T-Wolves top Viks
Take the top offensive weapon out of the starting lineup of the No. 1-ranked football team in the state and what is left?
Plenty, as the Lake City Timberwolves showed Friday.
Just 24 hours earlier, Lake City learned that it had lost speedy senior wide receiver Kyle Johnson for the season to a broken foot. In his stead, though, several players stepped up as the defending 5A state champion Timberwolves handled visiting Coeur d’Alene 39-13 in an Inland Empire League opener.
Backup senior wide receiver Joe Arrigoni caught two touchdown passes, both coming in the decisive second half, as the T-Wolves (5-0) pulled away from the Vikings (2-4) after a tighter-than-expected first half.
What will LC do to recover from the loss of Johnson? Senior two-way standout Byron Hout said the T-Wolves don’t need to do anything, let alone fix anything.
“We don’t have to change, we just have to step up,” said Hout, who was a usual one-man wrecking crew at middle linebacker. “Our receivers stepped up big time. It’s a big void. Joe Arrigoni is kind of taking (Johnson’s) place right now. Well, you can’t really take the place of Kyle, but it’s his opportunity to shine right now.”
CdA didn’t play like a big underdog in the first half – despite a mistake-filled start. But errors would ultimately be the Vikings’ undoing in the second half.
LC junior cornerback Gabe Brunner jumped a telegraphed out route, intercepting a pass and returning it 32 yards for the game’s first touchdown with 5:17 to go in the first quarter. The alert play made up for a T-Wolves offensive possession that stalled moments earlier at CdA’s 25-yard line when receiver Kyle Graves couldn’t recover a lateral.
CdA was forced to punt on its next possession, but the ball was snapped well over the head of punter Grant Turner. Fortunately for CdA, the ball bounded out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
On the Vikings’ next possession, though, they took advantage of a short field, pulling within 9-7 when junior running back Bubba Goodwin plunged 1 yard for a TD with 11:10 to go before halftime.
LC, victorious for a 17th straight time, won a field position battle later in the second quarter, forcing CdA to punt and taking over at the Vikings’ 37. Five plays later, junior Jared Heston bounced outside on an 8-yard TD run that gave the T-Wolves a 16-7 lead at halftime.
Mistakes again plagued CdA in the second half. By game’s end, LC intercepted four passes and recovered a fumble.
“We ruined a good football game by self-imploding in the third quarter,” CdA coach Shawn Amos said. “It’s ridiculous. It was a great football game until we ruined it.”
LC scored three straight times after halftime – on a 3-yard run by Heston, a 52-yard pass from senior quarterback Zach Clanton to Arrigoni and a second safety identical to the first one in the opening quarter. The safety allowed LC to build a 32-7 lead with 8:29 to play.
The teams traded final touchdowns thereafter.
“Our kids battled, but battling will only get you so far,” said Amos, whose team will have a bye next week. “They’re (the T-Wolves) obviously good, but we hung toe to toe with them until we killed ourselves.”
It was a particularly satisfying victory for Troxel besides the fact that his team won an emotional game that had extra emotion with the loss of Johnson, a key leader. Among other satisfying elements was the fact that LC played well coming off a bye, especially on defense.
“Overall, it was a very good team win – it was a good way to kick off the second half of the season,” Troxel said.