Postseason puzzle
The topsy-turvy 5A Inland Empire League added another chapter Thursday night.
Needing a victory to have a chance at a three-way tiebreaker, the Post Falls High football team played perhaps its first full game of the year as the visiting Trojans downed Coeur d’Alene 26-14.
Now both Post Falls (5-4, 1-2) and Coeur d’Alene (3-6, 1-2) will root for the league-leading Lake City Timberwolves (7-1, 2-0) when they visit Lewiston (4-4, 1-1) tonight. A Lake City win will mean that Post Falls, CdA and Lewiston would finish in a three-way tie for the second state playoff berth, forcing a modified Kansas tiebreaker Monday in Moscow. A Lewiston win would eliminate PF and CdA.
“We came out and played a solid four quarters of football,” PF coach Jeff Hinz said. “We found a way to finally finish a game.”
A 30-yard touchdown reception by seldom-used senior wide receiver Jared Townsend – just his second catch (both for TDs) of the season – gave the Trojans a 26-14 lead with 9:34 remaining. Junior quarterback Nikk Reinhardt scooted out of the pocket to his right and lofted a pass to the wide-open Townsend, who cradled the ball as he fell to his back in the end zone.
“Here’s a hard worker (who) gets very limited reps in practice and he catches a game-saving touchdown,” Hinz said of Townsend.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak.
PF, which opened the season 4-0, hadn’t won since a 34-21 decision at Moscow on Sept. 21.
This time, the Trojans didn’t implode in the fourth quarter as they had done the last two weeks in losses to Lewiston (39-21) and LC (42-20).
“They played a better football game than we did,” CdA coach Shawn Amos said. “Hopefully, we’ll go down Monday (for a tiebreaker).”
CdA pulled within 20-14 with 57 seconds left in the third quarter when running back Matt Conger dashed 7 yards untouched up the middle on a well-disguised play.
But the Vikings, who never led in the game, couldn’t stop the Trojans on the next series. After PF scored its final TD, Amos chose to punt rather than go for a first down on fourth-and-1 at the Vikings’ 32-yard line on their ensuing possession with just less than 8 minutes remaining.
“We didn’t want to pin our defense down … and give them a chance to throw one up to (receiver Levi) Buckles,” Amos said. “We thought about it. It was going to be a two-possession game. From there, we didn’t like our chances to get a stop. It’s one of those you can’t win either way, right?”
PF opened the game as it did at LC two weeks ago when it fooled the T-Wolves with a receiver pass. Reinhardt threw a lateral to Buckles, who turned and hit a wide-open Randy Hamilton for a 32-yard TD and 7-0 lead.
CdA used a 10-play possession that started at its 8 to pull even at 7 when receiver Johnny Carlson caught a 12-yard pass from QB J.J. Turbin on the second play of the second period.
Midway through the quarter, PF took the lead for good. A 55-yard run by Randy Hamilton moved the Trojans to CdA’s 13. Five plays later, Reinhardt scored from 1 yard out to give PF a 14-7 lead with 2:18 to go before halftime.
After stopping CdA on the first series of the second half, PF needed just two plays to increase its lead to 20-7. Buckles somehow caught a pass between two Vikings defenders to complete a 50-yard TD connection with Reinhardt.
“We controlled the football in the second half and were able to run the football and mix it up with the pass and run,” Hinz said. “We didn’t give up any big plays. Now we’ve got to root for Lake City and, hopefully, they finish their job and were off to Moscow on Monday.”
A season full of frustration continued for CdA.
“We could have been in the driver’s seat as far as playoffs go,” Amos said. “Post Falls did it last week (loss) and we did it this week. It’s like no one wants that last (playoff) spot, it seems like. Everybody is trying to give it away. We hope to be able to play Monday.”