5A REGION 1 BOYS SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP: Flying high again ... Lake City downs rival Coeur d'Alene, advances to state 5A tournament

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE — By this time in the year, there’s no secrets anymore.

That being said, the rest of the state might want to pay attention to the Lake City boys soccer team.

They bring the noise, as well as a little bit of physicality.

And, these T-Wolves are on a mission.

Junior Jacob Molina scored on a penalty kick in the 19th minute for the top-seeded Timberwolves, who added two goals in the second half of a 3-1 win over the second-seeded Coeur d’Alene Vikings in the 5A Region 1 championship game on Wednesday at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex.

“When it comes to Lake City and CHS, every kid knows each other,” second-year Lake City coach Kevin Jump said. “They know how every kid, and how they play and our style of play. Beating your rival three times, and for the district championship, it’s pretty special.”

Seniors Noah Waddell and Connor Jump added second half goals for Lake City, which advanced to state via the play-in game last year, losing in the third-place match to Thunder Ridge of Idaho Falls.

Lake City (15-0) has not allowed more than one goal in a match all season.

“We’re just fortunate to have a strong defensive team,” Jump said. “Coeur d’Alene had its first shot on goal in the 70th minute, and that goes to show how good our defense is. I’m very happy for our boys and proud of them. The thing is, we celebrate right now, but this is not our goal. Our goal is to win every single time we step on the field. And we want to go and make some serious noise in the state playoffs.”

Junior forward Kason Pintler scored in the 70th minute for Coeur d’Alene (10-4).

“Sometimes, it’s not always going to be the cleanest game of soccer,” Jump said. “Sometimes, it’s going to be a physical game. And we embrace that.”

Lake City fell 1-0 in the semifinals at state last year to Timberline High of Boise, the eventual champion. The Timberwolves open at state next Thursday at Eagle High. Matchups are expected to be announced once the bids have been secured on Saturday afternoon.

“Quite honestly, we’ve been telling them to look high,” Jump said. “Right now, that’s where we set our goals for this season. Right now, we wanted to be able to handle getting through the season healthy. We knew we had the players and the talent. Now, we’ve got to be healthy and ready to go. And it should be a fun week down there next week.”

Waddell scored on a breakaway in the 56th minute to make it 2-0 for Lake City.

“I just saw Valentyn (Kuzyk) play it to the back post and knew I was in the right spot,” Waddell said. “All I had to do was pass the ball in. I think our seniority today really pushed us through. We’ve got great leadership and that really was the key for us today. Mentally, I think we’re in a good spot heading into it. I think we’re ready for whatever comes next.”

It is the third trip to state in the last four years for Lake City.

“I think this team has everything,” Connor Jump said. “We’re mentally and physically tough. This has been my club team for the last 10 years. And we’re ready to bring it home.”

Coeur d’Alene will face Eagle in a state play-in match on Saturday at Walker Field in Lewiston.

“I think we had those little moments, but they were few and far between,” sixth-year Coeur d’Alene coach Braden Ridgewell said. “The goal lit a little fire in us that we were looking for the entire game, but it was too little too late for that. I think it’s a matter of figuring it out and not succumbing to the pressure. Lake City’s a great team and press the ball. They’ve got a lot of quality athletes on their team and our boys just crumbled under the pressure a little bit today. Once we figured out we could play with them, it was a little too late.”

First half — 1, LC, Jacob Molina (penalty kick), 19:00. Second half — 2, LC, Noah Waddell (Brayden Ristic), 56:00. 3, LC, Connor Jump (penalty kick), 67:00. 4, Cd’A, Kason Pintler (penalty kick), 74:00.

Shots on goal — Cd’A 3, Lake City 12.

Saves — Cd’A, Nolan Ludwick, 9, LC, Benji Deming, 2.