Mistakes late cost T-Wolves against Gig Harbor

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE — It seemed on Friday that with each play that Lake City made — and there were a few that sparked the offense — the step back was just too much to overcome.

A blocked punt by senior linebacker Dayton Fletcher, but penalties pushed the Timberwolves out of scoring position.

Goal-to-go late in the third, and an interception.

The 101 yards in penalties.

All that added up to a 16-6 loss for Lake City to the visiting Gig Harbor Tide on Friday at Van Troxel Field.

“We’ve got to come away with points there on the 2-yard line,” Lake City coach Byron Hout said. “Our offense has got to execute a little better. Too many dropped snaps, delays of games, not executing plays the way we should be. There’s just a lot of things that we’ve got to go back to the film room and watch.”

Lake City beat Gig Harbor in last year’s matchup 35-16.

Lake City (0-4) lost a fumble in the first half as well.

“We’re going to have to make some changes,” Hout said. “We’re 0-4 right now, so something’s got to change. We’ll look at that this weekend and make the changes we need to make.”

Before the half, Lake City drove 96 yards, keyed by a 26-yard pass from junior Britton Johnston to junior Brayden Van Leuven. Lake City scored on a 4-yard pass from Johnston to Paxton Grant in the corner of the end zone with 1:22 remaining in the half.

“It was a really great job by Van Leuven,” Hout said. “We’ve got to create another way to get other guys the ball too. He can’t just carry the load for us, but he can do a lot for us. We’ve got to find another running back to make it a 1-2 punch back there and spell him a little bit.”

Gig Harbor was delayed traveling to Coeur d’Alene for Friday’s game due to a two-vehicle semi-truck accident on Snoqualmie Pass near Easton, Wash.

“They’ve got four or five players that you’ve got to account for on each play,” Gig Harbor coach Jeff Scoma said. “It’s a five-hour drive for us, but we were stopped for 2 ½ hours while they cleaned that up. There were people all over I-90 and credit to the boys, we didn’t have much of a warmup and we were sitting for seven to eight hours.”

Gig Harbor (2-1) put the game away with 6:59 remaining on a 69-yard touchdown run by Taylor Carey to make it 16-6.

The Tide finished with 274 yards rushing in the game and only completed one pass — an 11-yard touchdown pass — just before halftime.

“It’s just a discipline thing,” Hout said. “It’s gap defense and if you miss a tackle, they’re going to hit a big play. That was just some bad eyes by us. We’d done a pretty good job eliminating big plays, but we got a little tired and lazy with our eyes at the end there.”

Van Leuven finished with 58 yards rushing and 75 receiving for Lake City.

“I knew that they battled and played with a lot of heart,” Scoma said. “They’ve played a lot of close games this year, and they’re not an 0-4 team. We’ve got a great deal of respect for them. They came and beat us last year. They’re a hard team to prepare for because you really don’t know what you’re going to get. We run the Wing-T, and you know you’re going to get something different.”

Lake City (0-4) hosts Eisenhower of Yakima, Wash., next Friday. The Timberwolves beat Eisenhower 14-0 last year in Yakima.

“We’re going to do some looking in the mirror this weekend,” Hout said. “Some things have to change. They’re going to change.”

Gig Harbor    0    6    0    10    —    16

Lake City    0    6    0    0    —    6

Third quarter

LC — Paxton Grant 4 pass from Britton Johnston (kick failed), 1:22

GH — Kingston Chambers 11 pass from Salvador Isaiah Nuuhiwa Alob (kick failed), :19

Fourth quarter

GH — FG Caleb Kalafatich 30, 11:05

GH — Troy Arnold 68 run (Kalafatich kick), 6:58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — GH, Balsamo 3-4, Arnold 10-104, West 10-67, Nuuhiwa Alob 3-3, Carey 4-46, Schwab 4-50. LC, Van Leuven 18-58, Tony 1-10, Johnston 10-42, Fledderman 1-2.

PASSING —  GH, Nuuhiwa Alob, 1-4-1-11. LC, Johnston, 9-17-1-106.

RECEIVING — GH, Chambers 1-11. LC, Beamesderfer 1-4, Hill 1-6, Leveque 4-75, Van Leuven 2-35, Grant 1-4.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lake City senior defensive back Jacob Hill intercepts a Gig Harbor pass during the first half of Friday's game at Van Troxel Field.