Mountain to the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

The turning point Friday came after a missed chance by the Timberwolves deep in enemy territory. Early in the second quarter, on fourth and five at the Bears’ 23-yard line, Lake City quarterback Collin Hunter’s pass attempt was tipped at the line of scrimmage and fell harmlessly to the turf.

With 10:02 left in the quarter, Central Valley (1-1) struck quickly. Quarterback Tanner Sloan found wide-open receiver Ben Craig, who was a good two steps past his defender, deep down the right sideline. Craig took the on-target pass and raced to paydirt, 68 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead. Then Ryan Rehkow’s 31-yard field goal made it a 17-0 halftime lead.

Central Valley extended the lead to 24-0 with 5:38 left in the third quarter, on running back Alec Doyle’s 7-yard touchdown run.

Between the third and fourth quarters, Lake City presented a plaque to the family of Sgt. Greg Moore, who on May 5 was fatally shot by Jonathan Renfro, while Moore was patrolling some recent burglaries. The plaque contained one piece of a helmet from one of the players of the 2002 Timberwolves football team, the year Moore served as a school resource officer at Lake City. School officials said $3,800 was raised to be donated to a charitable fund to benefit the Moore family.

Sgt. Moore’s wife, Lindy, Lake City principal Deanne Clifford and Jennifer Brumley, the mother of Dylon Moore, Greg’s son, were among those receiving the plaque.

Back to those football gods — Lake City ran into some tough luck. One case in point was a 13-yard run by Timberwolves quarterback Collin Hunter to the 2. But he fumbled the ball right before his knee went down, and the ball was recovered in the end zone by Central Valley linebacker Adam Alvarez.

This came after Lake City linebacker John Stith picked off a pass by Sloan.

“At times, the defense came up real well and made a couple plays,” Troxel said. “We’re working hard and we need some things to go right so they can have a little fun.”

Then with 48 seconds in the third, Timerwolf defensive tackle Brayden Pollow recovered a fumble, thanks in part to a poor snap. But a Lake City receiver dropped what would have been a 27-yard touchdown pass in the end zone.

Lake City was shut out for the first time since 2008.

Lake City plays Shadle Park next Thursday at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane.

Central Valley 7 10 7 2 — 26

Lake City 0 0 0 0 — 0

First quarter

CV — Alec Doyle 6 run (Ryan Rehkow kick), 7:47.

Second quarter

CV — Ben Craig 68 pass from Tanner Sloan (Rehkow kick), 10:02

CV — Rehkow 31 field goal, :23.

Third quarter

CV — Doyle 7 run (Rehkow kick), 5:38.

CV — Safety, fumble recovered in end zone, 6:18.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — CV, Gage Connole, 8-49, Doyle 7-23, LC, Scott Helsper, 9-57, Collin Hunter, 7-35, Dakota Kielblock 2-30, Matt Duchow 2-17, Brandon Stapleton 1-8, Austin McMaster 1-5, Ram Lettau 1-2.

PASSING — CV, Sloan, 10-15-1, 195 yards. LC, Hunter, 13-25-1-129.

RECEIVING — CV, Craig, 3-98, Nathan Bannon, 3-51, Gage Connole 1-26, Jase Edwards 1-17. LC, Brady Davis, 2-60, Austin McMaster 5-32, Jason Pierard 3-29, Connor Watkins, 6-18, Brandon Stapleton 1-10, Phil Blank 2-18.