Bulldogs looking to top Knights, advance to state title game
SANDPOINT — Yogi Berra once famously said, as only he could, “it’s like deja vu all over again.”
The Sandpoint football team will be able to relate to that when they host the No. 1 ranked Hillcrest Knights today in the semi-final of the 4A state football tournament. For the fourth time this season, the No. 3 Bulldogs will face a team that runs the increasingly popular double-wing offense. They bottled up Middleton twice and Colville once, each of which runs the throwback offense — essentially a more contemporary version of the old single wing.
But the Knights aren’t Middleton or Colville, they’re the reigning state champs. They’re also 18-2 under second year coach Darin Owens, a 10 year guru of the offense who tours the country teaching it at coaching clinics. They average 385 yards rushing a game, and have attempted only 15 passes all season, completing four of them.
Last week, senior running backs Devin Droghei and Jordan Speirs carried the ball an astonishing 56 times out of the 58 offensive plays in a 29-26 win over Pocatello, while the Knights never threw the ball once. Speirs has rushed for 1,437 yards and 24 touchdowns this year, and Droghei 1,453 and 15 touchdowns, and both were the primary rushers on last year’s state championship team. In other words, the Bulldogs won’t have to guess what’s going to happen, but they will have to stop it.
“They think they can pound it down our throat,” said Sandpoint coach Mike Mitchell of Hillcrest. “They try to get four or five people in front of the play, and they have two backs that are outstanding.”
Saddled with the chore of stopping the Knights’ ground attack is a Sandpoint defense that is arguably playing as well as any in the state. The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 183-26 during their five game win streak, including a defensive gem last week in a 30-0 pasting of Middleton, holding the Vikings to a measly 32 total yards of offense.
“We don’t have a star on defense, just a bunch of guys playing together and doing their job,” said Mitchell, while giving credit to defensive coordinator Casey McLaughlin’s schemes. “Last week the hitting was as good as it’s been. One guy would stack him (the runner) up and four more were one the way.”
The Bulldogs offense is decidedly more balanced than Hillcrest’s, but can also ground and pound it with the best of them. Behind the three-pronged zone rushing rushing attack of Ben Fisher, Cody Hecker and Anthony Gold, the Bulldogs have posted more than 300 yards rushing in the past four games. Last week Fisher took some direct snaps from center, as the Bulldogs unveiled their version of the wildcat offense, with Fisher throwing a 10 yard touchdown pass.
Fullback Luther Morgan might also see some carries as the conditions could hinder the passing game.
When the Bulldogs have thrown, they’ve had great success, as quarterback Daniel Charvoz has thrown 13 touchdowns against seven interceptions on the season. Senior Mike Hubbard is the primary target, hauling in 39 catches for 652 yards and seven touchdowns on the year.
Hillcrest is averaging 40 points a game this season, while allowing an average of 17. Sandpoint is averaging 30 points per game, while allowing just nine.
Light snowfall on Friday will make an already muddy track even worse, as the sod between the 35 yard lines is more mud than grass.
The winner of today’s game will face No. 2 Blackfoot, a 47-21 winner over Twin Falls in the other 4A semi, in the state championship next week.