Sandpoint stuns CdA

They call themselves the Dirty Thirty.

The Sandpoint High football team suits up 30, and most see playing time.

Nobody contributed more than senior quarterback Jake Semones, who is generously listed as 6-foot-1 and 165 pounds on the roster.

The left-handed Semones threw three touchdown passes as the visiting Bulldogs shocked Coeur d’Alene 27-7 in a non-league game Friday before an estimated crowd of 1,500.

It was Sandpoint’s third straight win after opening with a 30-26 loss at Lake City.

“We’ve got 30 guys – that’s all we’ve got at Sandpoint,” Semones said. “We rely on each other. It’s us against everyone else. It’s not a 60-man team, and guys have to go both ways. Everybody’s got to play their heart out.”

Not every Sandpoint starter plays both ways, though. Semones, for example, is too valuable to risk getting hurt on defense.

“I wanted to (play both ways), but they wouldn’t let me,” said Semones, who completed 15 of 24 passes for 239 yards.

After a scoreless first quarter, Sandpoint scored twice in the second for a 14-0 lead at halftime. The Bulldogs’ first TD came when Semones found Mike Hubbard, who beat a Coeur d’Alene defender on a 42-yard connection.

Less then 3 minutes later, running back Ben Fisher scored from 2 yards out.

CdA took advantage of a Sandpoint mistake early in the third quarter. The ball was snapped over the head of Bulldogs punter Jordan Hammack, and the Vikings (1-2) took over at Sandpoint’s 6-yard line.

Two plays later, Bubba Goodwin bounced off right end for a 2-yard TD, pulling CdA within 14-7 with 6:22 left in the quarter.

But whatever momentum CdA had disappeared later in the quarter when Goodwin fumbled at his 19 and the Bulldogs’ Cory Neer recovered.

On Sandpoint’s first play, Semones tossed a 19-yard TD pass to Brandon Lawrence, who made a great catch despite tight defense by Tom Breazeal. That pushed Sandpoint’s lead to 20-7.

“Very disappointed,” CdA coach Shawn Amos said. “We’re going to take that (loss) as a coaching staff. We didn’t have the guys ready. It’s my job to get them ready. … They outplayed us from start to finish in every aspect of the game.”

Sandpoint coach Mike Mitchell saw his team start to improve in the second half at LC when the Bulldogs rallied from a 23-6 deficit to take a 26-23 lead before LC scored a late TD.

“From wire to wire (Friday), I was real pleased with how they played,” Mitchell said. “I think our kids are starting to think they can play with anybody.”