Priest River 16, St. Maries 15

PRIEST RIVER — When it came down to the wire, Colton Kuprienko came through.

The junior running back compiled 144 rushing yards and a touchdown on 33 carries — eclipsing 1,000 career rushing yards in the process — senior Braden Leach grabbed his second and third career interceptions, and the Spartans held off the Lumberjacks for a senior night and 3A Central Idaho League win on Friday night at Priest River High.

Junior Nate Fegert opened the scoring on the night with a 5-yard touchdown run, his eighth of the season, and Kuprienko converted the two-point conversion to give the Spartans an early 8-0 lead nearing the end of the first quarter.

After St. Maries responded on their next drive, Kuprienko, who also had a catch for 12 yards, scored on an 8-yard touchdown run and ran in another two-point try as Priest River took a 16-7 advantage heading into the locker room.

On their opening second half drive, junior Kris Brusseau scored on a 3-yard run with 8:42 remaining in the third quarter for the Lumberjacks, which completed a pass for the two-point conversion to bring the score to 16-15 — a score that didn't budge for the rest of the 20 minutes of play.

Senior quarterback Lucas Mathews was 9-for-14 passing for 97 yards and sophomore Layton Goins hauled in four catches for a team-high 60 yards for Priest River, which totaled 264 yards compared to the Lumberjacks' 246 yards in the evenly-matched defensive battle. The Spartan defense limited St. Maries to just 74 rushing yards on the night. 

In addition to Leach's clutch interceptions, Goins recorded a team-high eight tackles while seven different Spartans tallied four tackles apiece. Leach, who also caught four passes for 25 yards, had a tackle for loss as did seniors Gavin Griesemer and Niki Porinchok. Porinchok added two quarterback hurries, Griesemer one quarterback hurry on the evening.

Priest River honored their eight seniors, Leach, Porinchok, Griesemer, Mathews, Linden Rainwater, Brady Hatten, Colton Braden and Tanner Hughes prior to kickoff.

Leach, Fegert, and junior Kane Berns all recorded pass breakups for Priest River (4-4), which travels to Kellogg this Friday for their league and regular season finale.

St. Maries 0 7 8 0 — 15 

Priest River 8 8 0 0 — 16 

First quarter 

PR — Nate Fegert 5 run (Colton Kuprienko run), 2:53. 

Second quarter 

SM — Aiden Yearout 1 run (Greysun DeLong kick), 11:11. 

PR — Colton Kuprienko 8 run (Colton Kuprienko run), 4:23. 

Third quarter 

SM — Kris Brusseau 3 run (Yearout pass from Jack Barta), 8:42. 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING 

SM — Yearout 12-29, J. Barta 3-21, Harold 1-12, Brusseau 3-8, Wilcox 2-4. PR — Kuprienko 33-144, Fegert 9-16, Goins 2-7.

PASSING

SM — J. Barta 14-29-0-172. PR — Mathews 9-14-0-97.

RECEIVING 

SM — Gustaffe 4-77, B. Barta 8-76, Harold 2-19. PR — Goins 4-60, B. Leach 4-25, Kuprienko 1-12.