Fall running mates

The Lakeland High football team’s offense has played a game akin to musical running backs this season.

Except in the Hawks’ version there’s no fighting over who plays or how many carries each receives.

Five players – seniors Shawn Hiebert, Scott Carr, Blake Reeser and Dan Donoian and junior Kyle McCrite – have combined to gain 2,001 yards and score 27 touchdowns in nine games for the 6-3 Hawks. Hiebert leads with 865 yards and 13 TDs and he’s followed by Carr (368-3), McCrite (315-5), Donoian (245-1) and Reeser (208-5).

Had things worked the way coach Tim Kiefer initially envisioned, Carr would have been the leader. But Carr suffered a minor shoulder separation on the second play of Lakeland’s third game, and Kiefer had to change plans. Hiebert, also a starter at inside linebacker, had to start carrying the ball at halfback more than Kiefer wanted him to, and Reeser, who was starting at tight end, was moved to fullback, the spot Hiebert was going to share with Donoian.

Carr sat out just one game, but when he returned he just played at outside linebacker. He didn’t return to the backfield until three games later.

The injury to Carr may have been a blessing in disguise, though. It forced offensive coordinator Mike Bayley to use more players. But because all of them also play defense, it’s also caused Bayley to become a juggler of sorts in order to use the freshest players possible.

“I don’t ever remember having this many guys rotating in,” said Bayley, who is in his 23rd year as an assistant. “It’s been a little bit of a logistical headache for me at times. We have certain guys we want to do certain plays and guys we don’t want to do certain plays.

“In one respect, it’s difficult to have five guys carrying the ball. But in the same respect, our team concept is no different. I’ve never paid attention to who gets the most carries or most touchdowns. And the nice thing is they don’t give a rat’s behind who scores or who carries it.”

Bayley has variety to choose from, too. None of the running backs runs with the same style. Each brings a different ability to the table.

“Everybody has their own genre, you could say,” said McCrite, who splits time at halfback and wingback where he is often used to run inside counters. “Shawn likes to run over people, but he’s also pretty fast. He’s probably the only guy who is a blend of both power and speed. Blake and Dan are our power guys. Scotty and I are speed guys.”

Hiebert admits he loves carrying the ball. But if he had to choose offense or defense the choice would be easy.

“Defense is what gets the offense going,” said Hiebert, who leads the Hawks in tackles. “If I had to choose it would be defense. The other guys could carry the load on offense.”

It’s been a challenging year physically for Carr. Before the season started, he dislocated the ring finger on his left hand. The knuckle is still swollen. In his first game back at halfback after separating his shoulder, he sprained an ankle.

“I haven’t been 100 percent at all this year,” Carr said.

A week after spraining his ankle, Carr rushed for 118 yards in Lakeland’s 27-26 come-from-behind win at Sandpoint.

What impresses Kiefer is the unselfish nature of his running backs.

“They don’t care who’s getting the recognition or who is in the limelight,” Kiefer said. “The team itself is very selfless, and that is certainly prevalent among the running backs. They just want to see points on the scoreboard and they don’t care who is scoring.”

Donoian gets the fewest carries of the five each game. He spends more time blocking than running. But the three to four times his number is called generally come in the second quarter or early second half.

“I just try to pound it down a team’s throat,” Donoian said.

Reeser injured an ankle in Lakeland’s playoff-clinching win over Moscow last Friday. He couldn’t walk on it the next day, but physical therapy loosened it up enough that he was walking by Monday.

“I’m going to let it heal up as much as it can by Friday,” Reeser said of Lakeland’s playoff opener at home against Kuna. “It’s my senior year and I plan on playing no matter what.”

To a man, the running backs say there’s no way they could have rushed for 2,001 yards had it not been for the line.

“It’s not just the running backs,” Carr said. “The linemen are the guys that win the game. They never get enough credit.”

McCrite agreed.

“They create all the holes, the little openings,” McCrite said. “If it wasn’t for them we’d be nothing.”