COEUR d'ALENE - After rallying from a 21-point defict to earn a tie vs. Kennewick (Wash.) just over a month ago at Lake City High, Timberwolves coach Van Troxel said he knew his football team had the potential to be good this season.

Since that game - they've been great.

Sophomore Jerry Louie-McGee ran for touchdowns of 35 and 8 yards and the Timberwolves forced four turnovers, beating the visiting Sandpoint Bulldogs in nonleague play 42-14 on Friday night - the T-Wolves' fourth straight win.

"We really worked hard on getting prepared for this," Troxel said. "The kids came out and played hard."

Both teams were hit by turnovers early on, with Lake City fumbling on the third play from scrimmage and Sandpoint shortly after.

"We made some mistakes early on," Troxel said. "The little things hurt us and we still need to work on that and clean it up."

Tied 7-7 after the first quarter, Lake City scored the next 35 points.

"At times, Bruce (Shipley) threw the ball really well," Troxel said. "But at other times, Sandpoint's defense came at us hard and played well."

Leading 28-7 after halftime, Lake City capitalized on another turnover as Tucker Louie-McGee picked up a fumble and ran 45 yards for a touchdown for a 35-7 lead early in the third quarter.

“Our defense was big for us tonight,” Troxel said. “We had those things we needed. We could have done better, but Sandpoint always plays us hard. It’s been a longtime rivalry and I love the fact that coach (Satini) Puailoa is back. It just feels good.”

Shipley completed 14 of 20 passes for 176 yards for Lake City (4-1-1), which plays at Chiawana High of Pasco, Wash., next Friday.

“We’ve still got a long way to go,” Troxel said. “But we’re getting better. Our goal is still to go to the playoffs like we have for the last 15 years. That’s what our emphasis has been on the last two weeks — to put ourselves in the driver’s seat.”

Blaine Johnson led Lake City with 64 yards receiving after senior Mitch Bevacqua was sidelined in the first quarter with a high ankle sprain. He didn’t return.

“We’ll just have to see how it is,” Troxel said. “But some of those other guys stepped up and played well.”

Sandpoint tied the game in the first quarter on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Nick Prindiville to Chase Rodriguez. The Bulldogs didn’t score again until a 6-yard option run by Prindiville with 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“We competed hard,” said Puailoa, who last coached the Bulldogs in 2003. “We just didn’t match up very well with Lake City. They controlled the line of scrimmage and made it difficult for us to get anything going offensively.”

Prindiville led the Bulldogs (1-5) with 51 yards rushing and threw for 140 yards. Rodriguez had 90 yards receiving, including catches of 41 and 45 yards.

“We’re in a developmental stage right now,” Puailoa said. “They’re at a different level than us right now. We’ll catch up in time. Our time is coming. Our kids played hard and battled on defense, but we just didn’t match up with them and those things will happen to us because we’re still an inexperienced team.”

Sandpoint hosts Moscow on Friday.

Sandpoint 7 0 7 0 — 14

Lake City 7 21 14 0 — 42

LC — Jerry Louie-McGee 35 run (Andrew Hocking kick)

Spt — Chase Rodriguez 41 pass from Nick Prindiville (Quinn Pearlstein kick)

LC — Gavin Rosteck 8 run (Hocking kick)

LC — J. Louie-McGee 8 run (Hocking kick)

LC — Blaine Johnson 47 pass from Bruce Shipley (Hocking kick)

LC — Tucker Louie-McGee 45 fumble return (Hocking kick)

LC — Brandon Johnson 1 run (Hocking kick)

Spt — Prindiville 6 run (Pearlstein kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Spt, Millard 9-24, Knaggs 12-29, Prindiville 5-51, Rodriguez 3-7, Pearstein 1-16. LC, Br. Johnson 7-32, H. Damschen 5-3, J. Louie-McGee 3-45, Bevacqua 1-(-6), T. Louie-McGee 3-19, Shipley 5-18, Hicks 5-6, Schultz 2-6, Co. Newby 1-2.

PASSING — Spt, Prindiville 9-18-0-140, Nelson 0-1-1-0. LC, Shipley 14-20-0-176, T. Louie-McGee 3-3-0-29, Schultz 0-2-0-0.

RECEIVING — Spt, Edwards 3-31, Fury 1-4, Rodriguez 3-90, Hancock 1-8, Millard 1-7. LC, Bevacqua 2-12, Br. Johnson 1-14, J. Louie-McGee 4-45, Bl. Johnson 4-64, Mullen 3-28, H. Damschen 1-14, N. Newby 2-28.