Lakeland breaks away late to capture 5A IEL title

RATHDRUM — There was no stopping senior running back Griffin Tamagni as he carried the Lakeland Hawks to a 30-22 win over Sandpoint and the 5A Inland Empire League title on Friday night at Corbit Field.

Tamagni rushed for 234 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries, including a 30-yard score to put the game in the Hawks' control with 3:04 remaining. His quarterback, sophomore Taytum Bligh, added Lakeland's other two touchdowns on the ground. 

"He's one of the better backs in the state," Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. "So we have high expectations for him and he delivered." 

Lakeland (5-4, 2-0 5A IEL), entered the night ranked fifth by MaxPreps, which is used to seed the state playoffs. The Hawks received the league's automatic bid. Sandpoint (5-4, 0-2) was ranked sixth, and also qualified for the playoffs. Lewiston (4-5, 1-1) entered the day ranked fourth, and is also expected to get in.

Lakeland stifled Sandpoint's passing offense late in the game, forcing two turnovers on downs in the second half. The Hawks forced two fumbles in the game and gave two away in the nailbiter contest.

"We had a lot of injuries coming in, had another one go down on the offensive line," Schroeder said. "So it just showed a lot of resilience and persistence on our players to come back and finish with a win."

Sandpoint's senior quarterback Logan Iverson passed for 183 yards, including a touchdown to Knox Williams in the fourth quarter. Williams' touchdown gave Sandpoint its only lead of the game at 22-17, but Lakeland stormed back with a score from Tamagni with 2 minutes left. 

Senior running back Jensen Sheetz added 112 yards and two touchdowns for the Bulldogs, but fumbled twice. Senior wide receiver Brock Yarbrough caught seven passes for 81 yards.

The top four teams receive a first-round bye in the playoffs, based on MaxPreps rankings.

Lakeland, which won or shared the league title for the third straight year, will learn its playoff path this weekend.

"We've got to get healed up a little bit, move some pieces around this week," Schroeder said. "But I feel good that we are trending in the right direction."

Sandpoint    7    7    0    8    —    22 

Lakeland    7    7    0    16    —    30 

First quarter

LL — Griffin Tamagni 43 run (Parker Sterling kick), 7:31.

SPT — Jensen Sheetz 3 run (Brock Yarbrough kick), 0:36.

Second quarter

LL — Taytum Bligh 2 run (Sterling kick), 10:42.

SPT — Sheetz 43 run (Yarbrough kick), 2:01.

Fourth quarter

LL — FG, Sterling, 37, 10:01.

SPT — Knox Williams 24 pass from Logan Iverson (Yarbrough pass from Iverson), 6:17.

LL —Tamagni 30 run (run failed), 3:04.

LL — Bligh 3 run (Sterling kick), 1:15.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — SPT, Sheetz 15-115, Iverson 7-10, Yarbrough 2-15. LL, Tamagni 31-234, Bligh 14-48. 

PASSING — SPT, Iverson 15-36-0-183. LL, Bligh, 3-9-0-53.

RECEIVING — SPT, Yarbrough 7-81, Williams 4-45-1, Tomlinson 2-30, Sheetz 2-19, Cross 1-2, Martin 1-6. LL, Queen 1-30, Young 1-23, Clark 1-1.