Not the Trojans' night .. Turnovers plague Post Falls in loss to Mt. Spokane

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

POST FALLS — Try as they might have, it just wasn’t the Trojans' night.

Injuries.

Turnovers.

Mt. Spokane, which trailed 13-0 with 4:35 remaining in the first half, scored 29 unanswered points to beat the Post Falls Trojans 29-13 in a nonleague game on Friday at Trojan Stadium.

Post Falls lost starting quarterback Isaac McKeown to a shoulder injury on the Trojans’ first series of the game. He did not return.

“It was a good, physical first half,” Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. “Obviously, we had to adjust our game plan when our quarterback got hurt, but that’s the game of football.”

Senior Caden Smith entered for the Trojans, throwing for 77 yards, most coming in the fourth quarter.

“Caden does a good job for us back there,” Bennett said. “He’s a senior, but hasn’t played a lot of football for us. Mt. Spokane is a good football team that’s well coached. They came out and played physical and took advantage of some things.

Trailing 20-13, Post Falls was driving into Mt. Spokane territory when Smith was intercepted by Mt. Spokane linebacker Ben Joireman at the 16-yard line.

“We hung in there and had a chance to make some plays in the third quarter,” Bennett said. “And we didn’t do it. We got down a couple of scores and were just behind.”

Mt. Spokane quarterback TJ Haberman found Joireman on a 1-yard touchdown pass with 1:47 remaining to put the game away.

Post Falls (4-2) opens 5A Inland Empire League play at Lewiston next Friday.

“I told the kids it comes down to the final three games of the season,” Bennett said. “I thought our kids, we’ve got to regroup, get better and focus on Lewiston.”

Senior Tevin Burns had 33 carries for 184 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

“We felt that we were going to have to run the ball at them,” Bennett said. “It’s something we really worked at. I thought we did a good job in the first quarter and a half of playing fast and doing what we wanted to do. We’ll reevaluate and see what we need to do against Lewiston."

“They’re a big, physical team up front,” Mt. Spokane coach Terry Cloer said. “They’re well coached on both sides of the ball. Both of their coordinators have been at the college level and they’re sound in all their schemes. We had to play well tonight, and we played well tonight.”

Mt. Spokane (5-1) lost 23-17 in overtime to Post Falls in 2022 at Union Stadium in Mead.

“I told Blaine before the game tonight ‘let’s not do overtime tonight,’” Cloer said. “I didn’t think my heart could take it. The game was super close last year. It’s just been two really good games the last two years.”

“We just didn’t have the firepower to match them in the fourth quarter,” Bennett said.

Mt. Spokane 0 7 7 15 — 29

Post Falls 7 6 0 0 — 13

First quarter

PF — Alex Shields 4 pass from Caden Smith (Seth Martin kick), :11

Second quarter

PF — Tevin Burns 6 run (kick failed), 4:35

MS — Matteo Saccomanno 5 run (Talan Main kick), 1:08

Third quarter

MS — Boden Gardner 11 pass from TJ Haberman (Main kick), 8:36

Fourth quarter

MS — Ryen Borchers 4 run (kick failed), 11:15

MS — safety, quarterback tackled in endzone, 6:33

MS — Ben Joireman 1 pass from Haberman (Main kick), 1:47

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MS, Haberman 2-2, Shaw 2-(-1), Saccomanno 12-32, Borchers 3-20. PF, Burns 33-184, McKeown 1-8, Burton 9-21, Rutherford 1-5, Smith 3-30.

PASSING — MS, Haberman, 21-32-0-272. PF, McKeown, 1-1-0-3, Smith, 10-15-3-77.

RECEIVING — MS, Merkelbach 1-(-2), Gardner 9-179, Saccomanno 2-30, Joireman 3-5, Main 2-9, Akers 1-27, Borchers 2-25, Hughes 1-11. PF, Bowie 3-16, Shields 4-31, Triana 2-15, Ostlund 1-5, Rutherford 1-13.