Lakeside forces tiebreaker

CLARK FORK — As it turns out, the road to the 1A Division II playoffs and North Star League title will run through Kootenai High after all.

Vincent Howard, Sonny Reuben and JJ Hall scored touchdowns for the Lakeside Knights in a 44-34 win over the Clark Fork Wampus Cats in the North Star League finale for both schools on Wednesday.

“It was a good team win,” Lakeside coach Chris Dohrman said. “Clark Fork played us tough like they always do. They were ahead 24-22 at the half and we had some turnovers that cost us, but we had a much better second half.”

With the win, Lakeside (6-1, 3-1 NSL) will face Mullan-St. Regis (6-2, 3-1) in a Kansas tiebreaker on Monday at 6 p.m. at Kootenai High in Harrison Flats to determine the North Star League’s lone representative to the state playoffs.

“I thought we weren’t going to Kootenai this year,” said Dohrman of the school, which cancelled its season in August due to low numbers. “This will be our first tiebreaker, but it should be fun. We’ll have a couple of quick practices, and it will be a short week again. Then whoever wins will have a short week again, but we won’t complain if we’re able to play this time of year because that’s what everyone wants to do.”

That winner will host the winner of Friday’s game between Kendrick and Salmon River in a quarterfinal game the weekend of Nov. 7-8.

Clark Fork finished 3-4, 0-4.