PREP FOOTBALL: Hawks flying high for now ... Hillman accounts for three second-half touchdowns as Lakeland holds off Lake City

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

RATHDRUM — “When he’s good, he’s really really good.”

On Friday night, Lakeland senior quarterback Peyton Hillman was just good enough.

Hillman accounted for three touchdowns, including a 6-yard touchdown with 2:04 remaining as the 5A Hawks beat the 6A Lake City Timberwolves 28-19 at Corbit Field.

“Sometimes when he throws the ball, I don’t understand how it came out of his hands,” Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. “For the most part, he’s been a good leader and consistent and doing a good job. When he’s good, he’s really good.”

Hillman threw for 150 yards and ran for 29 yards for Lakeland (2-0).

Lake City took a 7-0 lead on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Britton Johnston to Ryan Salsbury as the first quarter ended.

Hillman drove the Hawks down the field just before halftime, hitting senior wide receiver Cyler Bauer on a 16-yard touchdown pass to even the score at halftime.

At the start of the second half, Hillman hit senior receiver Cash Lund for 34 yards, then ran for a 3-yard score on the next snap to give Lakeland its first lead at 14-7 with 8:55 remaining in the third.

“(Lakeland offensive coordinator) Coach (Tony) Porter did a good job of setting the big plays up that we did set up,” Schroeder said. “We ran it just well enough to throw the ball down the field and set them up a little bit. It was a good job by the offense and the coach.”

Lake City (0-1) cut into the deficit on a 36-yard score from Johnston to senior wide receiver Jacob Hill to make it 14-13 after the PAT was missed following an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Timberwolves on the score.

Lakeland extended the advantage on a 6-yard pass from Hillman to Jaron Yager with 9:51 remaining, but Lake City quickly answered on a 78-yard go route from Johnston to senior Preston Beamesderfer to make it 21-19.

“The defense played really well,” Schroeder said. “That sequence when they ran two quick plays in a row was disappointing mentally, and we kind of laid an egg there, but other than that our defense played OK. Pretty exceptional.”

Lakeland opened last week with a 41-0 win over Bonners Ferry.

“This is a team that’s going to have to get better each week if they want to be there in the end,” Schroeder said. “I think we got a little better this week, and we were fortunate. We need to be humble in that way and have some humility that way.”

“We’ve got a lot of positives to talk about on the field tonight,” Lake City coach Byron Hout said. “It was a first, and we’re going to watch the positives and correct the mistakes.”

Johnston finished with 150 yards and two touchdowns.

“We gave up some explosive plays and some crucial penalties in bad spots,” Hout said. “That’s going to happen in the first game. A lot of guys, it was their first time playing varsity, so we’ll improve on that.”

It was the season opener for Lake City.
“We had a lot of good things happen tonight,” Hout said. “We shot ourselves in the foot with some mistakes, but there’s a lot to look ahead to. I was really happy with Britton for the first at quarterback game tonight. Those DBs, it was their first game playing out there for them.”

Lakeland beat Lake City 17-7 in the Timberwolves opener last year.

“They’re better than they were last year,” Schroeder said. “They’re a little bit bigger and stronger than last year and obviously the offseason program is helping them out a little more. I think they’re going to be OK. Up front, they gave us more of a handle than in the past.”

Both teams are on the road next week as Lake City travels to Wenatchee (Wash.) and Lakeland visits Weiser.

Lake City    7    0    6    6    —    19

Lakeland    0    7    7    14    —    28

First quarter 

LC — Ryan Salsbury 7 pass from Britton Johnston (Caden Oxenrider kick), :00.

Second quarter

LL — Cyler Bauer 16 pass from Peyton Hillman (Parker Sterling kick), 1:29.

Third quarter

LL — Hillman 3 run (Sterling kick), 8:55.

LC — Jacob Hill 36 pass from Johnston (kick failed), 3:16.

Fourth quarter

LL — Jaron Yager 6 pass from Hillman (Sterling kick), 9:51.

LC — Preston Beamesderfer 78 pass from Johnston (pass failed), 8:12.

LL — Hillman 6 run (Sterling kick), 2:04.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — LC, B. Johnston 5-9, Van Leuven 2-2, Fledderman 6-21, I. Johnson 6-23. LL, Sardinha 6-4, Tamagni 15-75, Hillman 7-29, Lund 1-7, Taylor 2-13.

PASSING — LC, B. Johnston, 10-22-0-170. LL, Hillman, 16-20-0-152.

RECEIVING — LC, Leveque 5-28, Beamesderfer 2-85, Salisbury 1-7, Hill 2-50. LL, Taylor 5-22, Lund 7-91, Bauer 2-18, Yager 2-17.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lakeland senior wide receiver Cash Lund looks to cut down the field during the third quarter of Friday's game against Lake City at Corbit Field in Rathdrum.