Foote Has A Ball For Lakeland Junior Runs Hawks Past Cda, 18-7; Error-Prone Vikings Drop To 1-3

The old “3 yards and a cloud of dust” offensive philosophy just wasn’t simple enough for the Lakeland Hawks in their non-league football game with the Coeur d’Alene Vikings Friday.

So coach Terry Kiefer and his staff scrapped that strategy and went with “one Foote and a cloud of dust” - and it worked.

With running back Randy Foote carrying most of the offensive burden, the Hawks rolled to an 18-7 victory over CdA before 500 fans at Viking Field.

Foote, a junior, behind great blocking from his offensive line and fullback Cameron Napora, rushed for 93 yards on 29 carries and provided Lakeland (2-2) with exactly half of its offensive production.

All this came on what Foote admitted was one of his better nights despite not being completely healthy.

“That’s a few more carries for me, but we try to run what works and we’ll run it until we can’t use it anymore,” Foote said. “I’ve been nursing a sore knee, but that wasn’t really a factor.”

Foote wasn’t the entire show for the Hawks by any means.

Senior quarterback Al Bevacqua went to the air sparingly, but when he did, he was effective. Bevacqua was 5 of 7 for 49 yards, but more importantly, two of those completions went for touchdowns.

And Foote and the Hawks got help from the Viks as well. Lakeland benefitted from three CdA first-half turnovers to take an 18-0 lead at the half.

Lakeland’s first score came after a 10-play drive following an Eric Singer interception. Foote took it in from 1 yard out. The extra point failed and the Hawks led 6-0.

Lakeland got the ball back on the Vik 19 when CdA’s Dave Goodwin fumbled a Nick Rook pitch.

On the second play from scrimmage, Bevacqua faked a handoff and found tight end Matt Lowe open over the middle for an 18-yard score. Once again, Lakeland’s conversion attempt was no good, leaving the Hawks up 12-0.

The Hawks added a touchdown with 1:39 to go in the half on a 7-yard Bevacqua pass to wide-receiver Casey Pluid.

The Viks, who struggled to mount much of threat in the first half, went to the lockerroom with just 70 yards of offense.

“Turnovers killed us,” said CdA coach Bill Anderson, who saw his team fall to 1-3. “When you turn the ball over on the 20- or 30-yard line, teams are going to score. All three of their touchdowns were off turnovers.”

CdA showed little more life in the second half. The Viks’ one bright spot came early in the fourth quarter. Junior running back Mark Scates, on just his second carry of the game, broke loose for a 94-yard touchdown run to account for the Viks’ only score.

That run was exactly double that of CdA’s offensive output to that point.

Scates, battling a sore shoulder, nearly broke loose again on CdA’s next possession but was caught by the last Lakeland defender. Scates finished with 118 yards on just three carries.

The Hawks finished with 185 yards total offense, with 136 of those coming on the ground.

Lakeland’s victory was dampened somewhat by an injury to running back Ben Padilla. Padilla went down with 8:32 to play with what appeared to be a neck injury. He was transported to the hospital as a precautionary move, Kiefer said.

Lakeland 18, Coeur d’Alene 0

Lakeland 12 6 0 0 - 18 CdA 0 0 0 7 - 7

LL-Foote 1 run (kick failed)

LL-Lowe 18 pass from Bevacqua (run failed)

LL-Pluid 7 pass from Bevacqua (run failed)

C-Scates 94 run (Davis kick)