COEUR d’ALENE — Like a venomous viper biding its time and waiting to strike, Lake City’s patient offense slowly but surely attacked Coeur d’Alene.

The Timberwolves used a precise passing attack and showed deliberate patience Thursday, scoring seven goals off of its set offense to beat Coeur d’Alene, 9-5, in the championship game of the North Idaho Lacrosse League tournament at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex at Lake City.

“We’re going to state,” said Lake City coach Adam Marfice, who was an assistant before taking over for longtime coach Dwight Emmons early in the season. “We wanted to control the clock, control the ball, control the game. Those are the principles that work in every sport, quite frankly, and the North Idaho Lacrosse League is no different.”

Emmons, who started the Lake City and Coeur d’Alene lacrosse programs in 2001, and coached both teams before opting to coach Lake City in 2005, resigned due to a work-related reason.

At 1 p.m. MDT on May 31, Lake City (11-1) will play in the Boise area against the champion from the Treasure Valley Lacrosse League. It was the seventh time Lake City won the NILL title and it will be the fifth time the team advanced to the state title game.

After attacker Harrison Davies of Coeur d’Alene (10-5) scored the game’s first goal just 43 seconds into the action, Lake City junior midfielder Max Johnson scored from within 5 yards away, beating Vikings goalie Ryan Steiner to tie the score a mere 18 seconds later.

Wyatt Duchow of Lake City scored the go-ahead goal with 7:25 left in the first period for a 2-1 lead.

Johnson scored one-timers 10 seconds apart, helping the Timberwolves take a 4-1 lead. Johnson finished with five goals.

“It was probably the best game I’ve played this year,” Johnson said. “We were able to slow the ball down more.”

Lake City’s lead ballooned to 8-2 with 7:50 left in the third period, but Coeur d’Alene made a nice comeback attempt. Davies scored his third goal of the game with 5:02 to play in the third, then with 2:31 left Myles Flanagan scored a man-up goal to cut it to 8-4.

But in the fourth period, several of Flanagan’s and Davies’ shots were blocked by Timberwolf sticks.

Lake City goalie Zach Kerzman had six saves in the game.

“We had our moments where we had our looks,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jamison Mortensen said. “Their goalie stepped up big time. There were like three (shots) there, where they should’ve been made in a short amount of time.”

Lake City had a large advantage in time of possession, where it was able to hold the ball, thanks in part to lacrosse having no shot clock.

“We needed to possess the ball,” Mortensen said. “We needed to win the faceoffs, which we weren’t, and that’s what gave them the advantage so much. In lacrosse, if you win the faceoffs, you get a high percentage of possessions. It doesn’t balance out for the other team. We made adjustments at the faceoff and it gave us more chances and we lost fundamentals in the second half.”

LAKE CITY — Goals: Max Johnson 5, Wyatt Duchow 2, Lance Fredrick 1, Trey Bartoo 1. Assists: Gavin Gelhausen 2, Lucas Ross 1, Duchow 1, Johnson 1. Saves: Zach Kerzman 6.

COEUR d’ALENE — Goals: Harrison Davies 3, Myles Flanagan 1, Gabe Johnson 1. Assists: Johnson 1. Saves: Ryan Steiner 5.