STATE 5A FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Point taken ... Lakeland, four days after falling in tiebreaker, downs Lewiston in opener

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

LEWISTON — Just four days ago, an extra point was the difference in the Lakeland Hawks being at home to open the state 4A playoffs, and hitting the road.

On Friday, it was the Hawks’ night to get their point across.

After winning the toss and opting to go on defense, Lakeland yielded a touchdown to Lewiston, which botched the extra point. On Lakeland's first play from scrimmage, junior Griffin Tamagni scored from 10 yards out around right end and junior Parker Sterling kicked the extra point, sending the ninth-seeded Hawks over the eighth-seeded Lewiston Bengals 28-27 in the opening round of the state 4A football playoffs at the P1FCU Sports Complex on Friday.

“I was going inside and nothing was there,” Tamagni said. “So I bounced it outside and nobody was there so I had a clear path to the end zone.”

With the game tied at 21 at the end of regulation, Lewiston took the lead in OT on a 7-yard screen pass from Mason Way to Jeffrey Yoder on the third play of overtime. The Bengals fumbled the snap on the kick and were stopped short of a conversion.

Tamagni, who finished with three touchdowns, had 228 yards in last Friday’s 42-17 win to force a three-way tiebreaker for the Inland Empire League title.

“He’s had a good year and he’s just a tough kid,” Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. “It’s the end of the year and everyone’s a little banged up. We’ve got to hold onto our offensive line, and we were just fortunate to get one in there.”

“He just got lost in traffic,” first-year Lewiston coach Zane Hobart said. “We had it pretty bottled up, but he just bounced it out on the edge. That’s a good job by them.”

Lakeland senior quarterback Peyton Hillman scored on a 17-yard run to make it 14-0 with 6:16 remaining in the first quarter.

“We had a really good running back last year that could see the hole really well (Lovie Weil), and I kind of see that in Griffin a little bit,” Hillman said. “He can bounce away and find the hole when he needs to and put up big numbers.”

In Monday’s Kansas tiebreaker, Lakeland scored on the first possession in a winner-take-all championship game, but Lewiston won the top seed and a home playoff game with a touchdown and a two-point conversion.

“In a weird way, we made the PAT and they didn’t, so there was some irony with that,” Schroeder said. “Some teams have been taking advantage of our miscues with our field goals and PATs, but it was nice to see Parker hit that one.”

Lewiston (3-7) had three turnovers, including a fumble on its first play from scrimmage, in the first quarter.

“The first quarter of that game didn’t go as we planned,” Hobart said. “What you saw the next three quarters is what defined this team. Fighting through, fighting through stuff and losing guys to injury. That’s the resilience of those guys and buying into what we were trying to do. They did a good job of getting us back into the game to try and win the game, but it just didn’t go our way.”

Lakeland (9-1) travels to face top-seeded Hillcrest (9-1) of Ammon in the quarterfinals next weekend.

“That’s the goal,” Schroeder said. “Our real goal was to be in the quarters or semis again. At least we’ve got that chance. We’re playing the No. 1 team, Hillcrest, next week, but we played them last year. Hopefully we can show up and compete.”

Lakeland led at Hillcrest 28-14 in the state 4A semifinals last season, but eventually lost 42-28 to the Knights.

“We definitely are going to have a rough game next week,” Hillman said. “We played them last year and it was a tough game, but I think we can go get after them a little bit.”

Lakeland was held scoreless in the second half on Friday night, missing a 45-yard field goal with four seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.

“I think everything went perfectly well in the first quarter,” Schroeder said. “We kind of gave them oxygen in the second quarter with some big plays that they popped, and never really adapted the entire game. We were a little undisciplined in the secondary, but they kept fighting. If you give them life, they’re a very good team.”

Lakeland    14    7    0    0    7    –    28

Lewiston    0    14    0    7    6    –    27

First quarter

LL – Griffin Tamagni 3 run (Parker Sterling kick), 9:49.

LL – Peyton Hillman 17 run (Sterling kick), 6:16.

Second quarter

LL – Tamagni 15 run (Sterling kick), 11:20.

Lew – Austin Topp 63 pass from Mason Way (Michael Earl kick), 10:16.

Lew – Sawyer Casey 1 run (Earl kick), 4:09.

Fourth quarter

Lew – Jeffrey Yoder 34 pass from Way (Earl kick), 10:32.

Overtime

Lew – Yoder 7 pass from Way (kick failed).

LL – Tamagni 10 run (Sterling kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – LL, Tamagni 16-70, Lund 5-61, Hillman 4-41, Taylor 1-3, Sardinha 1-5. LL, Topp 11-30, Way 11-35, Casey 1-1, Wilkerson 1-4.

PASSING – LL, Hillman, 19-32-1-159. Lew, Way, 11-20-1-180, Topp 1-1-0-41.

RECEIVING – LL, Rivandeneira 1-12, Yager 4-25, Taylor 7-54, Tamagni 2-10, Lund 4-49, Lukey 1-8. Lew, Wilkerson 3-47, Earl 2-42, Topp 2-84, Yoder 5-63. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lakeland senior wide receiver Cash Lund stiff arms Lewiston junior defensive back Ty Collins during the fourth quarter of Friday's state 4A football playoff game in Lewiston.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lakeland senior quarterback Peyton Hillman runs to the end zone on a 17-yard touchdown run during the first quarter of Friday's state 5A football playoff game against the Lewiston Bengals at the P1FCU Sports Complex in Lewiston.