RATHDRUM — They’re not quite where they want to be at Lakeland High.

But patience is going to be the key with only two seniors and 22 new starters on offense and defense.

The visiting Lewiston Bengals raced out to a 49-0 halftime lead, beating the Hawks 49-7 in the season opener for both schools on Friday at Corbit Field.

“We’re just feeling our way through things right now,” Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said. “Everything — from our pregame routines, chants that we do — the order of events leading up to the game, it’s new to them. These guys are learning from the ground up.

It looked promising when junior quarterback Jared Walker hit receiver Ryan Pote on a 94-yard touchdown strike in the fourth quarter.

“It’s going to be a process and patience is going to be a valuable asset for us to have,” Kiefer said. “I don’t know how many sophomores and juniors we started tonight, but the kids played tough. But it’s going to be a process for sure.”

Walker finished with 215 yards passing for Lakeland, which travels to West Valley next Friday.

“We’ve got some kids that can play,” Kiefer said. “It’s just getting the kids on the same page and synched up that’s going to take some time. We’ve got some kids with speed and can throw the ball. I think all the pieces are there, we just need to get on the same page and get some game experience.”

Lewiston returned most of its starters from the 2014 season, with Mason Ulrich scoring three touchdowns in the first half — the first on a 35-yard punt return — followed by touchdown runs of 1- and 5-yards.

“They’re big, strong, fast kids,” said Kiefer of Lewiston. “They’re going to win some games for sure this year. They’re a well-coached team.”

Lewiston junior quarterback Colton Richardson completed all 11 of his passing attempts for 150 yards and two touchdowns in the Bengals’ new up-tempo spread offense.

“It was really good to see,” Lewiston coach Shawn Nilsson said. “We kind of revamped some things offensively and defensively to utilize some athletes we have. We’re a little more up tempo than we’ve been. We spent a lot of time working on it during the spring with (former Post Falls coach and current Lewiston offensive coordinator) Nick Menegas doing a fantastic job with it.

Lewiston 21 28 0 0 — 49

Lakeland 0 0 0 7 — 7

First quarter

Lew — Levi Speer 8 run (Lane Grant kick), 7:57.

Lew — Mason Ulrich 35 punt return (Grant kick), 6:49.

Lew — Ulrich 1 run (Grant kick), :45.

Second quarter

Lew — Ulrich 5 run (Grant kick), 9:47.

Lew — Lane Alford 28 pass from Colton Richardson (Grant kick), 7:29.

Lew — Riley Way 31 pass from Richardson (Grant kick), 5:25.

Lew — Alford 1 run (Grant kick), 1:36.

Fourth quarter

LL — Ryan Pote 94 pass from Jared Walker (Trevor Karras kick), 9:50.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lew, Way, 2-13, Sharp, 1-30, Speer, 6-45, Ulrich, 5-21, Clark, 1-6, Alford, 1-6, Chaffee, 1-3, Fletcher, 1-(-7), Uptmor, 3-10, Hollenbeck, 4-4, Moore, 4-23. LL, Norman, 6-11, Walker, 13-64, Pote, 5-1, McDaniel, 1-0, Neilson, 2-(-17), Hathaway, 1-0.

PASSING — Lew, Richardson, 11-11-0-150, Hollenbeck, 1-2-0-8, Fletcher, 0-1-0-0. LL, Walker, 8-26-1-215.

RECEIVING — Lew, Speer, 1-3, Ahlers, 2-23, Sharp, 2-38, Way, 3-52, Ulrich, 2-11, Alford, 1-23, Grant, 1-8.LL, Davis, 4-46, Pote, 1-94, Neilson, 2-(-2), Norman, 1-10.