Sandpoint's 'Dirty 30' handles Vikings

COEUR d'ALENE - It was Coeur d'Alene's homecoming, but it was the Sandpoint Bulldogs chanting "Dirty 30!, Dirty 30!" as they celebrated on the field at Viking Stadium on Friday night.

Left-handed senior Jake Semones passed for 281 yards and three touchdowns to lead the 4A Bulldogs to a suprisingly one-sided 27-7 victory over the 5A Vikings in nonleague play.

"We have 30 guys (on the varsity); that's all we've got up in Sandpoint," said Semones, who completed 16 of 25 passes with one interception -  his first of the season. "We rely on each other; there's 30 of us. It's us against everyone else. It's not a 60-man team; guys gotta go both ways. Everybody's got to play their heart out."

Coeur d'Alene (1-2) came in off a strong victory at Moses Lake last week, but struggled to move the ball against Sandpoint (3-1). The Vikings punted on five of their first eight possessions, and their only touchdown came after the Bulldogs snapped the ball over the punter's head and the Vikings took over at the Sandpoint 6.

"Very disappointed," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said. "We're going to take that as a coaching staff. We didn't have the guys ready. It's my job to get them ready and we weren't ready."

"They just outplayed us from start to finish in every aspect of the game. They were better than us tonight."

Sandpoint led 14-0 at the half. Semones hooked up with Mike Hubbard on an out-and-up down the left sideline for a 42-yard touchdown pass with 8 minutes left in the first half.

On the next possession Shawn Visintin out-jumped the Viking defender and hauled in a 33-yard pass to the Coeur d'Alene 12. On the next play Ricky Lang caught a short pass out of the backfield and appeared to fumble the ball away at the Viking 5, but the officials ruled him down before the fumble and the Bulldogs kept the ball. Two plays later, Ben Fisher plunged into the end zone from 2 yards out.

Midway through the third quarter, the Vikings got on the board after the Bulldogs' errant punt snap, and Justin Goodwin scored from 2 yards out to cut it to 14-7.

Coeur d'Alene got the ball back after a punt, but Goodwin fumbled on the next play, and Sandpoint's Cory Neer recovered at the Viking 19.

On the next play Semones threw into the end zone, and Brandon Lawrence reached around the Coeur d'Alene defender and hauled in the pass for a touchdown and a 20-7 lead with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

The 5-foot-9 Fisher leaped up to snare a 21-yard TD pass from Semones early in the fourth quarter.

It was Sandpoint's first win over Coeur d'Alene since 2004.

"They're a good team, but we play our heart out every game; that's all you can do," said Semones, who completed passes to eight different Bulldogs. "We have a chance against anybody; we're not going to go into a game thinking we can lose. … We realized (after losing 30-26 at Lake City in the season opener), 'Wow, we can play against anyone.' So why not try? We don't come out scared against anyone; we just play our heart out."

Sandpoint totaled 310 yards, Coeur d'Alene 181. J.J. Turbin, the Vikings' lefty rollout quarterback, completed 12 of 26 for 110 yards.

After wins over Colville and Middleton, the Bulldogs came into the Coeur d'Alene game with some pretty good confidence.

"From wire to wire, I was real pleased how we played," said Sandpoint coach Mike Mitchell, whose team has won three straight since the Lake City loss. "The whole concept here was to play a few people that weren't 5As, so we feel like we can win, and I like what I saw tonight. I think our kids are starting to think they can play with anybody."

Next Friday, Sandpoint plays host to Post Falls, and Coeur d'Alene is home vs. Centennial.

Sandpoint     0  14  6  7 - 27

Coeur d'Alene     0   0   7   0— 7

Spt - Mike Hubbard 42 pass from Jake Semones (Adam Crossingham kick)

Spt - Ben Fisher 2 run (Crossingham kick)

Cd'A - Justin Goodwin 2 run (Connor Williams kick)

Spt - Brandon Lawrence 19 pass from Semones (kick blocked)

Spt - Fisher 21 pass from Semones (Crossingham kick)

    INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Spt, Hecker 5-18, Fisher 17-43, Lang 1-0, Semones 8-(minus 5), Knaggs 1-1. Cd'A, Goodwin 12-34, Turbin 11-37.

PASSING - Spt, Semones 16-25-1-281. Cd'A, Turbin 12-26-0-110, Dunton 0-1-1-0.

RECEIVING - Spt, Ringhand 1-7, Hubbard 4-106, Hammack 1-11, Lang 2-16, Lawrence 3-27, Visintin 2-68, Fisher 2-29, Hecker 1-9. Cd'A, Dunton 3-17, Seaman 5-61, Harlow 3-26, Mendoza 1-6.