THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016
It was just one game.
But Lakeland High fans can’t help but be at least a little encouraged by what they watched at Corbit Field in Rathdrum on Friday night as the Hawks opened with a 44-0 win over the Bonners Ferry Badgers in a nonleague football game between the former Intermountain League rivals.
WHEN THE Hawks opened the 2015 season, they had the Lewiston Bengals in town. That game finished with the Bengals winning 49-7 on a night when the teams were one of the few that actually didn’t played indoors due to wildfires in the area.
In this year’s opener, Lewiston beat Highland High of Pocatello 45-38 at Holt Arena in what could be a state 5A playoff preview.
Lakeland finished last season 1-9, beating Moscow 17-14 at home in the regular season finale to advance to the state 4A playoffs. After the first 48 minutes of this season, the 2016 Hawks aren’t looking for a repeat of that record.
“After the season we had last year, confidence was something that we really had to get going in the right direction,” Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said. “After this game, it’s nice to see us gaining it. But we’ve got to put a few good weeks together and really start to build something. We’re getting there.”
Kiefer credits the offseason program, which included players getting in the weight room and getting faster on both offense and defense for the early advantage.
“I’m glad to see that the labor they they’ve been putting in off the field is starting to show,” Kiefer said. “It’s really nice to see.”
And with that experience from last season, both the bad and good, the Hawks continue to improve.
“A lot of it has to do with the summer workouts, and a lot of it with age,” Lakeland senior linebacker/running back Owen Dickens said. “We didn’t have any seniors last year, and now we’ve got 10 to 15. And we’re leaders. We want to go out and win and do everything we physically can do to win the game. If we get beat, it’s not going to be because of a lack of effort. And it’s definitely not going to be a lack of experience.”
FRIDAY’S GAME marked the first game between the Badgers and Hawks since 2007 after playing in the IML until Lakeland moved from the 3A to 4A classification in 2004.
“I love Bonners Ferry,” said Kiefer, a former assistant coach with the Badgers. “I love playing Bonners Ferry and my wife is from Bonners Ferry. I’ve got cousins playing on the team. It was a fun game and I enjoyed it. It’s traditionally been a really good game and rivalry for us. We’ll be up there next year.”
Cory Kramer, in his second year as Bonners Ferry coach, played at Bonners when the teams were in the IML together.
“It’s kind of nice,” Kramer said. “I told the kids tonight, along with the assistant coaches, this was our Timberlake. Some of these kids — they don’t know that — but this is just like our Timberlake game is now. It’s a great game. Probably, a lot of the turnout in those days were just like this. We’ve just got to get the numbers back. And we’ve got them, just not eligibility-wise yet. And it just killed us tonight.”
Lakeland plays at Colville on Friday. The two teams did not play in 2015.
“I think our guys understand where they’re at and what is in front of them and how our schedule is going to get increasingly more difficult,” Kiefer said. “They’re smart kids. The one thing I’ve got is really smart kids. I don’t think we’ve got to do anything different and I think they understand that.”
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.