STATE 6A FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Post Falls runs past Borah

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

POST FALLS — A rainy night. 

A muddy field. 

Sounds like a good time to make it a smashmouth football game. 

Post Falls rushed for 386 yards and had two backs go over the 100-yard mark as the Trojans rolled past the Borah Lions of Boise 49-21 in the first-round of the state 6A playoffs Friday night at soggy Trojan Stadium. 

"It was rainy out, so that was our game plan, to run the ball,” Post Falls senior center Jackson Portner said. “I love it; all of our guys love it, having the game on us.” 

Post Falls (7-3) which notched its first playoff victory since 2018, will travel to Rigby (8-1) in a quarterfinal game next weekend.

Senior Devin Burton ran for 174 yards and four touchdowns on 19 carries for Post Falls, with Portner, Kyden Martin, Cooper Woydziak, Joseph Riggs and Alexander Scholes, among others, paving the way up front and dominating Borah at the line of scrimmage.  

“It’s the best feeling in the world; I absolutely love it,” said Portner, who started some at offensive guard last year, before shifting to center this year.” 

Junior Brandon Felix rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries for the Trojans. 

"Mike McKeown, he does a great job with the offensive line,” Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. “Every week they’ve gotten better and better, and right now they’re playing really well. You add our tight end (Kendall Sage), because he’s part of the blocking scheme, and they just did an excellent job. Our running backs did a great job, hanging onto the football, breaking some tackles.” 

Post Falls is in the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons, but had lost five straight playoff games, including four in a row at home. 

“It feels absolutely amazing; we wanted this so bad,” Portner said. “Something we talked about during the week — we hadn’t won one in a while, we wanted one tonight.” 

“That’s a great win; our guys really deserved it,” Bennett said. “They worked hard this week, coming off that Lake City win, we had some good energy, and an excellent week of preparation, and everybody was dialed in.”  

Post Falls did not punt until early in the fourth quarter. 

The Trojans scored on their first three possessions, including the first one where Borah dropped a punt snap and the Trojans took over at the Lions’ 26.  

Post Falls scored on four of seven first-half drives. Two ended in interceptions, and the Trojans doinked a 31-yard field goal try off the left upright to end the first half. Post Falls then scored on its first two possessions of the second half. 

“That first half, definitely, we wanted to make sure we controlled the line of scrimmage,” Bennett said.  

Borah (5-5) suffered from penalties and the drops in the first half, and was outgained 247-47 in the half. Dylan Luekenga threw for 230 of his 264 yards in the second half for the Lions, who trailed 42-0 late in the third quarter before getting going offensively. 

For the game, Post Falls outgained Borah 448-295. 

“The O-line did an excellent job, and when you get stops on defense, pretty soon you look up and it’s 28-0 and we’re feeling pretty good,” Bennett said.  

Borah    0    0    14    7    —    21 

Post Falls    14    14    14    7    —    49 

First quarter 

PF — Isaac McKeown 6 run (Braydn Singleton kick), 8:17 

PF — Devin Burton 23 run (Singleton kick), 1:48 

Second quarter 

PF — Brandon Felix 27 run (Singleton kick), 10:01 

PF — Burton 17 run (Singleton kick), 5:27 

Third quarter 

PF — Trenton McLean 13 pass from McKeown (Singleton kick), 10:22 

Borah — Hendrix Castro 4 run (Mo Hodzic kick), 2:51 

Borah — Castro 3 run (Hodzic kick), 1:17 

Fourth quarter 

PF — Felix 29 run (Singleton kick), 11:54 

Bor — Ryan Lopez 46 pass from Dylan Luekenga (Hodzic kick), 11:11 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — Borah, Castro 12-30, Melendez 1-9, Leukenga 7-8, Jones 1-4, Team 1-(minus 20). PF, Burton 19-174, Felix 18-152, McKeown 9-44, McLean 1-16. 

PASSING — Borah, Leukenga 21-33-0-264. PF, McKeown 8-16-2-62. 

RECEIVING — Borah, Monteleone 6-102, Castro 5-18, Lopez 4-69, Halpin 4-59, Melendez 2-16. PF, McLean 3-18, Ostlund 2-32, Mathews 2-9, Burton 1-3. 

    MARK NELKE/Press Post Falls junior Marcus Sanchez sacks Borah quarterback Dylan Luekenga late in the first half, as Trojan senior Christopher Click (48) looks on, during a state 6A football first-round playoff game Friday night at Trojan Stadium.