PREP FOOTBALL: A Weil to figure it out ... Lakeland junior carries Hawks past Lake City

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

RATHDRUM — Lake City is starting fresh with a new coaching staff led by former T-Wolf Bryron Hout.

And while Lakeland opened last Friday with a 17-7 win over Preston, the Hawks found themselves in a similar spot as the home opener kicked off on Friday at Corbit Field.

Fortunately for the Hawks, they’ve got a Weil to pick up the slack.

Junior tailback Kage “Lovie” Weil carried the ball 33 times for 151 for the Hawks, who held off a late two-point conversion to beat the Lake City Timberwolves 13-12.

“I challenged Lovie in the summer,” second-year Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. “Our offensive line is pretty formidable, so I expect to run the ball very well. And we did for the most part. Lovie’s standing in there and doing a great job.”

Lakeland lost starting quarterback Haydon Benson to a broken left foot in last week’s game.

“It’s just been hurrying up and crunching it all this week,” Schroeder said. “And we’re just not there offensively, but we did what we had to do. I’m proud of the guys. We were the more physical team tonight, but we’ve got to execute a lot better.”

Lakeland senior kicker Owen Forsman had field goals of 25- and 49-yards.

Next Friday, Lakeland (2-0) hosts Pullman and Lake City (0-1) hosts North Central.

Trailing 13-0 entering the fourth quarter, Lake City scored on a 46-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Avrey Cherry to sophomore Jacob Hill with 11:55 remaining. Lake City cut the deficit to 13-12 with 55 seconds remaining on a 5-yard run by sophomore Ike Johnson, but a pass was incomplete, going for the lead on the conversion.

“We’re still building day by day,” said Lake City coach Byron Hout, who took over after Brian Fulp resigned after five seasons. “We’re still not where we want to be. But a couple of weeks down the road, we’ll be OK. We’re still working to install all of our offense and it’s a work in progress.”

Lake City moved into scoring position on a 24-yard run by Cherry, who hit Hill on the touchdown pass at the start of the fourth.

Cherry finished with 165 yards passing and another 71 rushing for Lake City.

“I like when Avrey bets on himself,” Hout said. “When the quarterback takes charge and has some confidence. I told him, ‘that’s the beauty of being the quarterback.’ Go make plays, and sometimes you’re not going to make them. But I’m not going to yank you. Just go and make the next play and have some confidence.”

Lake City had six penalties for 55 yards. Lakeland had two for 20 yards.

“I think we need to clean up some of the organization and the details,” Hout said. “We needed to get set on offense a little faster and our receivers were jumping back. We need to hone the details. The physicality, the energy is there. But some of these mental mistakes cost us tonight.”

With Lake City driving with 3:55 remaining, Lakeland senior cornerback Roan Reilly intercepted a pass at the 20-yard line.

“Defense was great all night,” Schroeder said. “There’s some things we can work on to get better with some personnel. I think the effort was there and we needed that game for defense to come together a little bit, and they did.”

Lake City 0 0 0 12 — 12

Lakeland 0 10 3 0 — 13

Second quarter

LL — Ezra Benson 23 run (Owen Forsman kick), 7:45

LL — FG, Forsman, 25, :00.

Third quarter

LL — FG, Forsman, 49, 5:55.

Fourth quarter

LC — Jacob Hill 46 pass from Avrey Cherry (kick blocked), 11:15

LC — Ike Johnson 5 run (pass failed), :55.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — LC, Johnson 15-43, Usdrowski 9-15, Cherry 9-71, Petersen 1-7, Wullenwaber 1-0. LL, Taylor 3-(-19), Weil 33-151, Benson 5-37, Hobbs 2-13.

PASSING — LC, Cherry, 7-20-1-165. LL, Taylor, 2-6-0-28.

RECEIVING — LC, Hill 4-124, Zu 1-9, Johnson 1-4, Usdrowski 1-30. LL, Weil 1-12, Burmeister 1-16.