Unlucky St. Maries Eliminated Undefeated Season Ends On Playoff Loss To Underdog Emmett, 27-26

Curt Carr is convinced his St. Maries High School football teams are jinxed in the state playoffs. He says there’s no other explanation.

As Intermountain League champion, Carr’s Lumberjacks opened the State A-2 playoffs Saturday afternoon favored against the Emmett Huskies.

But the underdog Huskies must not read the newspapers as they rallied late to upset previously undefeated St. Maries 27-26 at Lake City High School.

“I don’t know what it is, but it’s happened to us in (19)85, ‘91 and now this year,” Carr said, shaking his head. “I’m beginning to think that’s (my team’s) destiny every time we make the playoffs.”

In two of St. Maries’ three state playoff appearances, the Lumberjacks finished the regular season with 9-0 records and figured to go deep in the playoffs. That, more than anything, is what made the loss Saturday especially painful.

“The season ended too soon,” Lumberjack senior quarterback Jason Holdahl said, choking back tears.

It appeared the Lumberjacks had defeated not only Emmett but also their postseason jinx when they drove 64 yards on seven plays to break a 21-all tie. Senior running back Jason Hall lumbered 24 yards around left end for the go-ahead touchdown with 3:11 remaining. But the ‘Jacks botched the point-after attempt when the snap from their backup center bounced over the holder’s head.

But the Huskies just made the end much more devastating for the Lumberjacks. Emmett marched 72 yards on seven plays, the winning TD coming when quarterback Ryan Spencer found receiver Dylan Schneider wide open in the end zone for an 18-yard scoring reception. Schneider beat defensive back Jeromy Craner for the second time in the final series. In fact, Schneider caught the pass despite pass interference by Craner.

St. Maries’ final series began on its 20-yard line with 1:23 remaining. It ended on a deep interception with 34 seconds left.

Emmett (8-2) will meet rival Weiser (8-2) Saturday in the semifinals. Weiser advanced by thumping Lakeland 41-0 at Weiser.

With the score tied at 7-all midway through the second quarter, St. Maries put together one of its patented long drives to take a 14-7 lead at halftime. Hall, who gained 123 yards on 31 carries, toted the ball seven times in the 13-play drive. Holdahl capped the drive by hitting D.J. Eberlin on an 18-yard pass.

But Emmett wasted no time knotting the score up after halftime. On the first play of the second half, Spencer hit Schneider on a short out and Schneider did the rest on the 60-yard pass-and-run play. St. Maries still clung to a 14-13 lead when the PAT failed.

St. Maries added to its lead at 20-13 when Hall plowed 9 yards for the TD with 3:54 left in the third quarter.

Emmett tied the score again at 20-20 midway in the final period when Damon Thayn scored from 3 yards out. The Huskies kept the drive alive when they got a first down on fourth-and-one at their 46. Lined up as the upback in punt formation, Spencer took the snap and scratched out two yards for the drive-sustaining first down.

“We were screaming at them that they’re going to (fake),” Carr said. “We knew it was going to happen.”

First-year Emmett coach Larry Nigro, who was taking just the second team in school history to the playoffs since postseason play began in 1978, praised St. Maries.

“To come here and beat a team like that here in their playground….I’m just really proud of our kids,” Nigro said. “They’re a very good team. We couldn’t stop them. They’re relentless, very physical. Fortunately we had some big plays.”

Holdahl played especially well, completing 16 of 28 passes for 200 yards.

“It was still a very good positive season for our seniors,” Holdahl said. “We went 9-0 (in regular season), which is a very good victory for St. Maries. It feels good, but not right now. It’s disappointing right now.”

Hall will cherish the season once the pain of the final loss wears off.

“We did not deserve to lose that game by one point,” Hall said. “We know in our hearts we’re still the better team.”

Emmett 27, St. Maries 26

Emmett 0 7 7 13 - 27 St. Maries 7 7 6 6 - 26

S-Hall 1 run (Thrane kick)

E-Smith 5 run (Thayn kick)

S-Eberlin 18 pass from Holdahl (Thrane kick)

E-Schneider 60 pass from Spencer (kick failed)

S-Hall 9 run (kick failed)

E-Thayn 3 run (Thayn kick)

S-Hall 24 run (kick failed)

E-Schneider 18 pass from Spencer (Thayn kick)

Weiser 41, Lakeland 0

The host Wolverines took it the Hawks early and often, and the result wasn’t pretty for Lakeland.

Weiser running back Steve Fochtman scored four touchdowns to lead the Wolverines. Weiser led 28-0 at halftime and the final margin was decided before both teams settled for a scoreless final quarter.

Derrel Walker led the Weiser ground attack with 125 yards on 15 carries. Fochtman added 89 yards on 17 rushes. The duo ran mostly behind 6-foot-4, 260-pound tackle Hans Olson, who created gapping hole after gapping hole.

“We really put things together today,” Weiser coach Jeff Murphy said. “Lakeland is a great program, a class program. So when you beat them like that you just hope they don’t take it as you rubbing it in. Our off line was able to control it and that set the tempo.”

Lakeland finishes the season at 5-5.

Lakeland 0 0 0 0 - 0 Weiser 14 14 13 0 - 41

W-Fochtman 1 run (Madarieta kick)

W-Fochtman 1 run (Madarieta kick)

W-Youckton 12 pass from Johnson (Madarieta kick)

W-Fochtman 5 pass from Johnson (Madarieta kick)

W-Fochtman 5 run (kick failed)

W-Johnson 3 run (Madarieta kick)

Lewiston 21, Mountain Home 14 OT

The visiting Bengals rallied in the second half to send the game to overtime before prevailing in sudden death.

Fullback Laki Ah Hi provided the tying touchdown in the third period when he scored from 1 yard out. Then the junior scored the game winner on a 1-yard run in overtime.

Lewiston, 8-2, will meet Inland Empire League champion and rival Post Falls, 9-1, in a rematch Saturday afternoon in the semifinals. The game will be played at the Kibbie Dome with kickoff at about 1:45 p.m.

The game was tentatively scheduled for Friday night, but was moved to Saturday as part of a tripleheader playoff.

Post Falls defeated Lewiston 41-20 at Lewiston during the regular season.

Lewiston 0 7 7 0 7 - 21 Mountain Home 7 7 0 0 0 - 14

M-Lafferty 15 pass from Smith (Valley kick)

L-Kevin Jones 3 pass from Jeremy Frei (Van Malsen kick)

M-Amos Lafferty 22 run (Valley kick)

L-Laki Ah Hi 1 run (Van Malsen kick)

L-Ah Hi 1 run (Van Malsen kick)

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo