STATE 5A FOOTBALL QUARTERFINALS: The road winds down for Lakeland ... Hawks fall at Hillcrest in rematch of last year's semifinal

AMMON — At a certain point, the road was just too much to overcome for the Lakeland Hawks against the top-seeded and defending state 5A champion Hillcrest Knights at Westmark Stadium on Friday. 

Lakeland opened the scoring on its first drive of the game, scoring on a 14 yard touchdown pass from senior Peyton Hillman to senior Jaron Yager before the Knights scored 35 straight points, and went on to beat the Hawks 35-14 in the quarterfinals of the state 5A playoffs. 

“We got things going in the first quarter and things were going our way,” fourth-year Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. “We had a possession where we didn’t convert on a fourth down and that hurt us. As the game progressed, we weren’t doing some things correctly scheme-wise. They were physical up front and really took control of the line of scrimmage.” 

Lakeland, seeded ninth after losing to Lewiston in a Kansas tiebreaker, finished 9-2. The Hawks opened the playoffs with a 28-27 overtime win at eighth-seeded Lewiston last Friday. 

Hillcrest (10-1) will host Twin Falls, a 22-7 winner over Century of Pocatello, in the semifinals next week. 

Hillcrest quarterback Tyson Sweetwood ran for 123 yards and three touchdowns, two coming in the second quarter. The Knights ran for 238 yards on the night. 

“We could have made some adjustments at halftime, but once you get down on the road, it’s hard to come back,” Schroeder said. “In that second quarter, they really put it to us on the ground.” 

Lakeland fell at Hillcrest 42-28 in the semifinals last year after leading 28-14 early in the fourth quarter.

Lakeland junior running back Griffin Tamagni ran for 110 yards on 19 carries.

The Hawks were in the playoffs for the fifth straight season.

“Our kids had a really good year,” Schroeder said. “Give Hillcrest credit. They’re an elite program and we learned a lot of things that we can improve on. We’re close. We had a tough draw playing Hillcrest in the quarterfinals. Are we going the right direction? Yes, we are.” 

Lakeland    7    0    0    7    —    14 

Hillcrest        7    14    7    7    —    35 

First quarter 

LL — Jaron Yager 14 pass from Peyton Hillman (Payton Sterling kick)

Hill — Tyson Sweetwood 1 run (Rylan Borgmann kick)

Second quarter 

Hill — Sweetwood 1 run (Borgmann kick)

Hill — Tate Prince 14 pass from Sweetwood (Borgmann kick)

Third quarter 

Hill — Sweetwood 8 run (Borgmann kick)

Fourth quarter 

Hill — Dax Sargent 1 run (Borgmann kick)

LL — Griffin Tamagni 9 run (Sterling kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTCS 

RUSHING — LL, Tamagni 19-110, Hillman 5-14, Karle 1-4. Hill, Sargent 11-51, Miner 10-59, Ellingford 1-3, Sweetwood 12-123, Ellsworth 1-0, Prince 1-2, Milano 1-14. 

PASSING — LL, Hillman, 11-16-0-131. Hill, Sweetwood, 6-8-0-118, Milano, 0-0-0-0. 

RECEIVING — LL, Yager 3-47, Avriett 1-13, Rivandeneira 1-13, Taylor 5-58, Boardman 1=3. Hill, Sargent 2-43, Davis 1-20, Mecham 1-11, Prince 3-55.