RATHDRUM - After his team lost its first two games this season, Lakeland High coach Tim Kiefer opted to ground his offense in the Hawks' home football opener on Friday against the Cheney Blackhawks at Corbit Field.

It worked.

The Hawks ran for 326 yards, while only passing the ball twice in a 38-17 nonleague win.

"I think we needed to instill a little toughness in our players," Kiefer said. "That's what our game plan was all along - to ground it at them tonight. We didn't know and didn't care how the game was going to turn out, but our game plan was to run it no matter what."

Lakeland (1-2) senior tailback Corey Hansel led the charge early on, rushing for 105 yards on 13 carries before suffering an injured left ankle with 4:24 remaining in the first half. He did not return.

“He looked really good,” said Kiefer of Hansel’s first-half showing. “He came to us a little late because he just came out of (Army) boot camp and was hitting the holes really well. But we’re pretty nervous about (his ankle) right now.”

With Hansel in the second half, Lakeland shifted tight end Troy Carr to fullback and he responded with 105 yards on 21 carries, with 81 of those yards coming in the second half. Chadley Miller had 75 yards rushing for Lakeland, including a 34-yard touchdown run to give the Hawks a 17-7 lead in the third quarter.

“He’s one of our senior leaders out there,” Kiefer said. “We moved him at halftime and said ‘we’re going to grind this thing down’ and Troy did a phenomenal job tonight.”

In addition to Hansel, Lakeland also lost starting quarterback Derek Bayley to an injury to his right (throwing) wrist just before halftime, sending senior Matt Horne from wide receiver to quarterback.

With Lakeland leading 24-17 and facing third and 12 at the Cheney 32-yard line, Horne found junior Brett Webb running down the Lakeland sideline on a 68-yard TD pass to go up 31-17.

“Honestly, when I threw it, I knew it was bad coming off my hand,” Horne said. “I just stood there, not knowing if he could catch it because it just looked bad — but he did and it was amazing.”

“Matt stepping in as a backup quarterback did a great job,” Kiefer said. “He does throw a nice deep ball and we’d been running it so much, we just wanted to throw it deep and see what happens, and it paid off.”

The Hawks capped the scoring with 26 seconds remaining in the game as Colton Butcher scooped up a fumble and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown.

Lakeland travels to Deer Park next Friday.

“I think it’s big,” Horne said of the win. “I think it shows what we’re made of and gives us some momentum to build on and move forward.”

Cheney falls to 1-2.

“Lakeland does a lot of nice things in their system on offense,” Cheney coach Jason Williams said. “They did a great job with their play-action and wing stuff. We’ll get better eventually, but ultimately, they’re a team that’s good and can get on you quick and they did a good job of that tonight.”

Cheney 0 14 0 3 — 17

Lakeland 3 14 0 21 — 38

LL — FG Cade Coffey 35

LL — Corey Hansel 15 run (Coffey kick)

Che — Andrew Graham 2 run (Theo Petropoulous kick)

LL — Chadley Miller 34 run (Coffey kick)

Che — Kenny Cooper 2 pass from Graham (Petropoulous kick)

LL — Brandon Bunch 1 run (Coffey kick)

Che — FG Petropoulous 23

LL — Brett Webb 68 pass from Matt Horne (Coffey kick)

LL — Colton Butcher 15 fumble return (Coffey kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Che, Kautzman 15-81, Graham 2-16, Allen 1-38, Igbinola 2-53, Trude 1-0, Brewer 1-(-6). LL, Hansel 13-105, Webb 5-14, Miller 10-75, Carr 21-107, Butcher 2-6, Bayley 1-2, Bunch 6-19.

PASSING — Che, Graham, 11-28-0-168. LL, Horne 2-2-0-62.

RECEIVING — Che, Williams 2-6, Igbinola 5-115, Kautzman 3-45, Allen 1-2. LL, Webb 2-62.