St. Maries Holds On To Defeat Lake City, 20-17
The win belongs to St. Maries, but it left Lumberjacks coach Curt Carr shaking his head.
St. Maries overcame six turnovers and 130 yards in penalties to post a 20-17 non-league football victory over Lake City on Friday night at Jacks Field.
“I wasn’t pleased with our poise and our turnovers,” Carr said. “We got frustrated and then we lost our poise.”
The Lumberjacks also lost star running back Jason Hall, who was ejected with 4:06 left in the game after tangling briefly with the Timberwolves’ Adam Kammarcal.
Hall exited with three touchdowns and 125 yards rushing.
The 5-foot-11, 220-pound senior scored twice in the third quarter to break open a 7-3 game.
The Timberwolves fumbled away their first possession of the third quarter, with lineman Adam Bornitz recovering on LC’s 37-yard line.
It took the Lumberjacks eight plays to reach the end zone, as Hall scored off a 25-yard pass over the left side from Jason Holdahl on third-and-22. Jeff Sindt’s PAT made it 14-3.
Lake City got its best field position of the game off a Kammarcal fumble recovery on the Lumberjacks’ 7 with 4:08 to go in the third quarter.
Junior running back Brian Ross scored two plays later on a pitch from the left side from 3 yards out, but Hall intercepted the conversion pass.
St. Maries moved the ball 58 yards in seven plays on its next possession with Hall’s 15-yard TD over the left side giving the Lumberjacks a 20-9 cushion entering the fourth quarter.
Lake City answered with a 31-yard TD run from senior Travis Whiteside, then hauled in a two-point conversion pass and closed the gap to 20-17 with 9:44 remaining.
Defensive back Jarid Keefer intercepted a St. Maries pass at 8:24, but Lake City never got past midfield and punted at 5:26.
The Lumberjacks lost Hall on the next series and were forced to punt from their own 11.
St. Maries got the ball back again two plays later, as Sindt intercepted a pass on the Jacks 33.
“They (the Jacks) got the job done, but we’re a better team,” Carr said.
St. Maries (2-0) ran for 173 yards. Holdahl hit 6 of 9 passes for another 117 yards.
Lake City (0-1), suffering its tenth straight loss since the school opened last year, had just 22 yards offense at halftime and finished with 131 yards, including 126 rushing.
St. Maries 20, Lake City 17
Lake City 0 3 6 8 - 17
St. Maries 7 0 13 0 - 20
SM-Hall 4 run (Sindt kick)
LC-Keefer 22 field goal
SM-Hall 25 pass from Holdahl (Sindt kick)
LC-Ross 3 run (pass failed)
SM-Hall 15 run (kick blocked)
LC-Whiteside 31 run (Whiteside pass from Nelson)