What if ... indeed! ... Lake City overcomes adversity, beats Lakeland for first time since 2021

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

COEUR d’ALENE — A pick-6. 

An 86-yard kickoff return which resulted in nothing. 

Injuries. 

Starting a backup quarterback. 

In the past, any or all of these adversities would have spelled doom for the Lake City Timberwolves. 

But on Friday night, the T-Wolves shrugged all of that off and found a way to win late. 

Backup quarterback Knox Keogh threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Landon Leveque to give Lake City the lead with 6:01 remaining, and the T-Wolf defense made the necessary stops to secure a 28-24 victory over the Lakeland Hawks on Friday night at Van Troxel Field. 

“This is my first time beating Lakeland at the varsity level, and it feels great,” said Lake City (1-1) senior Brayden Van Leuven, who rushed for 195 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries. “I can’t thank my O-line enough; without them, I’m nothing.” 

"The motto was, ‘What if?’” Lake City coach Byron Hout said. “What if this guy goes down ... all these questions of doubt, we changed to belief.” 

Lake City’s No. 1 holder broke his finger in pregame when he got kicked by the kicker. A starting linebacker broke his hand on the second play of the game. A nose guard missed the game with illness. An offensive lineman and safety each went down with injuries during the game. 

“They didn’t flinch,” Hout said of his team. “And in the past, we have. In the past, one thing kinda snowballs and you can’t get out of it. This year, guys aren’t flinching, and they’re believing.” 

Lakeland (0-2) took a 21-14 lead early in the third quarter on a 45-yard interception return by junior Trent Boardman.  

Lake City responded with an 80-yard TD march, capped by Van Leuven’s 2-yard run. 

Lakeland came back with a 13-play drive capped by Parker Sterling’s 32-yard line drive field goal for a 24-21 lead with 8:41 left. 

Lakeland then booted the kickoff out of bounds at the Lake City 45. Five running plays took the ball to the Lakeland 33, where Keogh, a junior, connected with Leveque, a junior, down the right sideline for the go-ahead score. 

With starting QB Britton Johnston sideline with a lower right leg injury suffered last week at Boise, Keogh, normally a wide receiver, completed 11 of 14 passes for 122 yards. 

"What a competitor,” Hout said of Keogh. “I just looked him in the eye and knew he was not going to let us lose that game. He’s still learning, but he made plays when he needed them.”  

A personal foul wiped out a big gainer into Lake City territory by Lakeland, which eventually punted. The Hawks got the ball back on its 15 with 2:24 left, but the T-Wolves stopped Lakeland on downs at the 32. 

Lake City then kneeled it out. 

"I just think we shot ourselves in the foot the last 6 minutes of the game,” Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. “Had a catastrophic penalty there (in the fourth quarter) ... usually against Lake City, we’ve been able to close out those fourth quarters. Disappointed. Our effort was excellent, but our physicality was not.” 

Griffin Tamagni ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries for Lakeland, which had beaten Lake City each of the last four years. He also caught five passes for 36 yards. 

Leveque finished with six receptions for 95 yards. 

“In the Lake City program, in my time here, we have had a lot of adversity,” Van Leuven said. “I haven’t had a winning record at the varsity level yet. This year is about us. We know bad things are going to happen, we just have to respond, and not let things take us down.”  

Next Friday, Lakeland plays host to Weiser, and Lake City is home against Central Valley.

Lakeland     7    7    7    3    —    24 

Lake City    7    7    7    7    —    28 

First quarter 

LC — Brayden Van Leuven 8 run (Dayne Powers kick), 3:06 

LL — Griffin Tamagni 14 run (Parker Sterling kick), 1:23 

Second quarter 

LC — Van Leuven 1 run (Powers kick), 5:49 

LL — Tamagni 14 run (Sterling kick), 1:35 

Third quarter  

LL — Trent Boardman 45 interception return (Sterling kick), 9:57 

LC — Van Leuven 2 run (Powers kick), 4:09 

Fourth quarter 

LL — FG Sterling 32, 8:41 

LC — Landon Leveque 33 pass from Knox Keogh (Powers kick), 6:01 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS  

RUSHING — LL, Tamagni 21-135, Bligh 4-28, Young 1-8, Clark 1-1, Boardman 1-(minus 4). LC, Van Leuven 33-195, Keogh 9-6. 

PASSING — LL, Bligh 14-24-0-106. LC, Keogh 11-14-1-122. 

RECEIVING — LL, Tamagni 5-36, Fuhriman 3-30, Burke 3-9, Rivadeneira 1-8, Bevacqua 1-7, Clark 1-6. LC, Leveque 6-95, Tony 2-20, Salsbury 1-3, Van Leuven 1-3, Grant 1-1. 

    MARK NELKE/Press Lakeland senior Griffin Tamagni breaks loose for a 14-yard touchdown run in the first half against Lake City on Friday night at Lake City.