Berkley Sparkles In Sandpoint Win

Kurt Berkley made it obvious Friday night that he doesn’t want his young career as a tailback to end just yet.

The Sandpoint senior, in his first year at tailback, capped a splendid regular season by rushing for 177 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldogs blitzed Post Falls 49-35 to earn the Inland Empire League’s No. 1 seed into next week’s A-1 Division II state playoffs.

The victory snapped Sandpoint’s 10-game losing streak to Post Falls and elevated the Bulldogs (6-3 overall, 3-1 in the IEL) into the host role for next Friday’s 7 p.m. first-round playoff matchup against Lake City (8-1, 3-1), the state’s top-ranked A-1 team but only the No. 3 seed out of the IEL.

Lewiston (6-2-1), the No. 2 seed, will be the home team for the other first-round playoff, meeting Nampa (4-5), also at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Sandpoint handed Lake City its only loss, 33-21, back on Oct. 3.

“It’ll be a rematch of what happened earlier in the season,” elated Bulldogs coach Satini Puailoa said after the game. “I know we’ve improved, and I’m sure they have, too. It’s going to be a great game.”

Perhaps no one on Puailoa’s deep and talented roster has improved as much as Berkley, however. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder made quite a statement to that effect by torching the Trojans’ defense on touchdown runs of 1 and 30 yards.

His first score came late in the first quarter on a short dive and tied the game at 7. But it was his second, a burst over left tackle on Sandpoint’s first play from scrimmage in the second half, that KO’d Post Falls (3-5-1, 1-3) and knocked the Trojans out of the playoffs for the first time in five years.

“Kurt’s been running very, very well for us,” Puailoa said of Berkley, a two-year starter at free safety prior to this season. “He’s got good quickness and he’s running with a lot of confidence. He just gets better every week.”

Berkley had plenty of help offensively, especially from junior quarterback Paul Nieman, who completed 11 of 13 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns.

Nieman, who was a perfect 7 for 7 in the second half, threw two scoring passes to Caleb Bowman, another to Matt Burrows, and ran for a fourth on an 11-yard keeper that put Sandpoint ahead 35-14 midway through the the third period.

Post Falls was sidelined despite a brilliant night by Cameron Christiansen, who ran for 176 yards and two touchdowns in only his second game at tailback. The former wide receiver also caught a 27-yard scoring pass from Adam Fehling.

Sandpoint 49, Post Falls 35

Sandpoint 7 14 14 14 -49

Post Falls 7 7 6 15 -35

P-Christiansen 18 run (Leary kick) S-Berkley 1 run (Lindgren kick) S-Bowman 2 pass from Nieman (Lindgren kick) P-Christiansen 27 pass from Fehling (Leary kick) S-Burrows 20 pass from Nieman (Lindgren kick) S-Berkley 30 run (Lindgren kick) S-Nieman 11 run (Lindgren kick) P-Fehling 5 run (kick failed) S-Bowman 28 pass from Nieman (Lindgren kick) S-Swanstrom 3 run (Lindgren kick) P-Christiansen 6 run (Miller pass from Christiansen) P-Leary 3 pass from Sharon (Leary kick)

Washington

Bi-County League

Wilb.-Creston 26, Ritzville 19

Mike Samuels rushed for 144 yards on 27 carries and the Wildcats (6-2, 4-2) defeated the visiting Broncos (3-5, 2-4) at Wilbur to keep alive playoff hopes.

W-C’s Sorrell Katich completed 9 of 16 for 105 yards. Ritzville’s Alan Hille carried 16 times for 93 yards.

The league’s top three teams qualify for postseason. W-C is tied with Liberty for third place. W-C defeated Liberty 28-24 in Week Three, so it owns the tiebreaker.

Ritzville 7 0 12 0 -19

Wilbur-Creston 6 14 0 6 -26

R-Hille 35 run (Arlt kick) WC-Nelson 6 pass from Katich (kick failed) WC-Cairins 10 pass from Katich (run failed) WC-Samuels 8 run (Nelson pass from Katich) R-Arlt 60 punt return (kick failed) R-Arlt 40 interception return (kick failed) WC-Samuels 5 run (run failed)

Liberty 29, Sprague-Harrington 0

Brad Wiman rushed for 241 yards on 20 carries and added an interception as the Lancers (5-3, 4-2) blanked the visiting Falcons (1-7, 0-6) and tied for third place.

Liberty rushed for 388 of its 401 total yards, but also lost four fumbles and threw an interception.

Sprague-Harr. 0 0 0 0 -0

Liberty 7 9 6 7 -29

L-Cousins 1 run (D.Conley kick) L-Wiman 1 run (D.Conley kick) L-Safety, grounding in end zone L-Wiman 81 run (kick failed) L-C.Holling 6 pass from Engel (D.Conley kick)

Reardan 60, ACH 18

Jared Flaa rushed for 149 yards and Aaron Landreth for 127, both on four carries, as the top-ranked Indians (8-0, 6-0) defeated the battered Warriors (1-7, 0-6) at Reardan.

Rhett Soliday completed 8 of 18 passes for 134 yards as Reardan clinched at least a tie for the league title. Reardan’s junior varsity played much of the game, as ACH was limited to 16 players because of injuries and other factors.

ACH 0 0 6 12 -18

Reardan 7 27 12 14 -60

R-Flaa 25 pass from Soliday (Addington kick) R-Eastman 1 run (Addington kick) R-Martin 11 pass from Soliday (Addington kick) R-Eastman 4 run (Addington kick) R-Flaa 76 run (kick failed) R-Flaa 29 run (pass failed) ACH-Carstensen 5 run (pass failed) ACH-St. John 20 pass from Evans (pass failed) R-Landreth 86 run (kick failed) ACH-Carstensen 25 pass from Evans (run failed) R-Wynecoop 3 run (run failed) R-Landreth 34 run (Bozman run)

Panorama League

Cusick 18, Curlew 6

Tell Hamilton rushed for 103 yards on 18 carries and the Panthers (2-6, 1-3) recovered a fourth-quarter fumble to set up their final score during a win over the visiting Cougars (2-6, 0-4).

Curlew 0 6 0 0 -6

Cusick 0 6 6 6 -18

Cus-Satleen 7 run (run failed) Cur-Olsen 5 run (run failed) Cus-Hamilton 55 run (run failed) Cus-Satleen 12 run (run failed)

Southeast B-11

DeSales 48, Asotin 27

Brian Lindgren threw six TD passes, and Joe Levens had nine catches for 252 yards to lead the second-ranked Irish (7-1, 5-0) over the visiting Panthers (2-5, 2-3) at Walla Walla.

DeSales clinched at least a tie for the league title.

Asotin 7 0 0 20 -27

DeSales 7 28 7 6 -48

D-Levens 11 pass from Lindgren (Lindgren kick) A-Appleford 2 run (Lindgren kick) D-Levens 39 pass from Lindgren (Lindgren kick) D-Levens 60 pass from Lindgren (Lindgren kick) D-Wolfram 14 pass from Lindgren (Lindgren kick) D-Levens 11 pass from Lindgren (Lindgren kick) D-Levens 26 pass from Lindgren (Lindgren kick) A-Schlee 4 run (kick failed) A-Schlee 7 run (pass failed) D-Barry 18 pass from Biagi (kick failed) A-Ambroson 55 pass from Eller (Brown pass from Eller)

Northeast B-8

Columbia 62, Wellpinit 12

Grant Denison and Justin Young combined for 216 yards on 17 carries as the Lions (5-2, 5-0) defeated the Rangers (0-6-1, 0-5) at Hunters to lock up the league title.

Cory Wagner added 91 yards on three carries for Columbia, which will open postseason against Southeast No. 4, either Jubilee Academy or Prescott.

Wellpinit 6 0 6 0 -12

Columbia 12 20 16 14 -62

W-Denison 15 run (run failed) C-Denison 16 run (run failed) C-Young 2 run (pass failed) C-Denison 11 run (run failed) C-Strickler 54 pass from Neidhart (pass failed) C-Donahue 25 pass from Neidhart (Denison run) C-Wagner 50 run (Young run) C-Young 20 run (pass failed) W-Tonasket 75 run (run failed) C-Punt out of end zone for safety C-Neidhart 1 run (Young run) C-Schurger 5 run

Lind 30, Inchelium 18

Alex Alcocer rushed for 170 yards on 23 carries and the Bulldogs (4-4, 3-2) defeated the visiting Hornets (3-5, 2-3) to clinch at least a tie for second place.

Inchelium defeated Lind 39-28 in their first meeting.

Jose Huitron added 77 rushing yards for Lind, which totaled 275 on the ground. Inchelium’s Clayton Burch rushed for 95 yards on 14 carries.

Inchelium 0 10 0 8 -18

Lind 14 8 8 0 -30

L-Parkins 3 run (pass failed) L-Alcocer 2 run (Wills pass from Parkins) I-Cl.Burch 3 run (Swan pass from Jolley) I-Safety, ball snapped out of end zone L-Alcocer 43 run (Sikorski run) L-Wills 10 pass from Parkins (Wills run) I-Jolley 11 run (Cl.Burch run)

, DataTimes