PREP FOOTBALL: Lake City falls victim to Wenatchee's trickery

By MARK NELKE

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE — The Wenatchee Panthers made the call at 7 a.m. Saturday, opting to board a bus for the 200-mile trip for a 1 p.m. game at Lake City for a football game the Panthers were originally set to host, but was called off on Friday due to poor air quality in Wenatchee. 

The Panthers made sure to pack their bag of tricks for the trip east. 

Wenatchee scored twice on trick plays — including the go-ahead score midway through the fourth quarter — and went on to beat the Lake City Timberwolves 23-13 on Saturday afternoon at Van Troxel Field. 

“We wanted to play football,” second-year Wenatchee coach Taylor Mitchell said. “We woke up this morning, and it was 50/50 whether we were going to play at home. We were at the high school and we were like, we wanted to play, we didn’t want it to come down to a 1 o’clock decision. We knew we could play here.” 

Wenatchee called off Friday’s game — before Lake City had left town — when the air quality index reached 156 (150 is the general dividing line between playing and not playing). 

Saturday at kickoff, the AQI in Wenatchee was even worse (174). In Coeur d’Alene, it was 116. 

Lake City, prepared to make a bus trip west for a Saturday night game, instead saw its support staff hustle to get its field ready for a home game. 

"Hats off to Troy (Anderson), our AD, and their AD; they put a great plan together for us to allow us to still play a game today," Lake City coach Byron Hout said. "Hats of the decision makers, the parents, the fans for being flexible and allowing us to play this game.” 

In a scoreless game in the second quarter, Wenatchee wide receiver Micah Knell ran left to right through the formation, took a handoff (of sorts) from quarterback Ryan Branam, and launched a long pass to Chase Ballew, who had gotten behind the defense and hauled in the toss for an 81-yard touchdown. 

In the fourth quarter, with Lake City leading 13-9, Wenatchee ran basically the same play in the other direction. This time, Knell threw deep to Griffin Butler, who got behind the T-Wolf defense for a 77-yard touchdown reception with 5:41 remaining. 

"As a football coach, you’ve got to have things up your sleeve to help spark your offense,” Mitchell said. “We have a list of plays we can get to. That was one of them — two of them.” 

"They do a great job of coaching up and dialing up the trick plays in great situations,” Hout said of Wenatchee. “As a defense, we have to play with better eyes.” 

Wenatchee, in its season opener, tacked on a late touchdown after Lake City turned the ball over on downs in its own territory. 

Lake City (0-2) tied the game at 6 late in the first half when junior Caden Tony caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from junior Britton Johnston.  

In the third quarter, on third-and-goal from the Wenatchee 4, Johnston looked to pass, was pressured, spun to his left and dashed around the corner and into the end zone for a 13-9 T-Wolf lead. 

That drive featured mostly hurry-up plays that had Wenatchee’s defense on its heels. 

Senior Ike Johnson ran for 112 yards on 24 carries for Lake City. Johnston rushed for 63 yards on 11 carries, as the T-Wolves totaled 182 yards on the ground. 

“Really happy with some of the good things we can take away from this game,” Hout said. “Britton played a great game, our receivers came down with the ball when they needed to. Our D-line and defense played well, minus a few fundamentals with our eyes. Overall, I was really happy with how our team played today.” 

Sophomore Landon Leveque had eight receptions for 71 yards for Lake City. 

“A lot of growth from Week 1 to Week 2,” Hout said. “It’s the little things that are still getting us beat. Like eye control, fumbled snaps, communication, things that we can coach up, and we need to do a better job of coaching up during the week.” 

Butler had nine catches for 193 yards for Wenatchee. 

“Thanks to Lake City, for being able to host us, and for being flexible,” Mitchell said. “Obviously we would have loved to have had a home game, so we appreciate them opening up their facility for us. I think they had the same mindset too; they wanted to play a game, so I’m glad we were able to get a game in today.” 

Lake City travels to Highland of Pocatello next Saturday.

Wenatchee    0    9    0    14    —    23 

Lake City    0    6    7    0    —    13 

Second quarter 

Wen — Chase Ballew 81 pass from Micah Knell (PAT failed), 7:04 

LC — Caden Tony 18 pass from Britton Johnston (kick failed), 3:49 

Wen — FG Knell 24, :00 

Third quarter 

LC — Johnston 4 run (Hadley Brey kick), 4:19 

Fourth quarter 

Wen — Griffin Butler 77 pass from Knell (Knell kick), 5:41 

Wen — Butler 36 pass from Ryan Branam (Knell kick), 2:54 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — Wen, Cate 11-20, Mihuika 5-13, McGinnis 1-(minus 3), Branam 3-(minus 4), Walker 1-(minus 4). LC, Johnson 24-112, Johnston 11-63, Fledderman 4-6, Young 1-1. 

PASSING — Wen, Branam, 14-27-0-162, Knell 2-2-0-158. LC, Johnston 10-23-2-102. 

RECEIVING — Wen, Butler 9-193, Cate 2-3, Stuber 1-18, Mahuika 1-9, Ballew 1-81, Branam 1-(minus 1), Walker 1-17. LC, Leveque 8-71, Tony 1-18, Hill 1-13. 

Coeur du Christ 52 

SelPort (Wash.) 6 

SELKIRK, Wash. — Charles Jenne scored three touchdowns, one on a 50-yard fumble return, as the visiting Saints beat the Lumberjacks of Selkirk, Ione and Northport in a late-added nonleague game on Friday. 

Jon Denke ran for two touchdowns and Grant Clemens threw for two scores for Coeur du Christ (3-0), which is scheduled to play Wellpinit (Wash.) next Friday at the Marimn Coeur Health Center in Worley. 

It was the season opener for SelPort. 

COEUR du CHRIST SCORING PLAYS 

First quarter 

Charles Jenne 50 fumble return 

Jon Denke 44 run 

Second quarter 

Beckett Beyer 35 pass from Grant Clemens 

Denke 25 run 

Greg Hayes 11 pass from Clemens 

Third quarter 

Jenne 3 run 

Fourth quarter 

Jenne 50 run 

    MARK NELKE/Press Lake City senior Ike Johnson rounds the corner as Griffin Butler, left, and Matt Wilson (11) of Wenatchee pursue on Saturday afternoon at Van Troxel Field.