A reason to celebrate ... Lake City blanks North Central for Hout's first win as coach at alma mater

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

COEUR d’ALENE — Progress is nice.

But wins are even nicer.

The Lake City Timberwolves dominated the North Central Wolfpack on both sides of the ball Friday night, notching 34-0 victory and giving former T-Wolf star Byron Hout his first victory as head coach at his alma mater.

“It (winning) is just the carrot at the end of the day,” said Hout, who went on to play at Boise State, then was a college assistant before returning to Lake City. “You play the game to get the win, and you put in all this work, and that’s the reward at the end. And so for us to get that was huge.”

Lake City (1-1) outgained North Central (0-1) 411 yards to 83.

Junior Avrey Cherry threw three touchdown passes, two to sophomore Jaden Ross, one to senior Hunter Profumo.

The Timberwolves rushed for 354 yards, and it was by committee. Cherry led the way with 87 yards, 44 coming on a keeper that set up Lake City’s fourth score, early in the fourth quarter. Junior Connor Petersen ran for 72 yards on 12 carries. Profumo, who moved from defense to slotback this week, rushed for 67 yards on 11 carries, coming through the backfield off the slot and following linemen including Joseph Liniger, Brody Slawson, Gezus LaSarte, Nicklaus Calligan, Mason Barnes and Bronson Best for big gains up the middle.

“I think we have some different styles of guys that touch the ball,” Hout said. “You have Connor Petersen, who’s just Steady Eddie; he knows every position on the field, and you know exactly what you’re going to get out of him. And then you mix in some Profumo, and mix in some Gabe Wullenwaber, and it just keeps that defense guessing, so they don’t have to tackle the same guy over and over. They’re tackling multiple guys.”

“Every time, I felt like I could have just kept going farther,” Profumo said. “And I just wanted to do it again.”

“For him to come over in a week and know that position and play that way was big for us,” Hout said of Profumo. “He’s a coach’s son … he really showed up on the offensive side tonight.”

Junior Gabe Wullenwaber ran for 66 yards on five carries, including a 35-yard TD burst up the middle early in the third quarter to make it 21-0.

“”We moved some guys around, put them in positions to be more successful on the offensive side of the ball,” Hout said. “We had some guys that did play both ways for us. We’re still finding our stride; I still don’t think we’re where we want to be, but we are making improvements.”

Defensively, Lake City held North Central to 28 rushing yards, helped by four sacks, with junior Harman Gaby, senior Michael Hyland, junior Jericho Shawver and sophomore Ethan Toomey getting in on the fun.

Wullenwaber’s TD came two plays after an interception by junior Michael Martindale. Junior Garrett Leonard’s interception set up the final score, a 10-yard run by senior Connor Carmignani.

“We just had to fix all the mistakes from last time, and make sure we all do our plays right,” said Profumo, whose T-Wolves lost their opener 13-12 last week at Lakeland.

Junior Travis Usdrowski, moved from tight end to wide receiver, had four catches for 20 yards for Lake City.

North Central has now lost 13 straight games, dating back to the 2021 season. The Wolfpack were 0-8 last year.

Lake City plays Emmett next Friday at 7 p.m. at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

North Central 0 0 0 0 — 0

Lake City 7 7 7 13 — 34

First quarter

LC — Jaden Ross 5 pass from Avrey Cherry (Caden Oxenrider kick), 3:26

Second quarter

LC — Michael Profumo 5 pass from Cherry (Oxenrider kick), 7:59

Third quarter

LC — Gabe Wullenwaber 35 run (Oxenrider kick), 10:15

Fourth quarter

LC — Ross 10 pass from Cherry (Oxenrider kick), 11:01

LC — Connor Carmignani 10 run (kick failed), 1:13

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — NC, T. Elliott 7-9, Workman 8-4, Thang 1-(minus 7), Campbell 1-2, N. Elliott 3-27, Jones 4-(minus 7). LC, Wullenwaber 5-66, Profumo 11-67, Cherry 11-87, Petersen 12-72, Walker 2-16, Oxenrider 1-1, Carmignani 3-25, Brandon 2-20.

PASSING — NC, T. Elliott 2-5-0-11, Jones 3-8-2-44. LC, Cherry, 8-16-0-57.

RECEIVING — NC, Workman 1-4, N. Elliott 2-7, Wright 2-44. LC, Usdrowski 4-20, Ross 2-15, DeMarre 1-17, Profumo 1-5.