COEUR d’ALENE — After being sidelined due to a concussion on Sept. 9 at Central Valley, Lake City senior quarterback Matt Duchow had to earn his way back onto the field.

He had to earn his starting QB job back after being relegated to only defense in last week’s game at East Valley in Spokane Valley.

On Friday night, from the opening series to the final scoring drive, he earned it again.

Duchow scored on an 11-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, then threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Alec Baughman in the fourth quarter as the Timberwolves beat the Sandpoint Bulldogs 28-7 in a nonleague football game.

Duchow finished with 63 yards rushing and completed 10 of 21 passes for 110 yards for Lake City (3-3), which jumped out to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter.

“He did an awesome job,” Lake City coach Bryce Erickson said of Duchow. “He played safety for us last week and he said he wanted to compete for the quarterback spot again and so him and (Bryce) Buttz went at it in practice during the week. And I thought Matt made some huge runs and made some big throws for us and was really happy to see Matt do well tonight. He got injured and for him to come back and get this win before we get into conference play next week, it was huge for him and this football team.”

“When I was out, I was really eager to get back to the team and get my job back,” Duchow said. “Coach Erickson said that me and the other quarterback Bryce were going to compete in practice and compete and I was able to win the job.”

While Duchow was on the sidelines, Lake City beat Hillcrest High of Idaho Falls, but lost to Central Valley — a game which he was injured early — and East Valley.

“We haven’t had a good past two or three weeks,” Duchow said. “We just continued to watch film, buckle down and did what we needed to do. We just needed to come out and get it done any way possible.”

Grant Clark ran for 174 yards and a touchdown for Lake City, which got key interceptions from James Anderson and Chase Moyer in the second quarter to stop Sandpoint drives.

“It was a great team effort,” Erickson said. “We came out really hot on offense at first, and then they made some adjustments. They wanted to stop the run, and up until that last drive in the fourth quarter, we didn’t make the plays down the field we wanted to. That’s a great program, great coaching staff and one of the most physical teams we’ve played this year, and I think we matched them. When you play Sandpoint, you have to be ready for a physical game. It was a great team effort and glad that those seniors got to go out with a win on homecoming.”

Erickson and his wife, Mary, welcomed their third child early Thursday morning.

“Had a little baby daughter yesterday (Thursday) morning at 3:22,” Erickson said. “It’s my third child, and it was absolutely amazing. My wife is a soldier and what better way to end the week than get a victory after getting a new child.”

Sandpoint drove down the field and scored a touchdown on its opening possession of the third quarter, on a 16-yard run by Levi Irish.

“If that first quarter doesn’t happen, it’s obviously a lot tighter game than that,” first-year Sandpoint coach George Yarno Jr. said. “We took a little while to get going, and hats off to Lake City, they came out and put three touchdowns on us real quick. Our defense is usually a lot more sturdy than that. They just came out and executed more than we did tonight.”

Sandpoint (2-4) has lost to three 5A Inland Empire League schools — Post Falls, Lewiston and Lake City.

“I think we’re close, but close gets you beat,” Yarno said. “We’re close to executing well on offense and defense, but until you get perfect at it, close gets you beat. We’re not playing horseshoes and hand-grenades tonight. We’re going to put our nose the grindstone and keep working.”

Lake City opens 5A IEL play next Friday, hosting Post Falls.

Sandpoint 0 0 7 0 — 7

Lake City 21 0 0 7 — 28

First quarter

LC — Matt Duchow 14 run (Marco Rojo kick), 9:11

LC — Zane Lettau 1 run (Rojo kick), 4:39

LC — Grant Clark 31 run (Rojo kick), 1:41

Third quarter

Spt — Levi Irish 16 run (Sawyer Seley kick), 7:22

Fourth quarter

LC — Alec Baughman 28 pass from Duchow (Rojo kick), 2:56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Spt, Irish 26-99, Alamillo 2-20, Jacobson 6-17, Johnson 6-32. LC, Clark 20-174, Duchow 9-63, Z. Lettau 11-20.

PASSING — Spt, Johnson, 8-27-2-88. LC, Duchow, 10-21-1-110.

RECEIVING — Spt, Jacobson 2-16, Alamillo 2-26, Davis 2-45, Barajas 2-1. LC, Pierard 5-52, Watkins 1-9, Baughman 1-28, Goldthorpe 3-21.