Season on the line tonight for Bulldogs

SANDPOINT — One team is 6-2, and has outscored its opponents 255 to 134 this year. The other is 3-5, and has been outscored 276-178 on the season. On paper, it looks like a mismatch, but the hundred yard stretch of field at Barlow Stadium is not made of paper.

Beware judging a book by its cover, especially when an entire season comes down to one game, like tonight when the Moscow Bears (6-2, 1-0 4A IEL) cross the Long Bridge to face the Bulldogs (3-5, 1-0 4A IEL) for the 4A North title.

The winner will host a state playoff game next week, while the loser will be handing in equipment. The sports cliché “throw the records out the window” will apply tonight, just like it did last season, when the Bulldogs went down to Moscow and beat an 8-1 Bears team 33-0.

The Bulldogs faced four upper echelon 5A teams this season, while the Bears opted to play only one, along with three games against 3A schools, rendering the records essentially meaningless.

“This is the one time of year it pays off to play the 5A’s,” said Sandpoint head coach Mike Mitchell of the valuable seasoning. “When we get to conference, we’re a pretty physical team.”

The Bears feature a good quarterback and running back, and a wide-open spread option attack, run out of the no-huddle, which Mitchell calls very similar to what the Oregon Ducks run.

To stop the up-tempo Bears’ offense, all 11 defenders must stay disciplined and carry out their assignments.

Offensively, the Bulldogs threw the ball 22 times last week against Lake City, and Mitchell felt quarterback Brandon Hawkins had his best game of the season. The passing should help spread things out for running backs Eric Nikssarian and Anthony Gold, the latter returning to limited action for the first time in three weeks after a neck injury.

“With both of those guys, we’ll be better, and we need another performance like last week from Hawkins. When you spread it out, it’s a whole different game for the running backs,” said Mitchell of his two backs, noting Luther Morgan is equally important in the backfield, especially on a potentially muddy field. “We need Luther 100 percent for this game. When he’s on, he blocks extremely well.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Barlow Stadium.