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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lake City holds off Sandpoint

The Lake City and Sandpoint football teams combined to make enough season-opening mistakes to fill a game’s worth of video.

Even umpire Bob Ruiz got in on the act, lining up once in Lake City’s backfield instead of parallel with the linebackers behind the defensive line.

Lake City and Sandpoint will improve from reviewing the video, and the 5A Timberwolves rallied to knock off the upset-minded 4A visitors 30-26 in a non-league game before an estimated crowd of 1,200 at LC.

“It was a lot tighter than we wanted,” said LC senior linebacker/fullback Jared Heston, who scored three touchdowns, kicked a 24-yard field goal and was 3 of 4 on point-after kicks. “We need to lock down our defense better (and) the turnovers were very costly.”

LC built a 23-6 lead in the first half, but two fumbles deep in its territory allowed Sandpoint to mount a comeback.

Sandpoint took advantage, scoring touchdowns on both turnovers. A.J. Smith’s recovery gave the Bulldogs the ball a second time at LC’s 30-yard line with 35 seconds to go in the third quarter.

Eight plays later, Jake Semones found receiver Shawn Visintin wide open in the end zone from 14 yards out. Although the Bulldogs muffed the point-after try, they took their first lead at 26-23 with 8:03 remaining.

LC answered behind junior running back Justin Bryant, who rushed for 63 yards on the T-Wolves’ next series and cracked the 100-yard mark.

On back-to-back carries to begin the possession, Bryant scampered for 20 and 27 yards, moving LC to Sandpoint’s 26.

Five plays later, Bryant took a pitch from quarterback Adam Fenenbock and rumbled 14 yards behind a wall created by Heston, tight end Billy Sanders and right tackle Loren Endsley as LC scored the game’s final TD with 4:47 to go.

“Luckily J.B., Justin Bryant, came up and stepped up,” Heston said of the junior’s first game on varsity. “We came together, though. They caught up and we just dealt with it – and dealt with our mistakes.”

LC appeared as if it might put Sandpoint away early. The T-Wolves, who didn’t commit any turnovers in the first half, piled up 267 yards total offense by halftime.

The fact that Sandpoint fought back put a smile on the face of Bulldogs coach Mike Mitchell.

“We’re trying to reach a point where we feel we can play like that any time we go out,” Mitchell said. “Lake City … everybody talked about how they were down. They’re a good football team.”

Sandpoint started its final possession at LC’s 35 after Mike Hubbard returned a kickoff 54 yards.

But LC’s defense stiffened. It started when tackle Steve Petroskie sacked Semones for a 7-yard loss, putting Sandpoint in a third-and-16 situation at LC’s 29.

After LC safety Matt Olson broke up a pass, Semones lofted a deep pass into the end zone to Hubbard, who got behind an LC cornerback. But the pass slipped off Hubbard’s outstretched fingers. LC ran out the final 1:50.

“We should have never let (Sandpoint) get back in the game, but the character and the poise that they carried out at the end of the game is what I’m the most proud of,” LC coach Van Troxel said. “We stopped them when we had to.”