POST FALLS - For the Post Falls Trojans and Lewiston Bengals - both teams came into Friday's nonleague football opener with new quarterbacks and a lot to prove in the 5A Inland Empire League.

While the game didn't count in the league standings, the Trojans did enough to leave the opener with the 29-16 win over the Bengals at Trojan Stadium.

Joey Pfennigs, Post Falls' left-handed sophomore quarterback, completed 13 of 22 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns.

"This was my first game in two years," said Pfennigs, who missed his freshman season due to a broken left hand and elbow. "I was nervous going into the game, but got settled down after a while. I've got a lot of confidence in my offensive line and we were getting a lot of good pushes up front. It was all a rush."

Pfennigs was kept on his toes most of the first half, with the only Post Falls turnover coming on a fumble in the second quarter.

"He was a little jittery tonight," Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz said of Pfennigs. "He threw the ball really well, but we had some droppies tonight."

Tyson Johnson took the Trojans' first play from scrimmage 53 yards for a touchdown after Johnny Haskew intercepted a pass by Lewiston junior Cole Zacha in the first quarter.

“Tyson really makes us go on offense,” Hinz said. “We came out and threw the ball really well.”

Johnson finished with 122 yards on 20 carries for Post Falls, which plays at Lake City next Friday.

Lewiston tied the game on a 32-yard pass from Cole Zacha to Brandon Fuentes midway through the first quarter. After failing to complete a pass in the first quarter, Pfennigs hit Haskew and Johnson on consecutive plays, with the Johnson completion going for 49 yards and setting up the senior tailback’s second score of the night.

“We’ve got a very young team,” Hinz said. “We were rotating players in and out and we came out and did the stuff we’ve been working on in practice. We weren’t sure what they were going to do and had to adjust.”

Friday’s matchup was the first of two games between Post Falls and Lewiston, with their next game coming on the final weekend of the regular season in Lewiston on Oct. 28.

After a three-and-out to open the second half, Post Falls caught a break as Zacha could not get a punt off and was tackled at the 1-yard line, setting up a pass from Pfennigs to Seth Anderson to give Post Falls a 22-8 lead.

“Our defense was all over the place tonight,” Hinz said. “They did a fantastic job for us tonight getting to the ball carrier and making plays.”

Anderson connected with Pfennigs again in the third quarter to give Post Falls a 29-8 lead.

Lewiston cut the deficit to 29-16 after Zacha hit Fuentes on a 67-yard touchdown pass to make it 29-16 midway through the fourth quarter.

Lewiston 8 0 0 8 — 16

Post Falls 8 7 14 0 — 29

PF — Tyson Johnson 53 run (Johnny Haskew run)

Lew — Brandon Fuentes 32 pass from Cole Zacha (Lucky Gaskill pass from Zacha)

PF — Johnson 8 run (Timmy Mueller kick)

PF — Seth Anderson 6 pass from Joey Pfennigs (Mueller kick)

PF — Anderson 11 pass from Pfennings (Mueller kick)

Lew — Fuentes 67 pass from Zacha (Ryan Rigney pass from Zacha)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lew, Poxleinter 7-14, Gaskill 3-2, Bakker 5-12, Zacha 5-1. PF, Johnson 20-122, Lickfold 4-13, Craine 5-11, Mueller 1-21, Coulter 1-0, Pfennigs 1-0.

PASSING — Lew, Zacha, 10-30-1-216. PF, Pfennigs, 13-22-146.

RECEIVING — Lew, Fuentes, 6-175, Gaskill, 2-30, Kracke 1-6, Bakker 1-5. PF, Anderson 2-17, Haskew 4-37, Johnson 1-49, May 1-18, Denney 1-10, Hensley 2-15.