Priest River 32, Timberlake 0 

PRIEST RIVER — Last week in their 31-20 loss against Bonners Ferry, Priest River Lamanna head coach Alex Zepeda said his team didn’t play their brand of football. 

This week, his team bounced back with a shutout of the 4A Timberlake Tigers, who are fresh off scoring 61 points in their opener, to improve to 1-1 on the season.

“We didn't turn the ball over once, and we looked like ourselves,” Zepeda said of his team. “We played Spartan football this week. That's for sure.” 

The Spartans' defense smothered the Tigers, forcing three turnovers and sacking Timberlake's quarterback five times. Senior Kane Berns caught an interception, and junior Madden Redinger brought in two interceptions, including a pick-six in the fourth quarter to put the game on ice. 

Dayton Wheeler and Haiden Leach dominated up front with Wheeler racking up three sacks and Leach adding the other two. Zepeda said the team’s leader in the trenches, Anden Griesemer, didn’t stuff the stat sheet, but looked terrific in the Spartans’ home opener. 

Senior Nate Fegert totaled a team-high 12 tackles, followed by senior Colton Kuprienko, who added nine tackles. While the Spartans' head coach said the team will need to clean up their penalties, he commended them for bouncing back. 

“They played really good, and they came out ready to hit. It was a great game to watch them,” Zepeda said. “It was a good bounce-back game, and like I told them at the end of the game, ‘Hey, you guys look like you remember who you are.’” 

Another player who returned to form was Priest River quarterback Jacob Best, who threw for 129 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions against Timberlake. Zepeda said Best was calm in the pocket and executing like he’s seen him do in practice all summer. 

“I can just tell when he showed up today, he was ready to play,” Zepeda said of his quarterback. “I'm super proud of him.” 

A vast majority of Best’s passing yards came on connections to junior wideout Layton Goins, who totaled 101 yards on six catches and a touchdown. Senior Kane Berns caught one pass for 14 yards and a touchdown. 

The Spartans’ running game also bounced back with Kuprienko totaling 81 yards on the ground and one touchdown. 

“This was a team effort, and if we play like that every week, I don't feel like there's anybody we couldn't beat,” Zepeda said. 

Priest River improved to 1-1 on the year and gets a week off to prepare for their next game on Sept. 18, when they play host to Logos in their first league game. 

Timberlake 0 0 0 0 0 

Priest River 8 8 8 8 32 

Bonners Ferry 56, St. Maries 0 

BONNERS FERRY — The Bonners Ferry High Badgers’ defense did what they do best on Friday, suffocating their opponents to the tune of a 56-0 win over St. Maries at Mendenhall Stadium. 

The Badgers were led by senior Jake Solt, who totaled nine tackles in the win over the Lumberjacks. Juniors Ben Hollabaugh, Tyson Dickson and Caden Bates added four more tackles each. Bonners Ferry head coach Danny Swift said his team has continued to improve their execution and playing complementary football. 

“This week was just a phenomenal group effort,” Swift said. “It was a big game for the defense. Just played really well, really consistent. Again, it all really starts with our guys up front.” 

The boys up front, juniors Grady Atkins, Zachariah Varelman, Kale Mielke and Bates, racked up three sacks as a group against St. Maries. Bonners Ferry totaled six tackles for loss and forced several fumbles as well to round out their defense’s dominant day. 

While the defense has stayed stellar, Swift said all three phases of his team were excellent in the blowout win. Junior Colson Baisden added a punt return touchdown on special teams, while contributing on the offensive end as well. 

Senior quarterback Alex Stolley had another solid performance through the air, going 10 of 14 passing for two touchdowns. On the ground, Bonners Ferry rode a stellar offensive line performance to the tune of 241 total rushing yards. 

Swift said seniors Austin McLaughlin, Logan DesMarias and Gabe Warren alongside Bates and Mielke helped pave the golden path for the Badgers’ run game. 

“Very much a team effort on the ground, moving the ball,” Swift said. 

Next up for the 3-0 4A Badgers is a road trip to Sandpoint for a game against the 3-0 5A Bulldogs at War Memorial Field on Sept. 11.  

“Coach Knowles is as good as they come, and he's got his team playing great football,” Swift said of Sandpoint. "We're gonna try to play the best we can play and see what happens.”