Sandpoint dominates Lewiston 30-0

SANDPOINT — It was a Bulldogs beat down.

From the opening kickoff, Sandpoint football was all over Lewiston as every facet of the game was clicking for the Bulldogs en route to a 30-0 victory Friday night at Memorial Field.

“I’m jacked,” Sandpoint head coach Ryan Knowles said. “That’s a good team. That’s a 5A team that’s 2-2. It shows you where we’re at as a team right now. We’ve played a tough schedule so far and we’re sitting at 3-2 and we all kind of now what’s going on behind closed doors but it doesn’t matter until Friday nights, you got to put it on the field and the boys did tonight.”

The team was in a celebratory mood after the game. John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” filled the locker room as coaches and players sang along to the classic song that has become a tradition following victories.

“The boys turn it on and sing really loud and I might have sang with them tonight,” Knowles said while laughing.

Despite the dominating all-around team performance, there was one player that stood out: sophomore running back Gerrit Cox. He had 38 carries for 245 yards in the game.

“I thought Gerrit Cox put the team on his back from the start tonight all the way to the finish until we pulled him out,” Knowles said.

The Bulldogs (3-2) certainly earned the opportunity to have some fun after the game with their play on the field.

In the first half, the Sandpoint offense couldn’t be stopped, scoring four touchdowns on five possessions to take a 27-0 lead into the break.

And of course everyone knew who was going to score the opening touchdown for the Bulldogs — 6-foot-4-inch, 280 pound Keith Jensen. Yeah, no one was expecting that but the junior got the ball at the two-yard line and powered his way into the end zone to give Sandpoint a touchdown on its opening drive.

“[Keith’s} a pretty big guy ... he’s 280 pounds of human being and you know when he gets the ball he’s at least going to fall forward,” Knowles said.

The Bulldogs would get the ball back just over a minute later and take it down to the Lewiston 32-yard line. But the drive stalled there as Sandpoint was unable to convert on fourth down.

Luckily, the defense stepped up and forced a three and out and Lewiston shanked a punt to give the Bulldogs the ball at the Lewiston 35-yard line.

Sandpoint capitalized four plays later on fourth and six as senior quarterback Jaxon Pettit found a wide open Tyler Lehman on a play action pass for a 31-yard score with just over 11 minutes remaining in the first half.

But let’s not forget about the Bulldogs defense because on two occasions in the first half, they held strong and stopped the Bengals on fourth down when Lewiston had the ball inside the 20-yard line.

The first time, Lewiston got down to the Sandpoint 16-yard line and was forced into fourth and 13. There aren’t many plays in the playbook for that down and distance so the Bengals threw it to the end zone and it fell incomplete.

The Bulldogs took over on downs and two plays later Pettit hit junior wide receiver Elijah Larson on a deep post route in the middle of the field. Larson took over from there and weaved his way through multiple Bengals for an 80-yard touchdown.

The Sandpoint defense bent but didn’t break on the ensuing Lewiston drive. On fourth and nine from the Sandpoint 18-yard line, the Bulldogs dragged down Lewiston quarterback Kash Lang to force another turnover on downs. Two plays later, Pettit found senior wide receiver Christian Niemela on a fade route to put Sandpoint up 27-0 after the extra point was missed.

The second half was uneventful as the Bulldogs offense continued to move the ball but could only muster a field goal in the fourth quarter.

In the final 12 minutes, Sandpoint took some of its starters out of the game as Lewiston’s hopes of a comeback faded and time clicked away.

“[Lewiston]’s a proud team, that’s a good well-coached team,” Knowles said. “They are a little bit young and you can see their future so I will give them a little bit of credit but it wasn’t about them tonight.”

Sandpoint will host Lake City 7 p.m. next Friday for Homecoming.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Game

Sandpoint 7 20 0 3 30

Lewiston 0 0 0 0 0

Scoring Summary

SHS Kieth Jensen 2 yd run (Dylan Peterson kick)

SHS Tyler Lehman 31 yd pass from Jaxon Pettit (Dylan Peterson kick)

SHS Elijah Larson 80 yd pass from Jaxon Pettit (Dylan Peterson kick)

SHS Christian Niemela 7 yd pass from Jaxon Pettit (Dylan Peterson kick)

SHS Dylan Peterson 26 yd Field Goal

SHS Rushing: Gerrit Cox 38-245, Keith Jensen 1-2, Tyler Lehman 1-(-2), Sam Puckett 6-20, Jaxon Pettit 1-0, SHS Receiving: Max Theilbahr 2-38, Gerrit Cox 1-5, Elijah Larson 1-80, Christian Niemela 3-45, Tyler Lehman 1-31. Lewiston Rushing: Cruz Hepburn 21-121, Isaiah Walker 2-5, Kash Lang 8-0, Harrison Smith 1-(-5), Lewiston Receiving: Isaiah Walker 1-3, Cruz Hepburn 3-26, Harrison Smith 1-7.