POST FALLS — Lake City boys soccer coach Chad Beadell didn’t need to tell his team anything before the start of Tuesday’s match at the defending state 5A champion Post Falls Trojans.

His team already knew what was on the line.

Lake City senior Alec Maldonado scored an unassisted goal in the first half, then assisted on an insurance score in the 75th minute to lead the Timberwolves past the Trojans 3-1 in a 5A Inland Empire League match, clinching the school’s first league title since sharing the league title in 2006 — Beadell’s second season as coach.

Lake City last won the league title outright in spring 1998 — the last year the boys played in the spring, before moving to the fall that fall.

“It’s kind of how this group has been this year,” said Beadell, who is now three wins from 100 for his career. “They’re a goofy bunch and they do their own thing and I’ve been giving them their own reins this year — and as long as they’re performing — I can’t complain.”

Lake City (8-1-3, 4-0-2 5A IEL) will host Lewiston (5-10-0, 1-5-0) in the opening round of the Region 1 tournament next Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex. Post Falls (7-5-1, 2-3-0) travels to Coeur d’Alene (7-1-4, 2-1-2) on Thursday to determine seeding for next week’s matchup at regionals.

Post Falls needs a win to host; Coeur d’Alene needs a win or a tie.

“It means a lot and they can’t take the league title from you,” Beadell said. “Now, if we go out and take care of our business, it’s on our field, and I’m OK with that.”

Tanner Horton had six saves for Lake City, which hosts Sandpoint to conclude the regular season on Thursday.

“It’s awesome,” said Horton, a senior. “It’s cool to be the first seed and have a home game the first game of districts. I love these guys and they’re the funnest group of guys I’ve gotten to play with. They’re just awesome.”

Timmy Mueller evened the score in the 18th minute for Post Falls with his 96th career goal, but Lake City’s Vincent Cavalin scored on a header four minutes later to give the Timberwolves a 2-1 lead. Jack Barrett capped the scoring on a goal in the 75th minute for Lake City.

On Cavalin’s goal, right after he headed the ball, he and Post Falls forward J.D. Sullivan knocked heads, resulting in both suffering head injuries.

“We’d only scored twice on corner kicks, and we’ve got the big guys to do it,” Beadell said. “Vinny said he could win it, and I told him to just go do it. When he scored it, I went out and he said ‘I told you I could do it, but I wasn’t even sure he knew what planet he was on,’ but it was a nice goal and I was worried about his health.”

Both Cavalin and Sullivan returned briefly before sitting out the second half for precautionary reasons. Post Falls also lost midfielder Zach Smith to a head injury in the second half, but he returned late in the match.

“That’s the rough part of today because it forced me into my bench,” said Post Falls coach Gabe Lawson, whose team had won three of the previous four league titles. “We don’t have a lot of players and had to shift things around. That’s what the complicated thing about today was. It could have turned either way easily, but Tanner Horton had a heck of a game and single-handedly won them that game. I don’t know how he made some of those saves. It was a battle today between him and Timmy. Timmy got the best of him on one, but Tanner got the best of Timmy on at least three shots. It was just one of those days, and overall, I thought we played well considering the circumstances and hung in the game the entire time. We had plenty of chances to score, but it was one of those days when things don’t quite fall your way.”

First half — 1, LC, Alec Maldonado (unassisted), 17:13. 2, PF, Timmy Mueller (unassisted), 18:00. 3, LC, Vincent Cavalin (Cole Johnson), 22:22. Second half — 4, LC, Jack Barrett (Maldonado), 75:00.

Shots on goal — LC 10, PF 13.

Saves — LC, Tanner Horton 6; PF, Noah Gondo 3.