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Lumberjacks wear down Orofino for boys soccer win

by Joel Donofrio Sports Writer
| October 9, 2018 1:09 AM

RATHDRUM — It’s a soccer strategy employed from grade-school matches to the World Cup: If a team has more talented and/or faster players, its opponent will often pack in the defense.

Sixth-seeded Orofino employed that game plan in Monday’s 3A district opener, but St. Maries’ talented corps of forwards and midfielders eventually found cracks in the Maniac defense, leading the Lumberjacks to a 4-0 victory at Sunrise Rotary Field in Rathdrum.

St. Maries (8-6-1) advances to a 1 p.m. Thursday semifinal against Timberlake, back at Sunrise Rotary Field. Top-seeded Bonners Ferry and Grangeville meet in the other semifinal, with the two winners advancing to Saturday’s distrct championship. The winners also earn a state tournament berth.

St. Maries 4, Orofino 0

The Maniacs (1-10), fielding a team with an equal number of boys and girls players, placed freshman striker Ruby Kessinger on St. Maries’ side of the field, and packed their other nine players on the defensive end.

Goalkeeper Randy McClure made 17 saves, including several difficult ones in the first half, but the Lumberjacks finally broke through 30 minutes into the game.

Trevor DeVries raced up the left sideline and sent a perfect ball across McClure to a wide-open Matt Masterson, who booted the ball into the open net to put St. Maries ahead 1-0 at inermission.

“Orofino played good defense, packed it in and made it tough for us,” St. Maries coach Chris Renaldo said.

The Maniac defense held tight to start the second half, but Preston Blood found Jackson Pritchard wide open and he blasted one into the net in the 51st minute. Pritchard’s unassisted goal 20 minutes later and an upper-corner laser from St. Maries sophomore Derick Chappell clinched the win.

St. Maries had a whopping 24-1 shots-on-goal advantage, earning the Lumberjacks a rubber-match game with Timberlake for a berth in the 3A state tournament. St. Maries began its season with a 3-2 win over the visiting Tigers on Aug. 21, and Timberlake edged St. Maries 1-0 last Wednesday.

First half — 1. SM, Matt Masterson (Trevor DeVries assist), 30:00.

Second half — 2. SM, Jackson Pritchard (Preston Blood assist), 51:00. 3. SM, Pritchard (unassisted), 71:00. 4. SM, Derick Chappell (unassisted), 75:00.

Shots on goal — Oro 1, St. Maries 24

Saves — Oro, Randy McClure 17; SM, Ben Bailey 1.

Grangeville 6, Priest River 1

An early counter-attack goal by Isaac VanDomelan put the Bulldogs ahead three minutes into Monday’s 3A district tournament game, and a second-half scoring barrage helped Grangeville top the Spartans.

Michael Todd, Emilio Barela, Sebastion Darwish and Jesus Perez all scored after halftime for the Bulldogs (5-8).

Priest River’s Elijah Davis scored late in the second half, assisted by Zandyr Ayers. Goalkeeper Evan Barnes, the team’s lone senior, had 12 saves.

“This team is young, with all but one returning next year. It has been a very exciting year to watch the team progress so much, and to score a school season-record of 21 total goals,” Spartans coach Rob Lawler said. “We have laid a great foundation this year in our offense and are building a defense with several freshmen playing key roles that were vacated by seniors the past two years.”

n VOLLEYBALL

Lake City d. Sandpoint

COEUR d’ALENE — In the final week before the postseason, the host Timberwolves swept the Bulldogs 25-12, 25-17, 25-22 behind strong serving and a solid all-around game, coach Mike Summers said.

“We served really aggressively ... we controlled each set from the start,” Summers said. “Our girls were focused and took care of the task at hand.”

Ashley Kaufman had 11 kills and Janae Rayborn four aces for Lake City (25-1). Klaire Mitchell had 26 assists, Tanai Jenkins two blocks, and Reilley Chapman had 13 digs.

The Timberwolves host Coeur d’Alene in their 5A IEL regular-season finale tonight at 7.