PREP FOOTBALL: 'Little things' stall Lake City in shutout at Highland
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 11 months AGO
POCATELLO — Just like last year, the Lake City Timberwolves battled throughout against Highland, a perennial power in high school football in Idaho.
But just like last year, that effort didn’t translate into enough points.
And on Saturday, Lake City fell to Highland 16-0 at Iron Horse Stadium.
“We played with a lot of heart and a lot of grit,” said Lake City coach Byron Hout, whose T-Wolves fell 13-7 to Highland last year at home. “We had some adversity, but proud of the way we played.”
Lake City (0-3) was down to its third running back on Saturday, after starter Ike Johnson went down with a knee injury in practice on Wednesday that Hout feared could be season-ending.
The T-Wolves lost backup running back Brayden Van Leuven during pregame of the season opener at Lakeland.
Lake City also lost lineman Brody Slawson to injury early against Highland.
Highland (3-1) kicked a pair of field goals and led 6-0 at halftime, then were on the move with a drive that started late in the third quarter.
Highland’s Cedric Mitchell took a swing pass to the right from quarterback Jacob Vincent, and slithered down the sideline to score from 14-yards out, boosting the Rams’ lead to 13-0 with 11:55 remaining. Mitchell scored Highland’s lone touchdown in last year’s game.
After an interception, Seth Bartschi booted a 48-yard field goal to make it 16-0 with 6:52 left.
Lake City then put together a promising drive, sparked by a completion from Britton Johnston to Landon Leveque for 44 yards to the Highland 31.
Two pass interference penalties on the Rams kept the drive alive.
Lake City got as close as the 2-yard line, but a pair of penalties pushed the T-Wolves back to the 12, where Johnston threw incomplete in the end zone on fourth down.
“Happy with the way we moved it; we just kinda stalled out,” said Hout, who praised the play of junior running back Chase Young. “Going back to the little things; we’ve got to clean up those things.”
The T-Wolves allowed just the one touchdown on Saturday, after yielding just one TD to the Rams last year.
“Our defense played well and stopped the run — I don’t think they had many rushing yards,” Hout said.
Lake City plays host to Gig Harbor (Wash.) on Friday.