Give and take

POST FALLS — In football, you never know when a big play is going to either help or hurt you.

Sure, Post Falls had some big plays — like really big — on both offense and special teams.

It was the one right before halftime that will be the point of emphasis going forward for the home team.

With Post Falls leading 21-8 with 4:56 remaining in the half, visiting Rigby broke through and blocked a Cole Rutherford punt, sparking a 21-0 run spanning into early in the fourth quarter as Rigby rallied for a 44-42 win at Trojan Stadium on Friday.

"Rigby's an excellent program," Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. "They're a state champion program, and we went toe-to-toe with them at home. And our kids can be proud of that."

After Rigby gained an 8-0 lead, Post Falls took the lead on a 75-yard touchdown pass from Jaxon Anderson to Tommy Hauser in which Hauser outjumped the Rigby defender and raced for the touchdown. Hauser finished with 12 catches for 199 yards for Post Falls (1-1), which travels to Lewiston in a nonleague game next Friday.

"Tommy's a special player," Bennett said. "He certainly came to play tonight. We've got some other good players, but boy, he was electric tonight. He made some big plays and did a great job with the ball in his hands and made some people miss. He's certainly a go-to guy for us."

He's a good ballplayer," Rigby coach Armando Gonzalez said of Hauser. "When you go empty like they do, it's going to cause you to make some decisions. Tehy did a good job of moving him around. We just needed to do a better job of keeping track of him and faced that a little bit last year a couple of times. It's a good lesson for us."

Rigby (2-0) regained the lead just before halftime at 23-21 on a 1-yard run by quarterback Tiger Adolpho. Zheik Falevai extended the advantage to 29-21 after breaking a 63-yard run to start the second half before scoring from one yard out.

James Lee pulled Post Falls to within 30-28 on a 15-yard touchdown reception with 7:27 remaining in the third. Rigby scored again on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Adolpho to Trajen Larsen to give Rigby a 37-28 lead. Falevai scored from 12 yards out to start the fourth quarter to give Rigby a 44-28 lead with 9:44 remaining.

Noah Range scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:51 remaining to cut the deficit to 44-42, but the conversion pass fell incomplete.

Post Falls recovered an onside kick, but had a fourth down pass fall short to end the game.

"I think we showed we've got some ability in all three phases," Bennett said. "All that considered, we came up on the short end, but our kids played really well and showed some character and toughness."

Falevai had 160 yards rushing, 96 in the second half for Rigby.

"I've got a lot of respect for what they do offensively," Gonzalez said. "They came out ready to play. Not to take it away from them, but we definitely needed to wake up early in the game. When you give a team with that style of offense a chance to stay in the ballgame, it can turn into a track meet They deserved to win that game, but luckily, we were able to hang on."

Rigby 8 15 14 7 — 44

Post Falls 14 7 7 14 — 42

First quarter

Rigby — Gabe Mobley 4 run (Brigden Craig pass from Taylor Freeman), 6:29

PF — Cole Rutherford 23 pass from Jaxon Anderson (Logan Koller kick), 4:22

PF — Tommy Hauser 67 pass from Anderson (Koller kick), 2:43

Second quarter

PF — Anderson 6 run (Koller kick), 7:01

Rigby — Trajen Larsen 21 pass from Tiger Adolpho (Trey Saathoff kick), 4:56

Rigby — Adolpho 1 run (Payton Van Steenkiste pass from Craig), :09

Third quarter

Rigby — Falevai 1 run (Saathoff kick), 10:42

PF — James Lee 15 pass from Anderson (Koller kick), 7:27

Rigby — Larsen 41 pass from Adolpho (Saathoff kick), 4:54

Fourth quarter

Rigby — Falevai 12 run (Saathoff kick), 9:14

PF — Noah Range 4 run (Range run), 7:04

PF — Range 2 run (pass failed), 2:51

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Rigby, Falevai 14-160, Mobley 8-21, Adolpho 9-73. PF, Hauser 3-(-6), Range 13-33, Rutherford 1-0, Anderson 18-85, Pine 1-5.

PASSING — Rigby, Adolpho, 9-20-0-210. PF, Anderson, 25-41-1-313.

RECEIVING — Rigby, Larsen 7-154, Dansie 1-47, Falevai 2-16. PF, Range 1-8, Rutherford 6-79, Hauser 12-199, Curlee 5-43, Lee 1-15.