Picking off a playoff bid

HARRISON FLATS — After both Lakeside and Mullan-St. Regis navigated a 3-1 record in North Star League play, and six wins each overall, a really good team was going to left out of the state playoffs.

Seven plays into a Kansas tiebreaker, it was the Tigers — a co-op of Mullan and St. Regis High — that moved on for the first time since 2006.

Skye Gallaway scored on a 10-yard touchdown run three plays into a Kansas tiebreaker, then Riley Trogden intercepted a Lakeside pass in the end zone on fourth down to give Mullan-St. Regis an 8-0 win on Tuesday night at Kootenai High and a berth into the state 1A Division II playoffs.

“Ian Farris was our jet sweep guy against Lakeside last week, and he’s got the flu or something,” Mullan-St. Regis coach Stetson Spooner said. “I told our assistant coach that we’ve got all-state guys like (sophomore quarterback) Luke Trogden and Skye Gallaway, so let’s let them make some plays. And they did tonight.”

Mullan-St. Regis (6-2) will play Kendrick (8-1) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at John Drager Field in Mullan in a quarterfinal game.

Mullan reached the state 1A Division II semifinals in its last playoff appearance 13 years ago.

“That’s how it goes; someone has to win and somebody has to lose,” Lakeside coach Chris Dohrman said. “It was quick.”

Lakeside won the toss and chose to play defense first. Starting at the 25-yard line, Mullan-St. Regis scored in three plays.

On Lakeside’s possession, quarterback Tucker Sanchez completed a 5-yard pass to Devin Arroyo, Vincent Howard ran for 3 yards and Arroyo carried the ball for a 1 yard. On fourth and 1, Sanchez was intercepted looking for Sonny Reuben on fourth down.

Lakeside finished 6-1, the program’s best record since 1997, when the Knights advanced to the A-4 semifinals.

“It was a great season,” Dohrman said. “We only lost one regular season game and these kids, they played way beyond my expectations. I’m super proud of what they did this season.”

Lakeside’s lone loss came at Mullan on Oct. 25. The teams split regular season games, with Lakeside beating Mullan-St. Regis 38-6 on Sept. 20 in Plummer.

“Mullan-St. Regis is a good game,” Dohrman said. “They’ve got a great challenge ahead of them with Kendrick. But I couldn’t be more proud of our kids. We gave everything we had this season. No complaints.”

Lakeside jumped offside to open the tiebreaker, moving the ball up 5 yards to the 20. Gallaway ran for 8 yards and quarterback Luke Trodgen ran for 2 yards and a first down.

Gallaway, a senior, scored on a sweep to the left on the third play from scrimmage for Mullan-St. Regis.

“I wanted to make sure I got into the end zone, so I dove,” Gallaway said. “I just followed the game plan and did what I needed to do.”

As a freshman in 2016, Gallaway and Mullan played 6-man football.

“It’s kind of been like a roller coaster,” Gallaway said. “It’s been up and down, and we hit a few road bumps, but it’s been fun and great to be a part of this team. It feels great to get to the playoffs.”

Mullan and St. Regis (Mont.) are in the second year of a co-op between the schools 45 miles apart.

“Last year, they brought us two dudes, and they were ballplayers,” Spooner said. “This year, they brought us five, and we had seven or eight. And these guys can play. Winning the league, and getting the berth, it’s cool. I’m excited for our guys, and the St. Regis coach (Jesse Allan) because he’s been in a boat like we have for years as well.”

Farris, a receiver, is one of the five “dudes” from St. Regis. He was a first-team all-Idaho selection last year.

Lakeside graduates five of its 13 players.

“We’ll definitely build on this for next year,” Dohrman said. “It’s always something you want to use to get better. We’ll lose a lot of kids, and we’ll really miss them. This was a really good group of kids. We started the season with 11 kids, and were kind of disappointed in those numbers, but the kids we did have fought for us from early August. It was a great group of kids to be around.”