By JASON ELLIOTT 

Sports writer 

Earlier this year, Lakeland High seniors Carter Vanek, Lovie Weil and Haydon Benson set out on a few goals. 

Earn the chance to play at home in the state playoffs. 

Done, twice. 

Take the Hawk program somewhere they haven’t been in a while. 

Mission accomplished. 

When Vanek, Weil and Benson were sophomores in 2022, Lakeland, the ninth seed, had eighth-seeded Pocatello on the ropes before falling 20-14 in the first round of the state 4A playoffs in Pocatello.  

“We learned from that we can’t underestimate our opponents,” said Vanek, an offensive and defensive lineman. “We went into that game a little cocky thinking, ‘oh yeah, we’re going to beat those guys.’ We lost because we couldn’t hold onto the ball.” 

When they were freshmen, Lakeland, seeded 14th, lost 17-14 to Century of Pocatello in another playoff opener. Last year, Lakeland fell 28-12 at Twin Falls in the first round.

This year, Lakeland won the 5A Inland Empire League, then rolled past Shelley 42-14 in the first round and beat Vallivue of Caldwell 28-21 in the quarterfinals to advance to the state 5A semifinals. It will be the Hawks' first semifinal appearance since 2007.

“We’ve always learned that we’re going to have to play on the road,” Vanek said. “This year, it was a little different with a few games at home. But we’ll have to earn it from here.” 

Benson, the quarterback, broke his right foot in last year’s season opener against Preston at Montana Tech University in Butte, and missed the rest of the season.

“We saw the potential of what kind of team we had against Pocatello,” Benson said. “We showed we belonged with the best teams in the state, but the mistakes we had in that game showed the weaknesses we had in our game. You’ve got to be disciplined and turning the ball over isn’t going to help you win. This year, we’ve minimized our mistakes and really learned a lot from that this year.” 

Benson added that while missing most of last year, he learned a lot from watching. 

“This team is tough,” Benson said. “Our coach has really developed things well. The variety of the team, being able to both pass and run the ball has been great. Now that we’ve got more of an all-around game, our offense is more open to things.” 

They’ll need all three to be at the top of their game tonight as third-seeded Lakeland (9-2) visits second-seeded Hillcrest (8-3) in the semifinals at 6 p.m. PST. Lakeland is bidding for its first trip to the state title game since 2001, when the Hawks lost to Snake River in the 3A championship game. 

Hillcrest beat Sandpoint 35-0 in its playoff opener, then beat Blackfoot 35-7 last week. 

“We need to play on all cylinders,” Vanek said. “We can’t have any mistakes and our secondary needs to lock down their receivers. Our offensive line needs to continue to block and be as dominant as we’ve been all season.” 

“People need to believe and show up,” Benson said. “We can’t have a slow start. If we start and play like we can play, and that’s tough, with no mistakes, I think we can win this.” 

IN THE rain and mud last Friday, Weil ran for 158 yards and three touchdowns, including a 68-yard run to set up a score against Vallivue at Corbit Field. 

“I love playing football because it’s a physical game, but also an emotional game,” Weil said. “I got attached to it at a young age and started playing tackle football when I was in second game when everyone else usually starts in the fifth grade. I was going against the bigger kids, and I just love throwing my body out there and going against the bigger kids and taking care of business.” 

Being physical is also something that drew Vanek to playing football. 

“I like moving guys against their will,” said the 6-foot-3, 277-pound Vanek, who has played left guard for the last three years on varsity. “I like being physical. As a little kid, I was taught to be better at football, you’ve got to be physical.” 

With that in mind, Vanek wrestled for the first time last winter, finishing fourth in the state 4A tournament at 285 pounds and finishing with a 40-11 record. 

“I was pressured by a lot of the administration and staff here at the school to wrestle last year,” Vanek said. “My parents, friends, they were telling me to wrestle. We’d lost a big heavyweight, 6-8 Preston Jeffs, we lost him (to graduation) and they told me to come in and try it and I ended up going 40-11 and finishing fourth in the state. I’d say I had a great time and I’m going to do it again this year, so I’m getting prepared for that as well.” 

“We encourage our kids to play multiple sports,” fourth-year Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. “From that, Carter got a little stronger and tougher. He’s definitely taken that wrestling mentality to the football field. The conditioning for wrestling is pretty extreme, so Carter ended up getting into great shape as well. He’s just stronger pound for pound and he put on some good weight and grew a little bit. He’s pretty agile as well, and wrestling really enhanced that.” 

Benson has thrown for 1,376 yards and nine touchdowns with two interceptions this season.

“Haydon’s improved so much,” said Schroeder, who coached Emmett to the state 3A title in 2015. “He played one game as a junior, and we would have been a better team with him. But he also committed to the program and was around the team the entire time last year. He made vast improvements and felt he was up for the task this year. Mid-year this year, he really hit his stride with what we’re doing offensively.” 

Benson also has 483 yards rushing and seven touchdowns. 

“Football was introduced to me when I was really young by my dad,” Benson said. “When I started to play, he’d always want to go and throw the ball around with, so I enjoyed that. I did other sports, but nothing seemed to bring me back to the joy I had playing football.” 

Weil has 1,764 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns this season. 

“He’s got great vision,” Schroeder said. “He’s trying to score on each play. It’s been a bit of a learning curve and now he’ll look at the down and distance a little more. For a little back, he’s kind of like a cat falling out of a tree. He always lands on his feet and is a much tougher back than most.” 

LAKELAND STARTED the season 3-0 with wins over Lake City, Bonners Ferry and Weiser. Back-to-back losses to Frenchtown and Post Falls put the Hawks at 3-2, where they haven’t lost since, allowing 69 points in their six games since. 

“Post Falls and Frenchtown were good experiences for us,” Schroeder said. “We didn’t know how good we were going to be this year. We’ve gotten better each week and have been fortunate to polish and shine some things going into this week.” 

In 2023, Post Falls beat Lakeland 55-0 in Post Falls. This year, Post Falls escaped Rathdrum with a 21-20 win.

“Since that Post Falls game this year, we’ve risen to the occasion and played our kind of ball,” Vanek said. “Even though we lost that game, we played exceptionally well against a team that was supposed to whip us like they did last year.” 

“The little turnovers hurt us in that game,” Benson said. “You can stay in any game if you take care of business. All we heard was about how much they were going to win by, or were going to blow us out. We knew it was going to be a hard fight, and it was. But the little things really hurt us.” 

Weil scored on an 18-yard pass from Benson to cut the deficit to 21-20 with 25 seconds remaining. Lakeland opted to go for two instead of going for overtime, but a running play was stopped short of the goal line.

“Post Falls is a tough team, but we’re better than we showed that night,” Weil said. “If we had a few things that would have gone our way, we would have won that game for sure that night.” 

Throughout the season, Lakeland has only turned the ball over twice, a credit to the team's focus on the fundamentals that Schroeder has instilled in the program.

“We all connect in a way that there’s something in the air,” Weil said. “We all connect and learn from each other. We know our expectations. We came out this season with our head on fire a little bit,” Weil said. “We want to go far and do whatever it takes to win. Coach Schroeder has really stressed the importance of taking care of the ball, and we've done a good job of that this season so far.” 

VANEK IS drawing interest from a handful of schools in the Big Sky Conference, with Idaho, Montana, Montana State and Eastern Washington among schools he’s visited. He also visited Washington State and a few NAIA schools. 

Since the Frenchtown game, Vanek will also play on the defensive line as a tackle. 

“Last year, I was kind of hurt, so I didn’t want to play defense as much,” Vanek said. “This year, I feel great and I’ve been much healthier and in better condition, so why not help the team out?” 

Weil also plays middle linebacker on defense. Benson has also played safety since his sophomore year. 

“We need to play on all cylinders,” Vanek said. “We can’t have any mistakes and our secondary needs to lock down their receivers. Our offensive line needs to continue to block and be as dominant as we’ve been all season. We're all buying into the same thing the coaches are selling. We're just tired of those past years of losing and how it affected some of our friends that aren't here anymore. We don't want that to happen again. We want to leave a legacy here at Lakeland."