Mahler composes Bulldogs’ win

SANDPOINT – When the final opportunity knocked, Sandpoint High senior Blake Mahler booted the door down.

As the clock ticked down to 4.1 seconds Friday, Mahler kicked a 23-yard field goal to lift the Bulldogs to a 17-14 victory over previously undefeated Post Falls in a 4A North football game before an overflow crowd estimated at 3,500 at Barlow Stadium.

The victory gave Sandpoint (8-1 overall) a share of the Inland Empire League title with Post Falls (8-1). But more important, the win means Sandpoint will be at home for the first round of the state playoffs next week while Post Falls must travel to Boise.

“I was thinking, ‘This is a piece of cake. Home-field advantage and get Caldwell up here,’ ” Mahler said of the thoughts going through his head as he lined up for the kick.

Sandpoint will meet Caldwell (8-1) Friday. Sandpoint shut out Caldwell 42-0 in the semifinals last year.

Post Falls travels to Bishop Kelly (9-0) Friday. Bishop Kelly earned the top seed from the Boise area with a 32-7 win over Caldwell last week.

Both teams had several opportunities. They also took turns making critical mistakes.

Sandpoint defensive lineman Andrew Taylor stopped Post Falls running back Bobby Kuber cold on fourth-and-2 at the Trojans’ 49-yard line with 36 seconds left on a play the Trojans had to hurry to call because they were out of timeouts. Post Falls coach Jerry Lee said he should have had his team punt and taken its chances in overtime.

On the ensuing play, Post Falls was called for pass interference as Mahler, Sandpoint’s big-play threat, was pushed out of bounds as he tried to run his route.

That put Sandpoint at the 36, and quarterback Erik DeMers threw what amounted to a jump-ball pass to 6-foot-5 tight end Ben Mitchell, who caught it amidst double coverage at the 8.

DeMers followed his linemen on a keeper for 3 yards, staying in the middle of the field to set up the field-goal attempt on the next play.

Mahler, who does just about everything for Sandpoint, squibbed the kickoff and Post Falls’ Mike Kuber picked up the ball at the 29 before he was tackled at the 36 as time expired.

“That’s exactly what you would expect a game like this to be like,” Sandpoint first-year coach Sean Dorris said. “Two great teams playing each other and battling it out, and you knew it was going to come down to the very last second. We were just fortunate to make the play that we did.”

Sandpoint was trying to set up a possible game-deciding field goal on its previous possession when tailback Dan Parrish fumbled at the Trojans’ 32 and Joseph Conti recovered for Post Falls with 4 minutes to go. It was the third lost fumble for Sandpoint.

It was the second consecutive series that Parrish fumbled. A minute earlier, Parrish and DeMers had a bad exchange and Post Falls linebacker Marshall Childers recovered at the Post Falls 26.

Sandpoint struck on the game’s first offensive play when DeMers hit Mahler for a 56-yard TD. Mahler caught the ball at the Trojans’ 30 and then side stepped a defensive back before racing untouched to the end zone.

Post Falls had the longest sustained drive in the first half, marching 11 plays when the series was capped by a 16-yard pass from K.C. Billetz to Nick Mehalechko. A bad snap forced Billetz, the holder on the point-after try, to try to pass but the conversion failed. Sandpoint took a 7-6 lead into halftime.

Post Falls prepared to punt at its 40 on the first series of the second half, but Billetz, back in punt formation, took a snap that bounced twice and ran 11 yards for a first down as no Bulldogs rushed him. Four plays later, Billetz hit tight end Adam Shamion on a well-executed 5-yard out for a TD. The Trojans extended the lead to 14-7 when Billetz, rolling to his right, dumped a short pass to Cody Brubaker for the two-point conversion.

Sandpoint tied it at 14 on a 10-yard run by Parrish, who bounced the run outside his left tackle and dove the final yard into the end zone with 10:56 to play.

The Bulldogs frequently stalled drives with penalties. Post Falls, opportunistic all season until Friday, had four interceptions and a fumble.

“It was killing us,” Dorris said of the penalties. “We were having a hard time getting any momentum going – penalty after penalty after penalty. But you know those are things you overcome if you’re going to be champions.”