Streaking Bulldogs blow out East Valley

SANDPOINT — They’re back.

It was a signature win three years in the making, as Sandpoint celebrated Homecoming with a 57-15 throttling of East Valley before a festive crowd on Friday night at Barlow Stadium.

Kyle Perry scored five touchdowns, three different defenders nabbed interceptions and the Bulldogs (3-2) served notice that their program is officially back into the upper echelon of the 4A ranks, winning their third consecutive game in impressive fashion.

The win was a far departure from two years ago, when head coach Satini Puailoa’s young squad was on the other end of a blowout against the Knights.

“Two years ago we played East Valley here and they could have scored 100 points against us. What you’re seeing is the transition of how we’re catching and passing people,” said Puailoa, now in his third year rebuilding the program. “There were 50-60 kids in the weight room every day. This is what it looks like when they buy in. This is not a mistake.”

The Knights (1-3) struck first, scoring on the opening drive to take an 8-0 lead, then recovered a muffed kick return by the Bulldogs before missing a field goal.

It was all Sandpoint from there, as the Bulldogs scored 57 unanswered points, dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

“It’s Homecoming, with a lot of distractions. The kids were just trying to do too many things,” said Puailoa of the slow start. “We settled down and executed.”

Perry continues to score touchdowns at an impressive clip, finishing with 151 yards on 19 carries and finding paydirt five times.

The offensive line of Billy Webber, Carlos Collado, Josh Suto, Alex Feyen and Sam Palmer continue to win the battle in the trenches, opening up some huge holes for Perry and giving Nate Loutzenhiser time to find receivers in the play action passing game.

Matthew Timothy continues to be a dangerous deep threat, hauling in a 51 yard catch from Loutzenhiser for the Bulldogs’ first score, which was quickly followed by a 37 yard scoring run by Tyler Harris. Timothy finished with two catches for 97 yards and two scores.

Perry took the opening carry of the second half for a 55 yard score, the second of his five straight touchdowns, and the rout was on.

“It means so much,” said left guard Billy Webber. “The team came together tonight. It was nice.”

Davan Norris, Caiden Oliver and Jean-Luc Albertson each grabbed an interception in the second quarter, and Logan Magro and Sam Johnson had some big sacks as the Bulldogs’ defense continues to emerge as a force, helping drive the three game win streak. The Knights could only muster 180 yards of total offense on the night, as Tyler Harris, Collado and Quinn Pearlstein were extremely disruptive.

Davan Norris spelled Loutzenhiser at quarterback in the second half and completed both of his passes for 99 yards, including a pretty 46 yard strike to Matthew Timothy for the Bulldogs’ final score.

Sandpoint now looks ahead to a matchup with 5A state power Lake City next Friday, followed by arguably the biggest game in more than 50 years at Lakeland the following week.

“We’ll get a chance to measure ourselves against another quality opponent,” said Puailoa. “We’re here to compete, and we’re here to go after the best teams in the Northwest. That’s the kind of football these kids deserve.”

SHS    8   14   21   14 — 57

EV    8    0     0    7 — 15

EV — Alex Bowdish 8 run (Colin Spendlove pass from Bowdish)

Spt — Matthew Timothy 51 catch from Nate Loutzenhiser (Wyatt McCormick pass from Loutzenhiser)

Spt — Tyler Harris 37 run (Mike Plaster kick)

Spt — Kyle Perry 4 run (Plaster kick)

Spt — Perry 55 run (Plaster kick)

Spt — Perry 1 run (Plaster kick)

Spt — Perry 15 run (Plaster kick)

Spt — Perry 2 run (Plaster kick)

Spt — Matthew Timothy 46 catch from Davan Norris (Plaster kick)

EV — Cody Sherwood 6 run (Alex Bowdish kick)

    SHS        EV

First Downs                14        12

Rushes - yds    

42-303        40-98

Passing yds                185        82

QB                    4-7-0        11-27-3

Punts-Ave                2-30        5-35.6

Fumbles - Lost    

4-2        1-0

Penalties                9-92        3-30

SHS Rushing: Tyler Presser 5-12, Curtis Roop 7-39, Matthew Timothy 1-(-3), Nate Loutzenhiser 1-0, Tyler Harris 4-96, Kyle Perry 19-151, Davan Norris 2-(-2), Colton Muldoon 1-12, Kaleb Merrill 2-(-2)

EV Rushing: Derek Sumpter 8-21, Andrew Allen 4-8,  Connor Rumm 12-(-3), Devin Kempe 1-11, Chance Blackburn 2-8

SHS Receiving: Wyatt McCormick 1-35, Jake Timothy 1-53, Matthew Timothy 2-97

SHS QB: Nate Loutzenhiser 2-5-0  86 yds, Davan Norris 2-2-0 99 yds.