Lewiston Holds Off Post Falls, 34-20

Too many penalties, mental errors and discipline problems. Name the problem and Friday’s Inland Empire League football opener between Post Falls and Lewiston had it.

After a week of written exams and chalkboard sessions, Lewiston did enough to hold off upset-minded Post Falls 34-20 at Bengal Field.

For most of the game Lewiston clung to a one-touchdown lead. The defending State A-1 Division II champ was far from dominating.

The most important thing to Lewiston coach Nick Menegas was his team had more points when the clock expired.

“It was a whole lot better than last week, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” said Menegas, whose top-ranked Bengals improved to 3-0-1. The blemish on their record came in a 14-14 tie last week at Cheney.

The result left Post Falls first-year coach Jeff Choate hoping for a rematch with the Bengals.

“That’s a good football team; they responded when they had to, but it’s a beatable team,” said Choate, whose Trojans slipped to 1-2-1. “We had them on their heels for a while.”

The Trojans shocked the Bengals early. Lewiston running back Rick McCrery fumbled on the first play and Post Falls lineman Rob Davis recovered at the Bengals’ 16-yard line.

On fourth-and-4 from the 10, Trojans quarterback Adam Fehling rolled right and found tight end Scott McArthur, who had broken free from coverage in the end zone. Just 1:37 into the game, the Trojans led 6-0.

Lewiston took the lead at 7-6 on the first of several big plays Post Falls would allow on third-down situations. Bengals quarterback Sennett Pierce hit a wide-open Josh Wolf in the seam for a 45-yard catch-and-run TD.

Post Falls lineman David Stafford hurt his team on the next possession when he was ejected from the game for pounding a Lewiston player’s head into the turf.

Lewiston, which took advantage of a short field several times, punched in its second TD midway in the second quarter on a drive that started at its 48. The Bengals converted three third-and-long situations, with Pierce darting 5 yards on a bootleg to put Lewiston ahead 14-6.

The lead would hold going into halftime.

Good field position accounted for another scoring opportunity for Lewiston in the third quarter. The Bengals moved 45 yards in six plays as fullback David Steen scored on a 2-yard dive to put the Bengals ahead 21-6 with 3:11 remaining in the quarter.

Post Falls followed with its best drive of the game, going 70 yards in five plays. Fehling connected on two big pass plays to Cameron Christianson, the final one going for 18 yards and a TD. A two-point conversion pulled the Trojans with in 21-14 with 1:13 to go in the third.

But Lewiston wiped away the Trojans’ momentum on the ensuing kickoff when sophomore speedster Mike Rogers darted between two Trojans in the middle of coverage and raced 79 yards for a TD.

A short while later, Post Falls took advantage of good field position at the 50. Seven plays later, Fehling underthrew Chad Quesnell, who looked back and caught the 12-yard pass in front of Lewiston’s Mickey Hewitt for a TD with 7:47 left. The point-after was no good, but Post Falls was within one score at 27-20.

Lewiston answered with a drive that consumed a little more than 5 minutes and ended with a 27-yard pass from Pierce to Hewitt for the final margin with 2:14 to go.

“It certainly wasn’t crisp, but I’m glad we’re 1-0 (in league),” said Menegas.

Lewiston 34, Post Falls 20

Post Falls 6 0 8 6 - 20

Lewiston 7 7 13 7 - 34

P-McArthur 10 pass from Fehling (kick failed)

L-Wolf 45 pass from Pierce (Holder kick)

L-Pierce 5 run (Holder kick)

L-Steen 2 run (Holder kick)

P-Christiansen 18 pass from Fehling (Quesnell pass from Fehling)

L-Rogers 79 kickoff return (kick failed)

P-Quesnell 12 pass from Fehling (kick failed)

L-Hewitt 27 pass from Pierce (Holder kick)

, DataTimes