Bulldogs post strong showing at football camp

Editor’s note: The Sandpoint High School football team just returned from a four-day football camp at Eastern Washington, which they attended for the first time after the Idaho Vandal Camp was canceled. Head coach Mike Mitchell shared his thoughts on how the camp went, as well as his appreciation for the community’s support.

By MIKE MITCHELL

For the Bee

SANDPOINT — We departed on June 19 for the Eastern Washington University Football camp. We took 41 young men and they really made a great showing at camp.

We started by having a 10 yard-and-in scrimmage on Sunday night called “Sunday Night Lights.” Our kids competed awesome and defeated Black Hills High School out of the Snohomish area near Seattle. In later rounds they went against defending state champion Lynden High School and we had a great game. We lost on the last play but our kids learned they can compete against anybody of any size. Lynden was one of the bigger teams any of the staff had ever seen and our kids played them nose to nose.

The camp ended with two scrimmages for everyone on the final day. Sandpoint won both of them handily. The morning scrimmage was against Lewiston and we won in fashion and the second game was against the renegade team. Renegade teams are normally composed of individuals who the university shows some interest in so this was an excellent win for the boys.

All in all, it was a great experience for our squad and the kids want to thank the community for buying so many tickes at the Lost in the 50’s event. That is the event that helps the kids who can’t afford camp and the people were great this year. We almost called the camp off because of the present economy but we stuck with it and it all paid off. 

The kids had a great experience and we came home a better football team.