Trojans stumble, fall to Lewiston

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

POST FALLS — It was going exactly how Post Falls wanted it to go.

And then it wasn’t.

Until it was again.

Then it wasn’t again.

Junior Jackson Harvey caught a deflection off a Lewiston receiver's hands and returned it 14 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-22 with 9:35 remaining, but the Trojans were unable to move the ball in four late possessions, falling to the Lewiston Bengals 35-22 in Post Falls' season opener at Trojan Stadium on Friday.

Lewiston senior DJ Wilkerson scored on a 19-yard touchdown run with 2:35 remaining to boost the Bengals' lead to 35-22.

“I thought that first quarter and a half, we were playing good football,” Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. “I thought we were moving the ball offensively, the defense was coming up with some big stops. Then we let that thing slip away right before half and gave them one too many possessions.”

Lewiston forced a three-and-out on three of the Trojans’ final four possessions.

“Second half, we just couldn’t put something together offensively,” Bennett said. “Defensively, we came up with a lot of stops. We just didn’t execute well offensively. We had a chance, we certainly did. For the first game, we did a lot of good things and we’re going to get better.”

Post Falls alternated quarterbacks Griffin Carpenter and Philip Schmitt through the first half, with Carpenter, a junior, getting the first series, and Schmitt, a senior, following on the second.

Schmitt was injured late in the second quarter and did not return.

“We came in and were going to alternate series and evaluate it at halftime,” Bennett said. “I thought Phillip did some nice things. He was running around, looked fast and threw a couple of nice balls. We’ve got confidence in both quarterbacks, but we’ll see how he is. Hopefully he just got dinged a little bit and will be back next week.”

Schmitt was 5 of 6 for 66 yards passing and ran for another 28 yards.

Post Falls took a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter on a 55-yard halfback pass from Marshall Tomlinson to Kyson Ostlund.

Lewiston tied the game at 14-14 when Trip Ekert blocked a punt and Landon Ortiz recovered the ball in the end zone, then took its first lead of the game on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Dallas Richardson to Dawson Bernatz early in the third quarter.

“We were lucky to go into that game tied at halftime,” Lewiston coach Zane Hobart said. “Trip (Ekert) made a phenomenal play to get us tied up going into the half.”

“Our defense played well and really kept us in the game,” Bennett said. “We just didn’t come up with any points in the second half when we needed to.”

“It’s what we expected and Post Falls came to play tonight,” Hobart said. “They’re really physical up front and they did a good job with their blitz package.”

Post Falls hosts Sandpoint next Friday.

Lewiston (2-0) hosts Fruitland next Friday.

Lewiston    0    14    7    14    —    35

Post Falls    0    14    2    6    —    22

Second quarter

PF — Cody Matthews 40 pass from Philip Schmitt (Bradyn Singleton kick), 7:52

PF — Kyson Ostlund 55 pass from Marshall Tomlinson (Singleton kick), 5:50

Lew — Michael Earl fumble recovery in endzone (Braxton Nagle kick), 1:31

Lew — Landon Ortiz blocked punt recovery in end zone (Nagle kick), :18

Third quarter

Lew — Dawson Bernatz 10 pass from Dallas Richardson (Nagle kick), 8:40

PF — safety, punt snapped out of end zone, 6:23

Fourth quarter

Lew — Earl 31 pass from Richardson (Nagle kick), 11:04

PF — Jackson Harvey 14 interception return (pass failed), 9:35

Lew — DJ Wilkerson 19 run (Nagle kick), 2:35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lew, Richardson 5-(-5), Hepburn 4-9, Zumwalt 3-41, Roberts 4-12, Wilkerson 5-47, Collins 1-0. PF, Tomlinson 11-38, Carpenter 5-4, Forman 7-23, Schmitt 4-28.

PASSING — Lew, Richardson, 13-28-178. PF, Carpenter 9-22-1-34, Schmitt 5-6-1-66, Tomlinson 1-1–0-55.

RECEIVING — Lew, Hepburn 2-20, Collins 2-11, Earl 3-64, Bernatz 2-27, Wilkinson 5-90. PF, Ostlund 6-89, Smith 2-10, Matthews 3-54.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Post Falls senior wide receiver Cody Matthews breaks through the pack on his way to a 40-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter of Friday's game against Lewiston at Trojan Stadium.