Lake City runs wild for first win ... Timberwolves rush for 287 yards in 49-0 win

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Lake City coach Byron Hout said after last week’s 16-6 loss to Gig Harbor (Wash.), that some things were going to change and had to change moving forward.

So the Timberwolves took a step in the right direction.

A large step.

Then another.

And the Timberwolves put it together piece by piece.

Junior running back Brayden Van Leuven ran for 95 yards and two touchdowns for the Timberwolves, who rolled past the Eisenhower Cadets of Yakima, Wash., 49-0 in a nonleague football game at Van Troxel Field on Friday.

“I think our mindset, we came out here with confidence, clarity and conviction,” Hout said. “We just had the right mindset in this game. Things went our way early, which helped us hold the momentum the entire time.”

Lake City had nine players run the ball for 287 yards in the game.

“Paxton (Grant) came in and ran the ball really well at times,” Hout said. “Cade Fledderman came in the second half and we had a couple of sophomores come in and finish the job for us tonight. I thought Britton (Johnston, quarterback) might have played his best game of the season. Our offensive line played their best game I’ve seen them play yet. Josh Watson — a basketball kid that comes out late — makes a play and really gets things going.”

Van Leuven opened the scoring on a 40 yard run three minutes into the game. Senior Dayton Fletcher scored on a 3-yard run late in the first to give Lake City a 14-0 after the first quarter.

Lake City scored 28 points in the second quarter to build a 42-0 lead, keyed by touchdown runs by Grant, Van Leuven and Chase Young.

“We gave them a lot of short fields tonight,” first-year Eisenhower coach Adam Wright said. “We gave them at least three or four scores where they had short fields and we were missing our fundamentals and need to learn from that.”

Lake City (1-4) travels to Sandpoint next Friday.

The Timberwolves limited Eisenhower to 142 yards of total offense, 77 of those rushing.

“We can’t look back,” Hout said. “We’re looking forward and using this as momentum to get into the second part of the season. It doesn’t get any easier from here.”

Eisenhower is 0-4.

Johnston, a junior, threw for 100 yards for Lake City and ran for 31 yards.

“They’re athletic and big up front,” Wright said. “We’re a very young team and we’ve got a lot of growing to do. I feel like we had a lot of missed steps and shot ourselves in the foot many times. And that’s one of our major battles that we had to overcome, and couldn’t find a way.”

Eisenhower    0    0    0    0    —    0

Lake City    14    28    0    7    —    49

First quarter

LC — Brayden Van Leuven 40 run (Caden Oxenrider kick), 9:00

LC — Dayton Fletcher 3 run (Oxenrider kick), 1:50

Second quarter

LC — Caden Tony 13 pass from Britton Johnston (Oxenrider kick), 11:02

LC — Paxton Grant 6 run (Oxenrider kick), 8:17

LC — Van Leuven 10 run (Hadley Brey kick), 4:32

LC — Chase Young 7 run (Brey kick), :48

Fourth quarter

LC — Brennan Couch 1 run (Brey kick), 2:53

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Eis, A. Castillo 8-18, Dobbie 3-12, Hopkins 6-33, R. Castillo 7-7, Arciga 4-7. LC, Van Leuven 12-95, Fletcher 4-24, Johnston 5-31, Young 3-27, Grant 2-11, Fledderman  5-35, Capaul 3-9, Couch 3-12, Hill 5-43.

PASSING — Eis, Arciga, 7-18-1-62. LC, Johnston, 4-7-0-100.

RECEIVING — Eis, Brown 1-2, R. Castillo 1-9, Hopkins 3-39, Graham 1-15, A. Castillo 1-3. LC, Tony 1-13, Leveque 2-59, Fletcher 1-28.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lake City junior wide receiver Caden Tony pulls in a reception and runs 13 yards for a touchdown in the Timberwolves' 49-0 win over Eisenhower of Yakima, Wash., on Friday at Van Troxel Field.