Bulldogs nearly pull off stunning upset

COEUR d'ALENE - Trailing by 17 points at halftime, a young Sandpoint team put on an impressive second-half showing and nearly snatched a season-opening victory Friday night.

Trailing 23-6 the Bulldogs rallied with touchdowns on three straight possessions to take the lead. But Justin Bryant's 13-yard touchdown run with 4 minutes, 47 seconds remaining helped 5A Lake City escape with a 30-26 victory over 4A Sandpoint before an estimated 1,200 fans.

"I don't like how we played in the first half. I like how we played in the second half," Sandpoint coach Mike Mitchell said. "We're trying to reach a point where we feel we can play like that any time we go out. I really liked how our kids played. We're so young it's incredible. We have 47 juniors and sophomores out of our 63 varsity guys."

Left-handed senior Jake Semones threw two second-half touchdown passes in the second half for Sandpoint. He finished with 18 completions in 23 attempts for 231 yards.

His 6-yard scoring toss to Mike Hubbard early in the third quarter pulled the Bulldogs within 23-12. Ben Fisher scored from 2-yards out to make it 23-18. Semones, the kicker, grabbed an errant snap on the PAT and ran it in for two points.

After a Lake City fumble, Semones hooked up with Shawn Visintin on a 14-yard TD to put the Bulldogs ahead 26-23 with 8:03 remaining.

After Lake City's touchdown, Sandpoint had a chance to come back, after Hubbard's 54-yard kickoff return to the Lake City 35. Sandpoint drove to the 22 before penalties and a sack pushed the Bulldogs back to the 34. On fourth and 21, Semones rolled right and threw deep into the end zone. Hubbard had his man beat, but the throw was just out of his reach.

Lake City outgained Sandpoint 392-294.

Lake City outgained Sandpoint 178 yards to minus-1 in the first quarter in building a 10-0 lead.

Sandpoint plays host to Colville on Friday.

Sandpoint   0  6  14  6 - 26

Lake City  10  13  0  7 - 30

LC - Jared Heston 2 run (Heston kick)

LC - FG Heston 24

Spt - Cody Hecker 12 run (kick blocked)

LC - Heston 11 run (kick failed)

LC - Tanner Schalk 22 pass from Adam Fenenbock (Heston kick)

Spt - Mike Hubbard 6 pass from Jake Semones (run failed)

Spt - Ben Fisher 2 run (Semones run)

Spt - Shawn Visintin 14 pass from Semones (kick failed)

LC - Justin Bryant 13 run (Heston kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Spt, Hecker 6-28, Semones 9-(minus 17), Land 4-5, Winter 1-2, Fisher 9-45. LC, Schalk 13-79, Heston 9-48, Fenenbock 2-4, Bryant 13-108.

PASSING - Spt, Semones 18-23-0-231. LC, Fenenbock 7-12-0-146, Blank 2-3-0-7.

RECEIVING - Spt, Visintin 7-58, Fisher 3-58, Hecker 2-35, Lawrence 1-12, Hubbard 4-45. LC, Burgess 2-71, Bryant 1-35, Schalk 2-29, Hanzen 1-8, Kiefer 1-(minus 1), T. Sanders 1-5, B. Sanders 1-6.