POST FALLS — The Post Falls Trojans try to play fast on offense, but apparently their first-half attack wasn’t fast enough for coach Blaine Bennett.

“Coach Bennett said we weren’t playing fast enough tonight,” Post Falls quarterback Nate Buer said.

Lake City might disagree.

Post Falls scored seven touchdowns in a combined 9 minutes, 43 seconds of clock time, an average of slightly over 1:23 per possession, in running away from the Timberwolves 49-14 in the 5A Inland Empire League football opener for both teams Friday night at Trojan Stadium.

“We wanted to play fast, and we needed to do that early,” Bennett said. “I thought at times we did, and certainly when we turned the ball over, that’s not (what we wanted).”

Post Falls (7-0), ranked third in the state, scored its TDs in four, four, eight, nine, seven, five and four plays, with times of possession of :45, :46, 2:08, 2:14, 1:14, 1:21 and 1:15.

Post Falls scored on five of its six first-half possessions, and didn’t punt until early in the fourth quarter.

Buer completed his first eight passes, was 14 of 16 in the first half, and finished 20 of 24 for 269 yards and three touchdowns. Jake Pfennigs caught eight passes for 88 yards and two TDs.

“He’s smart in the classroom; he’s smart on the football field,” Blaine Bennett said of Buer. “He’s athletic. He can handle bad snaps, and still get the ball where he needs to. He’s a special player. Really, it’s a special group.”

The Trojans totaled 476 yards, including 207 yards on the ground. Braden Vaughan ran for 102 yards and three TDs on 15 carries, and Quin Bennett ran for 96 yards and a TD on 14 carries.

By contrast, Lake City (2-4) did its best to play as slow as possible. The T-Wolves ran the ball on 49 of their 76 plays, and actually ran it well against the Trojans. Grant Clark ran for 126 yards in the first half, and finished with 174 yards on 32 carries.

But Lake City couldn’t keep up with Post Falls’ scoring. Also, three T-Wolf turnovers, two of which Post Falls turned into touchdowns including its final score of the first half, didn’t help.

“Our game plan going in was to try to milk the clock, and methodically move it down the field,” Lake City coach Bryce Erickson said. “And there were times when we did that, and times when it was going exactly how we wanted it to go, and then we’d turn the ball over. And they’re too good on offense to do that. And the tempo of their offense, our defense just couldn’t stay with them.”

Post Falls needed just four plays to go 69 yards, Quin Bennett running the final 11, for a 7-0 lead.

Lake City answered when quarterback Bryce Buttz rolled right and found Kyle Torres in the end zone on a 22-yard pass play.

But Lake City barely had time to celebrate. Post Falls needed just four more plays to take a 14-7 lead, Pfennigs getting behind the cornerback and easily hauling in a 10-yard TD pass from Buer.

Lake City pulled within 21-14 early in the second quarter on an 80-yard pass-and-run from Buttz to Mason Morrow.

But that was it for Lake City’s scoring. Coleton Kazmierczak’s fumble recovery led to a 1-yard run by Vaughan late in the first half for a 35-14 lead, and the Trojans put it away with two more scores in the third quarter.

“I thought our defense played really well,” Blaine Bennett said. “Holding a team like that ... to 14 points, I thought that was a great defensive effort.”

Next Friday, Lake City plays host to Coeur d’Alene (5-2, 1-0), and Post Falls travels to Lewiston (4-3, 0-1).

Lake City 7 7 0 0 — 14

Post Falls 14 21 14 0 — 49

First quarter

PF — Quin Bennett 11 run (Braden Vaughan kick), 11:08

LC — Kyle Torres 22 pass from Bryce Buttz (Marco Rojo kick), 1:36

PF — Jake Pfennigs 10 pass from Nate Buer (Vaughan kick), :39

Second quarter

PF — Vaughan 8 run (Vaughan kick), 9:39

LC — Mason Morrow 80 pass from Buttz (Rojo kick), 9:26

PF — Pfennigs 5 pass from Buer (Vaughan kick), 7:12

PF — Vaughan 1 run (Vaughan kick), 1:09

Third quarter

PF — Vaughan 14 run (Vaughan kick), 9:07

PF — Taylor Ryan 39 pass from Buer (Vaughan kick), 1:19

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — LC, Clark 32-174, Buttz 11-25, Lettau 6-14. PF, Vaughan 15-102, Buer 4-2, Bennett 14-96, Ballew 1-7.

PASSING — LC, Buttz 12-27-1-173. PF, Buer 20-24-1-269.

RECEIVING — LC, Jerome 1-3, Torres 1-18, Morrow 7-137, Pollow 1-6, Clark 1-(minus 4), Lopez 1-13. PF, Williams 6-93, Ryan 3-66, Pfennigs 8-88, Barber 3-22.