Bulldogs' season ends in first round of state

BLACKFOOT — It wasn’t pretty for Sandpoint football.

For 48 minutes, Blackfoot (9-1) dominated the Bulldogs (6-4) and handed them a 40-6 defeat in the first round of the 4A state tournament Friday night.

“We couldn’t function on either side of the ball or special teams,” head coach Ryan Knowles said. “We didn’t execute the plan and we got hit in the face and we couldn’t match their tempo and their physicality and it showed. It was a tough one to watch.”

The Broncos gained control early by scoring a touchdown on each of their first four offensive drives to take a commanding 26-0 lead.

The Bulldogs defense couldn’t stop Blackfoot and the Sandpoint offense wasn’t doing much to stop the bleeding either.

Sandpoint had four three and outs and only managed to pickup a total of six first downs in the first half.

The Bulldogs were able to put together two promising drives in the first 24 minutes of action. The first occurred midway through the first quarter as senior quarterback Jaxon Pettit was able to lead his team down the field to the 6 yard line. A false start and a pair of incomplete passes stalled the drive and senior Dylan Peterson came out to attempt a field goal on fourth down. Unfortunately, a high snap led to a missed field goal.

On the second promising drive in the first half, Sandpoint got down to the Blackfoot 23 yard line before a Pettit pass intended for senior wide receiver Christian Niemela near the goal line was intercepted.

Blackfoot scored with nine seconds left in the first half to take a 33-0 lead into halftime.

The second half wasn’t any better for the Bulldogs as Blackfoot scored on its opening possession to make it 40-0. Pettit would find Peterson for an 8-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter but Blackfoot held onto the ball for nearly the entire fourth quarter to secure the victory.

“We want to be relevant at the state level,” Knowles said, “and when its a running clock in the fourth quarter that’s not relevant so we’ll get back to work.”

Knowles said he is proud of what his team was able to accomplish this season and hopes the Bulldogs continue to make strides over the offseason and next year.

“There was a lot of barking out there on the field tonight trying to get guys motivated to make some plays but at the end of the day I think the world of those guys,” he said.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Game

SHS 0 0 0 6 6

BHS 19 14 7 0 40

Scoring summary

Q1: BHS Isaiah Thomas 19 yd pass from Craig Young (kick fail)

Q1: BHS Dragan Robinson 18 yd run (pass fail)

Q1: BHS Kameron Lawes 42 yd pass from Craig Young (Sanchez kick)

Q2: BHS #27 11 yd run (Sanchez kick)

Q2: BHS Bowen Robinson 3 yd run (Sanchez kick)

Q3: BHS #27 2 yd run (Sanchez kick)

Q3: SHS Dylan Peterson 8 yd pass from Jaxon Pettit (kick fail)

Individual stats

Rushing: Gerrit Cox: 5-11, Braden Kappen 7-61, Dylan Peterson 1-(-11), Jaxon Pettit 5-10, Keith Jensen 1-2

Receiving: Max Thielbahr 2-21, Braden Kappen 2-17, Christian Niemela 7-53, Kobe Banks 1-39, Dylan Peterson 1-8