SANDPOINT — For the first five minutes of the Sandpoint Bulldogs’ game against the Coeur d’Alene Vikings, it looked as if the 5A host school had the stuff to pull off the upset on the 6A powerhouse. 

Senior running back Jensen Sheetz was finding green grass, and the Vikings gifted the Bulldogs 30 yards on two pass inference penalties. Then came a mistake.  

Sandpoint was called for a hold that tanked their first drive and gave Coeur d’Alene the ball and the momentum. In what felt like the blink of an eye, the Vikings rushed out to a 20-0 lead after just 13 minutes of action, a margin that proved too much for Sandpoint to overcome, as they fell 44-14 on Friday. 

“The challenge was to match the intensity that Coeur d’Alene plays with, and I don’t feel like we did that in the first half, and they came out and jumped us,” Sandpoint’s head coach Ryan Knowles said. “That’s always a hard thing, especially against a team like that. They execute fast, we knew it, and we made too many mistakes to stay in the game early.” 

Coeur d’Alene scored first on a 43-yard connection from quarterback Tannar Stern to Jaxson Schillinger. They quickly got on the board again after a pass by Sandpoint quarterback Logan Iverson was deflected into the hands of Maddox Lundquist, who took the interception 30 yards to the house. 

Sandpoint struggled on offense for most of the day as Coeur d’Alene dialed up the pressure on Iverson. One of the lone bright spots offensively for the Bulldogs was junior running back Trenton Cross, who snapped the shutout with an 80-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to reignite the fans at War Memorial Field. Cross finished the day with 134 yards and a touchdown. 

“Trenton is a great football player. He’s stuck behind an All-State running back, and he could very well be a starter, and he showed that tonight,” Knowles said. “He’s got, not even a bright future, but a bright right now.” 

Coeur d’Alene responded to Cross’ 80-yard scoot with a monster play of their own, an 80-yard pitch and catch from Stern to Lundquist to send the game to halftime at 28-7. 

Out of the halftime break, Sandpoint’s defense stepped up to the challenge and fought to contain Coeur d’Alene’s powerful offense. Cornerback Devin McEananey had a nice day tackling on the outside, and Damian Porter was stout in the middle of the defense all night. 

“I felt like it was a good level of physicality. There was a lot of hitting going on tonight,” Knowles said. “It’s a great time of year to get a nice physical game under our belt and move forward.” 

Sandpoint’s second score came late after Carson Resso recovered a muffed punt to give the Bulldogs fantastic field position. From there, the Bulldogs leaned on their star Brock Yarbrough to march them down the field and cap off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown rush. 

However, the late rally, which cut the lead to 31-14, wasn’t enough, and Coeur d’Alene continued to break plays for large gains. 

“The heart’s in there, the challenge is: Are we going to do that from the start? Are we gonna impose our will upon people from the start?” Knowles said. “There’s no one better to test that against than Coeur d’Alene... I think this is the perfect time to play them, get our mind focused, and there’s a lot of lessons we’re going to take.” 

Of those lessons, Knowles first pointed to alignment and assignment, having his players in the right position, so they don’t beat themselves. The Sandpoint head coach said playing against Coeur d’Alene, the No. 2 team in the State Media Poll, they had to play a perfect game to stay in it. 

“If you’re not aligned and assigned correctly, you don’t have a chance,” Knowles said. “We had our fair share of missing assignments, and we’ll clean it up.” 

With the loss, Sandpoint fell to 4-1 on the season and will look to rebound on the road against Lake City High next Friday at 7 p.m. 

Sandpoint 0 7 7 0 14 

Coeur d'Alene 13 15 9 7 44 

1st quarter 

CDA — Jaxson Schillinger 46-yard pass from Tannar Stern (conversion unsuccessful), 6:09. 

CDA — Maddox Lindquist 30-yard interception return (PAT good), 4:00. 

2nd quarter 

CDA — Stern 4-yard rush (PAT good), 10:55. 

SPT — Trenton Cross 80-yard rush (PAT good), 10:01. 

CDA — Lindquist 80-yard pass from Stern (conversion successful), 9:49. 

3rd quarter 

CDA — 30-yard field goal, 8:51. 

SPT — Brock Yarbrough 1-yard rush (PAT good), 4:00. 

CDA — Stern 43-yard rush (PAT blocked), 1:32. 

4th quarter 

CDA — Bear Coleman 14-yard rush (PAT good), 4:44.