PREP FOOTBALL: Lakeland gets into its bag, beats West Valley

SPOKANE VALLEY — The play was there, so first-year coach Mike Schroeder called it.

And Lakeland hit it.

Leading 13-0 in the fourth quarter, Lakeland put the game away on a double pass as quarterback Caysen Loutzenhiser threw to Caden Smith, who then found Zachary Kuenkler on a 40-yard score as the Hawks beat the West Valley Eagles 23-0 on Thursday night.

“We’ve been working on it practice all year, but haven’t run it all year,” Schroeder said. “We had it in tonight and I felt it was a good time to run it. The boys executed it. It was something we had in the bag, and it worked out for us.”

Lakeland, out to its first 4-0 start since the 2001 season, hosts Coeur d’Alene next Friday.

John Cornish scored on a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs to give Lakeland a 13-0 halftime lead. Owen Forsman capped the scoring with a 37-yard field goal in the fourth.

“They were pretty focused on the run all game,” Schroeder said. “Our passing game wasn’t working as well and we took a few sacks, so we’ve got some work to do in the passing game.”

Roan Reilly had an interception in the fourth quarter to preserve the shutout.

“Our defense played well and it’s great to get the shutout,” Schroeder said. “Offensively, our running game has been solid, but we’re not capitalizing and taking advantage of some things with the offense. Our effort was there, but the execution wasn’t. And that’s on me as a coach and getting better in preparation in practice.”

West Valley is 1-1.

Lakeland 0 13 0 10 — 23

West Valley 0 0 0 0 — 0

Second quarter

LL — John Cornish 1 run (kick blocked)

LL — Cornish 1 run (Owen Forsman kick)

Fourth quarter

LL — Zachary Kuenkler 40 pass from Caden Smith (Forsman kick)

LL — FG Forsman 37