Trojans turn up tempo on T-Wolves
LOREN BENOIT/Press Post Falls wide receiver Jacob Rutherford celebrates his touchdown with Justin Gies (51) and Derek Pearse (10) in Friday night’s game against Lake City.
Lake City’s Zane Lettau rushes the ball for a 50 yard touchdown against Post Falls in Friday’s game at Lake City High School. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — When Post Falls needs to spark its offense, it wasn’t a huddle that quite did the trick.
The Trojans just removed huddles completely and turned up the tempo.
After going three-and-out on its opening possession, Post Falls went to a no-huddle offense and the offense soon followed, moving past the Lake City Timberwolves 41-21 in the 5A Inland Empire League opener for both schools on Friday.
“We like to play fast,” Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. “We’re small, and need to play fast.”
Lake City took an early 7-0 lead, but Post Falls answered with 21 straight first-half points to take a 21-7 halftime lead.
“They’ve got some guys that play both ways, and it kind of showed early on,” Bennett said.
Lake City fought back to tie the game on a pair of Zane Lettau touchdown runs, the second from 50 yards out with 9:34 remaining to even the score at 21.
“He’s battling,” said Lake City coach Brian Fulp of Lettau, who finished with 196 yards. “He’s been fighting and just keeps fighting for yards. We knew he was going to break one, and he did. It was good to see.”
Post Falls claimed the lead for good as Tommy Hauser scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Derek Pearse with 5:53 remaining.
The Trojans capitalized on a pair of interceptions, one by Carson LaMastus to halt a Lake City drive, scoring twice in under a minute to put the game away.
“Give credit to Lake City,” Bennett said. “It was 21-7 at the half, and they fought back to tie it. We had some penalties and didn’t play the football that we normally play. But it was nice to finish strong and put some points on the board.”
Hauser finished with eight catches for 142 yards for Post Falls (3-3), which hosts Lewiston next Friday.
“Hauser’s a special player,” Bennett said. “He’s really fun to watch. I thought our defense played really well to hold them to seven points in the first half. That’s a good quarterback and team, and I thought our defense came up big.”
Post Falls forced five turnovers in all, with Lake City committings three of its own.
“I think our defense is playing hard,” Bennett said. “If you run to the ball, and just keep playing hard, good things are going to happen.”
Lake City (3-4) travels to Coeur d’Alene next Friday.
“The boys fight,” Fulp said. “They came out and tied it up, and that was huge. They played really hard. The score doesn’t tell the story of the game. They’ve started to learn. They just don’t give up. They’ve started to learn how to win. And that’s the reason we were able to come back and tie it. This one hurts, but Post Falls played great. They didn’t make the mistakes, and that’s it. I thought coach Bennett’s team played hard, and it came down to the turnovers.”
Post Falls 0 21 0 21 — 41
Lake City 0 7 7 7 — 21
Second quarter
LC — Logan Jeanselme 3 pass from Chris Irvin (Caden Powell kick), 11:56
PF — Eli Gondo 12 run (pass failed), 11:28
PF — Tommy Hauser 22 pass from Derek Pearse (Pearse run), 6:00
PF — Pearse 4 run (Josh Brisendine kick), 4:27
Third quarter
LC — Zane Lettau 2 run (Powell kick), 3:48
Fourth quarter
LC — Lettau 50 run (Powell kick), 9:34
PF — Hauser 12 pass from Pearse (Brisendine kick), 5:53
PF — Jake Rutherford 7 pass from Pearse (Brisendine kick), 3:51
PF — Gondo 3 run (kick failed), 3:07
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — PF, Gondo 28-136, Hauser 7-32, Pearse 7-26, Schmitt 1-0. LC, Lettau 33-196, Irvin 4-(-15), Chavez 2-14, Jeanselme 4-9.
PASSING — PF, Pearse, 16-21-1-243. LC, Irvin, 14-32-3-110.
RECEIVING — PF, J. Rutherford 5-70, Hauser 8-142, Gondo 3-31. LC, Chavez 3-11, Jeanselme 7-41, Briner 1-4, Hanna 1-14, Whitcomb 2-40.