Bulldogs and 5A Timberwolves tangle in nonleague battle
SANDPOINT — It says much about the Bulldogs’ tough nonleague slate that hitting the road to face longtime 5A power Lake City in week six might be the easiest game on the schedule to this point.
The Bulldogs (1-4) are set to wrap up the meat grinder portion of the schedule, with four lopsided losses to four quality teams, including at 5A Lewiston last week, a team that just cracked the 5A top 5 in the most recent Idaho football coaches poll.
It would be easy to hit the panic button for Bulldog head coach Ryan Knowles, but in reality the first five foes are probably tougher than anything his team will see in league play, and the fringe benefit of playing up is it makes you improve far faster than beating inferior competition. Knowles saw some of that improvement last week, when his team trailed the Bengals by just six points at half before a tough third quarter.
“Offensively we’re doing some good stuff, but haven’t had any continuity. We’ve got to take care of the details,” said Knowles, who feels his team can build momentum starting tonight. “If we can take care of Lake City, get on a roll, we could finish the season 5-4 going into the playoffs.”
Lake City is 2-3 under first year head coach Brian Fulp, a former Priest River athlete who recently had the interim tag removed from his title.
Like the Bulldogs, all three of the T-Wolves losses are against tough opposition, including a loss to No. 4 ranked 5A Madison, a loss against undefeated Lewis and Clark and a 31-22 loss to fellow 4A GSL school Ferris.
They’re currently on a two game win streak, having played down to beat 4A Inland Empire League Lakeland 40-27 and East Valley 55-39 last week. Running back Zane Lettau is a battering ram, and will be coming downhill at the Bulldogs early and often.
“They run the ball, a physical style. The quarterback likes to chuck it deep and has a very strong arm. We’re going to stop the run, make them beat us with the pass,” said Knowles, who expects a pad-popping affair. “We’ve got to stop their running back. He’s about 235 pounds so we’ll have to thud him up. If we can stop him, we’ll have a pretty good night.”
The Bulldogs’ offensive and defensive lines have improved as the season has progressed, and the return of Kiehl Hutchings last week from a broken hand has helped solidify the offensive line.
“Kiehl casted up his hand and got back after a couple of weeks off,” described Knowles. “The O-line is such a good group. (Jackson) Prior and (Brandon) Casey are steady Eddy, Marcus Anderson did a decent job for his first start and Kiehl and Cole (Ducken) are solid.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Lake City High School.
Chris Chatburn and Steve Youngdahl will call the game live on AM1400 and Rock 103 FM, with the Yoke’s pre-game show kicking things off at 6:40 p.m.