Trojans take 'mo', 5A IEL opener

COEUR d’ALENE — Momentum is a huge thing in the game of football.

One minute you might have it heading into halftime. The next, a player beats you on a 43-yard post to the end zone to give his team the halftime lead.

And they just keeping pounding the ball on the ground in the second half.

And pounding.

And pounding.

Braden Vaughan carried the ball 25 times for 151 yards and four touchdowns for the Post Falls Trojans, who used a 28-0 scoring run to get past the Lake City Timberwolves 35-21 in the 5A Inland Empire League opener for both schools on Friday night at Lake City High.

“Our defense played really well tonight,” Post Falls interim coach Blaine Bennett said. “(Defensive coordinator) Adam Shamion did a great job with those guys again this week. The kids really played hard. I really thought we made some nice adjustments at halftime and played really well in the second half.”

Lake City opened a 13-7 lead after the first quarter after Matt Duchow threw touchdown passes to Brandon Kosianic (18 yards) and Jason Pierard (28 yards). Post Falls receiver Jayden Gering caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from Nate Buer with 30 seconds remaining in the half to give the Trojans a 14-13 halftime lead.

“He’s an amazing talent,” said Bennett of Gering. “We’ve got to find a way to get him the ball more. A guy like that, at any level, he’s got to have 8 to 10 touches, and tonight he got 2 or 3. He’s a very athletic, physical player.”

“The guy was playing outside and I just kept running the post,” Gering said. “I dropped the first one, but we went back to it and I just made a play on it.”

Post Falls scored a pair of touchdowns early in the third quarter, the first on a 3-yard run by Vaughan. Following a fumble recovery, Vaughan punched it in again on a 13-yard score to make it 28-13.

“It all starts on defense,” Bennett said. “With a short field, the offense can go out and score some points and make it all look good.”

Post Falls (6-1), which has won five straight since a loss to Mead on Sept. 2, hosts Lewiston next Friday.

“I’m really proud of them,” Bennett said. “We’ve come a long ways since that Mead game. Eight turnovers and that was a fiasco. I think our guys have regrouped and they need to. Every single week, we’re playing a tougher opponent. Lewiston’s a great football team and we’ve got to do the best we can to get our players ready next week.”

Lake City (3-4) travels across U.S. 95 to face Coeur d’Alene next Friday.

“The game of football is all about momentum,” Lake City coach Bryce Erickson said. “And the defense did a good job of stopping them to start the second half. Then we fumbled the ball and didn’t execute on offense. And it was hard in the first half because we didn’t have a lot of good field position. We just flattened out and were undisciplined and you can’t play like that and beat any of the opponents in our conference. And they didn’t make mistakes and they continued to execute, and that’s why they won the football game.”

Grant Clark finished with 122 yards rushing and Matt Duchow 134 yards passing for Lake City.

Post Falls 7 7 14 7 — 35

Lake City 13 0 0 8 — 21

First quarter

PF — Braden Vaughan 6 run (Vaughan kick), 9:21

LC — Brandon Kosianic 18 pass from Matt Duchow (Max Wester kick), 6:00

LC — Jason Pierard 27 pass from Duchow (kick failed), 2:46

Second quarter

PF — Jayden Gering 43 pass from Nate Buer (Vaughan kick), :30

Third quarter

PF — Vaughan 3 run (Buer run), 5:07

PF — Vaughan 13 run (pass failed), 4:48

Fourth quarter

PF — Vaughan 4 run (Vaughan kick), 7:39

LC — Pierard 24 pass from Duchow (Pierard from Duchow), 7:00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — PF, Vaughan 25-151, Buer 15-(-2), Bennett 11-53. LC, Clark 17-122, Duchow 10-(-19), Z. Lettau 1-3.

PASSING — PF, Buer, 10-21-0-187. LC, Duchow, 11-22-0-134.

RECEIVING — PF, Milles 4-77, Haines 1-12, Barber 1-11, Gering 2-60, Vaughan 2-12. LC, Watkins 3-36, Goldthorpe 2-17, Kosianic 1-18, Pierard 3-47, Clark 1-7, Baughman 1-6.