Late fumbles ruin Lake City opener
REXBURG — It was a football game ending Lake City head coach Brian Fulp has never seen before ... and never wants to see again, after it cost his Timberwolves a season-opening road victory.
Lake City dominated Madison for nearly the entire game before two fumbles in the final three minutes — the second on an attempted kneel-down to end the game — resulted in two late scores and a 21-19 Bobcat win.
“That’s something I’ve never seen in football before,” Fulp said of the game’s ending. “We outplayed them for 47 minutes. We just couldn’t execute in the final minutes.”
Chris Irvin threw for 192 yards and three scores, including first-half scoring strikes to Matt Whitcomb and Logan Jeanselme, to put the Timberwolves ahead 13-0 at intermission.
Lake City’s defense shut out the Bobcats in the first half of Madison’s first game in its new $8.8 million stadium, but the hosts found the end zone midway through the third quarter on a 48-yard pass from Easton Cordero to Trey Holloway, cutting the lead to 13-7.
The Timberwolves scored with eight minutes remaining in the game as Irvin found Jeanselme for a 4-yard touchdown. The blocked PAT left the visitors with a 19-7 lead, and after Lake City’s defense made a fourth-down stop, the T-Wolves had a chance to run out the clock.
A fumble with about 3 minutes left to play was converted into a touchdown a few plays later, with Cordero finding Mark Williams for a 20-yard TD with 1:18 remaining.
However, Lake City recovered the onside kick, its offense made a first-down, and converted two kneel-down plays to force Madison to burn its final timeouts. On the third and final kneel-down attempt, a bobbled snap was recovered by the Bobcats, with about 20 seconds remaining, Fulp said.
A long pass play, a spiked snap to kill the clock, and 4-yard TD toss from Cordero to Dawson Wills with 10 seconds remaining completed Madison’s stunning comeback.
“That’s the most physical I’ve seen our team play, and I’m proud of them for coming down here on an eight-hour bus ride and playing so well for most of the game,” Fulp said. “Those mistakes at the end won’t happen again.”
Jeanselme had eight catches for 95 yards and two scores; Uriah Chavez ran for 86 yards on 21 rushing attempts; and Porter Howard had an interception for Lake City, which faces Lewis and Clark High School at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane next week.
Lake City 6 7 0 6 — 19
Madison 0 0 7 14 — 21
LC — Matt Whitcomb 15 pass from Chris Irvin (PAT failed)
LC — Logan Jeanselme 19 pass from Irvin (Caden Powell kick)
Mad — Trey Holloway 48 pass from Easton Cordero (Andrew Williams kick)
LC — Jeanselme 4 pass from Irvin (PAT blocked)
Mad — Mark Williams 20 pass from Cordero (A. Williams kick)
Mad — Dawson Wills 4 pass from Cordero (A. Williams kick)
Individual statistics
RUSHING — LC, Uriah Chavez 21-86, Nicholas Webb 8-25, Chris Irvin 3-5; Mad, Easton Cordero 16-77, Trevor Lucero 9-20, Ryan Winfree 3-11, Mark Williams 3-5, Trey Holloway 2-2.
PASSING — LC, Irvin 15-20, 192 yards, 3 TDs; Mad, Cordero 18-31, 216 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT
RECEIVING — LC, Logan Jeanselme 8-95, Ethan Russell 3-52, Matt Whitcomb 2-30, Damon Rosenau 1-14, Chavez 1-1; Mad, Holloway 4-87, M. Williams 5-65, Dawson Wills 3-47, Joseph Lundin 6-17.
St. Maries 14
Kellogg 0
KELLOGG — Eli Gibson threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Nelson, and ran for a 23-yard score, as the visiting Lumberjacks scored all the game’s points in the fourth quarter to beat the Wildcats in the season opener at Teeters Field.
Gibson rushed for 144 yards on 31 carries for St. Maries, which plays host to Medical Lake next Friday.
Brandon Miller passed for 81 yards and rushed for 40 for Kellogg.