Lc Knocks Off Lewiston Big Rally Carries T-Wolves Over Top-Ranked Lewiston Bengals
In a season of perpetual firsts, the Lake City High football team may have topped itself Friday.
Trailing 20-0 after two quarters, the Timberwolves put together an improbable rally as LC upset No. 1-ranked Lewiston 27-26 in an Inland Empire League game at Lake City.
It was LC’s first league win after going 0-12 its first three years and opening conference play last week with a 33-21 loss at Sandpoint.
Perhaps sweetening the victory all the more was it came against the defending State A-1 Division II champion.
Lewiston (4-1-1 overall, 1-1 in league) dominated the first half and LC couldn’t do anything right.
So, LC coach Van Troxel, you must have breathed some fire during your halftime talk, huh?
“Basically we were pretty nonchalant; we didn’t chew anybody’s butt,” said Troxel, as water dripped from his head from a postgame dousing by his players. “We just said, ‘The No. 1 thing we haven’t done all year is we’ve never quit. We don’t start it now, we don’t start it at home. We come out and play hard. But don’t quit, not on our own turf.”’
The Timberwolves quickly answered Lewiston’s final touchdown. The Bengals regained the lead at 26-21 with 2:52 remaining when quarterback Sennett Pierce tossed a 2-yard pass to Mickey Hewitt. The drive was extended three plays earlier when LC was called for roughing the kicker on an attempted field goal.
It would have been understandable had LC not been able to respond after such a critical mistake.
But LC (5-1, 1-1) needed just two plays to take the lead back for good. After a poor kickoff gave the T-Wolves the ball at their 44-yard line, quarterback Chad Troxel completed just his second pass of the game when he found Richard Novotny for a 28-yard gain to the Bengals’ 28.
Running back Scott Bushnell, who needed 52 yards to break the school record for most yards in a season, took a counter and sprinted untouched 28 yards for the winning TD with 2:33 remaining.
Bushnell rushed for 194 yards on 22 carries, pushing his season total to 1,014.
LC’s defense - which bent and broke in the first half but came up big several times in the second half - forced four straight incomplete passes to complete the win.
T-Wolves linebacker Ian Johnson put LC ahead 21-20 seconds into the fourth quarter when he returned a botched lateral 57 yards.
That was just one of several standout plays by Johnson. He finished with a team-high nine tackles and four assists.
“This should just give us more confidence,” Johnson said. “Our confidence should just do nothing but go up.”
Lewiston came up with two big pass plays for 29 and 46 yards that took it from its own 10 to the LC 8 before it appeared the T-Wolves had stopped the Bengals. But the roughing-the-kicker penalty on a 26-yard kick that was wide left set up Lewiston’s final TD.
“What this means is we’ve taken the steps the past four years to be competitive with anybody we play against in North Idaho from here on out,” Troxel said. “To do that you have to beat a legitimate team. Now these guys believe. We can’t wait for the next three weeks.”
Lewiston coach Nick Menegas said it was two games in one.
“Lake City came out rejuvenated and we came out flat,” Menegas said. “That’s been a concern of mine - the fact we haven’t been able to play four quarters yet this season. We made too many mistakes in critical situations and Lake City deserved to win the game.
“I give them all the credit in the world. They played a great game just like I knew they would.”
Lake City 27, Lewiston 26
Lewiston 12 8 0 6 -26
Lake City 0 0 14 13 -27
LEW-McCrery 67 run (kick blocked) LEW-Holmes 14 pass from Pierce (pass failed) LEW-Hewitt 21 pass from Pierce (Hewitt pass from Pierce) LC-Novotny 26 pass from Cohen (Stroh kick) LC-Bushnell 2 run (Stroh kick) LC-I. Johnson 57 fumble return (Stroh kick) LEW-Hewitt 2 pass from Pierce (pass failed) LC-Bushnell 28 run (run failed)
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo