Big pass play late in first half propels Post Falls past Lake City

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

COEUR d'ALENE — Facing third down and 10 on their own 36, the score tied at 7 and 52 seconds left in the first half, the Post Falls Trojans lined up to run a play, then called timeout, lined up again and changed the play.

When play resumed, quarterback Jaxon Anderson was pressured as dropped back to pass. He stepped up in the pocket and hit a wide-open Tommy Hauser streaking down the middle of the field. Hauser caught the ball near the Lake City 25 and cruised in to complete the 64-yard scoring play.

That put Post Falls ahead to stay, and the Trojans tacked on two scores in the second half to defeat the Lake City Timberwolves 30-7 in the 5A Inland Empire League high school football opener for both teams Friday night.

"They brought an extra guy off the edge. I got pressured, so I ran up the middle, which drew the DBs off, and then I threw it deep and he (Hauser) made a good play and got it," Anderson said of the go-ahead score.

"A great job by Jaxon," Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said of the play. "We’re trying to tell him to stay in the pocket and make quick decisions. On that one he moved around, and kept his eyes downfield, and Hauser did an excellent job of running under it. I really thought that was probably that big play that we needed before the half, to get that lead in our favor."

"He (Hauser) ran a seam route, and we didn’t carry with him. We had a blown coverage," Lake City coach Brian Fulp said.

Anderson finished with 288 yards passing and two touchdowns for Post Falls (4-2), which beat Lake City 34-13 in a nonleague game three weeks ago, after trailing 13-0 at the half.

Just like the first matchup, Lake City (2-5) jumped out on top first. Damon Rosenau recovered a fumble at the Post Falls 35 and seven plays later, Zander Webb powered in from 2 yards out with 1:01 left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Ethan Miller of Post Falls intercepted a deflected pass at midfield. On first down at the Lake City 11, Anderson kept the ball, but fumbled at the 5. Hauser dashed in and scooped up the ball near the goal line for the tying score.

Post Falls' go-ahead score came four plays after Zach Clark's interception in the end zone. Three weeks ago, Clark had three of the Trojans'six interceptions, including a pick-six.

On the third play of the third quarter, Matthew Whitcomb took a short pass to the left from Chris Irvin, then zig-zagged down the sideline for 41 yards to the Post Falls 25.

But a holding penalty on the T-Wolves brought the ball back to the Lake City 15 — a 60-yard change in field position.

The T-Wolves punted four plays later, and Post Falls took over at midfield.

James Lee's one-handed catch of an Anderson pass down the middle on the first play resulted in a 25-yard gain. Nic McLeod ran it in from the 1 to make it 23-7 late in the third quarter.

Midway through the fourth, Anderson rolled left and fired a pass that two Lake City players went for the pick and missed. The ball was snagged by Cole Rutherford, who dashed down the sideline to complete the 77-yard scoring play.

Lake City didn't threaten again until the game was in hand.

"We moved the ball pretty well between the 20s, but we had some untimely mistakes," Fulp said. "Once we got in the red zone they (the Trojans) tightened up and got tougher."

Whitcomb finished with 10 catches for 77 yards.

Hauser made plays even with tightly covered. He finished with six receptions — all in the first half — for 145 yards for Post Falls, which was coming off a 48-7 loss at Coeur d'Alene last week in nonleague play.

"Last week hurt a little bit, but that’s in the past," Anderson said. "This week we took care of business."

Post Falls out-gained Lake City 357-269, gaining most of its yardage on the perimeter. Both had two turnovers.

"I thought it was all about the defense," Bennett said. "The defense played great tonight. They’ve got an excellent quarterback, and some very skilled wide receivers, they can put up a lot of points, and I thought our defense played great."

Next Friday, Post Falls travels to Lewiston, and Lake City visits Coeur d'Alene in league play.

Post Falls 0 15 8 7 — 30

Lake City 7 0 0 0 — 7

First quarter

PF — Zander Webb 2 run (Kyrus Condon kick), 1:01

Second quarter

PF — Tommy Hauser fumble recovery in end zone (Josiah Shields kick), 6:42

PF — Hauser 64 pass from Jaxon Anderson (Anderson run), :43

Third quarter

PF — Nic McLeod 1 run (Shields pass from Anderson), :46

Fourth quarter

PF — Cole Rutherford 87 pass from Anderson (Isaiah Legate kick), 5:55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — PF, McLeod 10-57, Hauser 2-7, Anderson 6-(minus 1), Range 4-6. LC, Webb 19-85, Howard 4-15, Irvin 7-20, Johnson 1-(minus 10).

PASSING — PF, Anderson 11-20-1-288. LC, Irvin 22-31-2-159.

RECEIVING — PF, Hauser 6-145, McLeod 1-17, Curlee 1-16, C. Rutherford 2-85, Lee 1-25. LC, Whitcomb 10-77, Bowman 4-21, Webb 3-10, Johnson 3-24, Howard 1-9, Rosenau 1-10.