Sandpoint 56, Pocatello 15

MISSOULA — After falling to Pocatello twice in the past two years — this one felt good.

Senior quarterback Braden Buckhout surpassed 2,000 career passing yards and 1,000 passing yards on the season with 240 yards and a 4-touchdown performance, the defense forced three of their four turnovers in the first half and pitched a second-half shutout, and the Bulldogs led from start to finish in a 41-point win over the Thunder at the University of Montana's Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

It's Sandpoint's first 5-0 start since 2004.

"I don't think we've ever traveled like this in the past, and I would put that success up against most teams in the country," Sandpoint High head coach Ryan Knowles said. "It's been grueling, it's been hard, and it was a short week with a day of preparation lost ... I told the boys after the game that they're doing things that haven't been done before. These guys take pride in doing the little things right, which makes me happy as a coach."

The Bulldogs certainly did a lot of things right Thursday night.

Less than two minutes into the game, Buckhout found the "speedster," senior Maverick Gomez, for a 16-yard screen pass and a touchdown for the early 7-0 lead. On the first Pocatello drive, with the Thunder approaching the redzone, junior Devin McEnaney hauled in his second career interception to give the Bulldogs the ball back. Sandpoint then capitalized on the turnover as Buckhout found junior Brock Yarbrough for a 9-yard screen pass and score to push the lead to 14-0 before the end of the first quarter.

Early in the second, with Pocatello on the Sandpoint 44-yard line, senior Darrin Flanigan recorded a strip-sack, senior Jeremiah Palmer recovered the fumble, and the Bulldogs took over on the Thunder's 34. A handful of plays later, junior Jensen Sheetz, who had a game-high 17 carries for 120 rushing yards, found the endzone on a 7-yard rush for his 10th touchdown of the season to put the score at 21-0. 

On the ensuing Pocatello drive, another that reached Sandpoint territory, senior Lucas Garrison picked off his first pass of the season and returned it to midfield. The offense took over and Buckhout found Gomez, who had five catches for 94 yards on the evening, again for a 10-yard strike with 5:19 remaining in the half to push the lead to 28 points.

The Thunder found the endzone a couple of minutes later, but the Bulldogs immediately responded — just one offensive play and 14 seconds later — when Buckhout threw a dart to Yarbrough for a 51-yard touchdown as Sandpoint eventually found themselves leading 36-15 heading into the locker room.

"We were really at that tipping point," Knowles said. "It's either we score, and we shut the door on them, or they score and we let them stick around. I was really happy with how we came out of the locker room and dominated the third quarter, like they did in the fourth quarter to finish it off."

In the second half, it was much of the same for Sandpoint.

Yarbrough defended a pass to the endzone on a Pocatello opening drive fourth-and-3, and after a methodical 90-yard drive, senior Zachary Beers plunged 1-yard into the endzone for his first career varsity touchdown and the 43-15 advantage. As if things couldn't get any better, Flanigan then forced another fumble on the Thunder's next drive, and after a couple of bobbles backwards and a 34-yard loss, junior Trey Blumenberg recovered the pigskin on the Thunder 17-yard line to give Sandpoint possession. 

"He's also our long snapper," Knowles said of Flanigan, who is playing his first varsity snaps this year. "He does all three phases of the game and brings great energy. He has the best attitude and I'm really excited for him to have the production he did tonight."

Yarbrough, who had eight catches for 129 yards, capitalized on the night's fourth turnover with a tied-for-career-long 35-yard field goal for the 31-point lead.

In the fourth, Gomez scored his third touchdown of the night on a 33-yard sweep and sophomore Gage Martin nailed a 20-yard field goal, the first of his career, before time expired for the 56-15 victory. The 56 points is the most Sandpoint has scored since 2022 when they defeated Moscow by a score of 67-0 and Skyview 63-35.

The Bulldogs had 494 yards of total offense compared to Pocatello's 310 yards in the win. Sandpoint was plus-three in the turnover department.

"We've been harping turnovers; we had a drought there," Knowles said. "To get four turnovers, that's going to win you most games. To win that battle was great, and to win the first quarter was a huge factor for us, and we did that pretty emphatically."

Junior Jack Schriber added 17 receiving yards and junior Mason McLain had a sack for Sandpoint (5-0), which turns their focus to Coeur d'Alene for a 6A/5A Inland Empire League road game on Friday, Sept. 26.

Pocatello 0 15 0 0 — 15

Sandpoint 14 22 10 10 — 56

First quarter

SPT — Maverick Gomez 16 pass from Braden Buckhout (Yarbrough kick), 10:07

SPT — Brock Yarbrough 9 pass from Braden Buckhout (Yarbrough kick), 2:33

Second quarter

SPT — Jensen Sheetz 7 run (Yarbrough kick), 7:49

SPT — Maverick Gomez 10 pass from Braden Buckhout, 5:19

POC — Ephriam Wadsworth 65 pass from Hunter Cordell (Farnsworth kick), 3:25

SPT — Brock Yarbrough 51 pass from Braden Buckhout (Yarbrough kick), 3:11

POC — Hunter Cordell 17 pass from Rhev Stucki (Walker pass from Stucki), 1:20

Third quarter

SPT — Zachary Beers 1 run (Yarbrough kick), 5:48

SPT — Brock Yarbrough 35-yard FG, 3:18

Fourth quarter

SPT — Maverick Gomez 33 run (Martin kick), 11:09

SPT — Gage Martin 20-yard FG, 0:21

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

SPT — Sheetz 17-120, Gomez 2-30, Buckhout 11-27, Smith 7-27, Beers 9-26, Cross 4-14, Palmer 3-10. POC — Himmerich 13-38, Hughes 1-4, Covey 1-1, Stucki 3-(-4).

PASSING

SPT — Buckhout 15-18-4-240. POC — Stucki 20-33-1-206, Cordell 1-1-1-65.

RECEIVING

SPT — Yarbrough 8-129, Gomez 5-94, Schriber 2-17. POC — Wadsworth 2-86, Himmerich 7-71, Walker 4-33, Cordell 3-28, Allen 2-28, Covey 2-21, Austin 1-4.

Sandpoint High senior quarterback Braden Buckhout looks to make a pass during Thursday night's game against Pocatello.