RATHDRUM — With the Sandpoint Bulldogs trailing the rival Lakeland Hawks by 1 point late in the fourth quarter, senior quarterback Logan Iverson found fellow senior Brock Yarbrough for a first down. 

It looked like the Bulldogs were back to their cardiac ways and were about to execute a two-minute drill to steal the regular season finale, as they had done several times earlier in the year. Then, Iverson took a sack, and then the Bulldogs were called for a false start to pin them far behind the sticks. 

An incomplete pass on 4th-and-15 handed Lakeland the ball at the Bulldogs' 25-yard-line, which they used to put the Inland Empire League game on ice with a touchdown. Sandpoint fell 30-22 on Friday night at Lakeland High.

"Felt like we didn't make the plays we needed to make on either side of the ball coming down the stretch to take care of business," Sandpoint head coach Ryan Knowles said.  

Lakeland's power running offense gave Sandpoint's defense fits from the jump as the Hawks cashed in on their first drive thanks to a 43-yard run from senior running back Griffin Tamagni. The Hawks' senior running back combined with sophomore quarterback Taytum Bligh for a two-headed attack. 

Tamagni finished the day with 234 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries against the Bulldogs, while his quarterback added two touchdowns and 48 rushing yards. 

"That's what they do," Knowles said of Lakeland's rushing attack. "They know how to attack schemes, and you've got to be constantly adjusting, and I thought we did a decent job adjusting to them. But by the end, in critical situations we couldn't make a play, we couldn't get the guy down." 

Sandpoint's offense kept pace with Lakeland in the first half with two touchdowns from senior running back Jensen Sheetz, including a 43-yard score. The two teams were tied at 14-14 at the halftime break. 

While Sheetz totaled 118 yards and two scores, the senior back fumbled twice, which were both recovered by Lakeland. Yarbrough stripped Bligh to keep the Hawks from capitalizing on the first fumble, but the Hawks scored a field goal following the second. 

"It's very uncharacteristic to have two fumbles in a game by us," Knowles said. "It's been a long time since we've done that, so it's just again things that winning football teams don't do." 

Following the second fumble, junior running back Trenton Cross got the majority of snaps at running back, and Sandpoint leaned on Iverson's arm. That paid off late in the fourth quarter as Iverson capitalized on two 15-yard penalties from Lakeland and found senior receiver Knox Williams in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown connection.  

Iverson then found Yarbrough on the 2-point conversion to give Sandpoint their first lead of the game, 22-17, with six minutes to play. Iverson finished the day throwing for 183 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, both of which came on Hail Marys. 

However, Lakeland responded with a long scoring drive capped off by a 30-yard touchdown by Tamagni, which set up Sandpoint's doomed two-minute drive. 

"I'd like us to start avoiding things that losing teams do. I'd like to not turn the ball over. We need to tackle better, get lined up and not jump offsides," Knowles said of what his team can take from the two-game skid. "I'd like to see us do that and settle down." 

With the loss, Sandpoint fell to 5-4 (0-2), and Lakeland, 5-4 (2-0), claimed the Inland Empire League title. The Bulldogs will head to the state playoffs next week, with their opponent and location being determined by MaxPreps rankings. 

"We should be hosting a playoff game this weekend, which should be a great opportunity for our team to play again in this town," Knowles said. "Like always, we're going to get back to work on Monday and do everything we can to put the boys in the right position and line up and play good football."

Lakeland 7 7 0 16 — 30

Sandpoint 7 7 0 8 — 22

1st quarter

LL — Griffin Tamagni 43-yard rush (PAT good), 7:31.

SPT — Jensen Sheetz 3-yard rush (PAT good), 0:36.

2nd quarter

LL — Taytum Bligh 2-yard rush (PAT good), 10:42.

SPT — Sheetz 43-yard rush (PAT good), 2:01.

3rd quarter 

None.

4th quarter

LL — 37-yard field goal, 10:01.

SPT — Knox Williams 24-yard pass from Logan Iverson (conversion successful), 6:17.

LL —Tamagni 30-yard rush (conversion unsuccessful), 3:04.

LL — Bligh 3-yard rush (PAT good), 1:15.

Individual statistics

Passing — LL: Taytum Bligh, 3-9 53 yards; SPT: Logan Iverson 15-36 183 yards 1 TD.

Rushing — LL: Griffin Tamagni 31-234 2 TDs, Taytum Bligh 14-48 2 TDs; SPT: Jensen Sheetz 15-115 1 TD, Iverson 7-10, Brock Yarbrough 2-15. 

Receiving — LL: Gray Queen 1-30, Madden Young 1-23, Hunter Clark 1-1. SPT: Yarbrough 7-81, Knox Williams 4-45-1, Caleb Tomlinson 2-30, Sheetz 2-19, Trenton Cross 1-2, Gage Martin 1-6.