‘The Snow Bowl’: Goal-line stand pushes Sandpoint to league title, state berth

RATHDRUM — Friday's football game at Lakeland High will go down in the history books.

With four seconds left in the game, junior Cody Steiger broke up a Lakeland pass in the end zone as time expired to propel Sandpoint to a 6-0 win and its first 4A Inland Empire League title since 2017.

It wasn't pretty and it sure wasn't flashy, but the Bulldogs got the job done and will now host a game in the opening round of the 4A state playoffs next week at War Memorial Field.

The Bulldogs celebrated by sliding through the snow and creating snow angels in the end zone.

Head coach Ryan Knowles couldn't have been happier with his team, but he was exhausted from the roller coaster of emotions the game presented.

"It feels great, every championship does," he said. "It hasn't sunk in yet because it was such a tough game. Every play could have been the difference. I'm so proud of the guys because every play the guys had to be on point. Lakeland has some studs over there and they started getting a little action there late and driving the field and we stopped them."

With 5:21 left in the fourth quarter, Lakeland got the ball and slowly worked its way down to the SHS 8-yard-line. After gaining no yards on first and second down, a pass interference penalty on Elijah Larson was called on third and goal with 12 seconds left.

This gave the Hawks a first down on the 4-yard-line.

Lakeland had two chances to score from that spot, but the Sandpoint defense denied them to seal the win.

Tag Benefield, Wes Benefield, Gerrit Cox, Keith Jensen, Isaac Webb and a whole pack of other Bulldogs were in the Lakeland backfield all night and made life miserable for the Hawks' Devon Suko.

"It's grit, it's toughness and the ability to withstand strain," Knowles said about the goal-line stand. "They drove down the field, but we didn't break."

Conditions on the football field weren't ideal. Snow blanketed the surface and shovels were used to carve out a playing surface with lines that were visible if you brought your binoculars.

The conditions called for a ground-and-pound mentality and both teams took that approach, but didn't see much success. The Bulldogs ran for 74 yards on 28 carries while the Hawks had 29 yards on 29 carries.

The game was all about field position and ultimately special teams, and Sandpoint won that battle. The only score of the game came on a 61-yard punt return by Cox with six seconds left in the first half.

Knowles called a timeout prior to the punt by Lakeland to tell his team to go for the block, but the 2019 all-league returner had other plans taking the rolling punt to the house.

"He has a way of just clicking his heels and getting away from that first tackle all the time," Knowles said about Cox, "and once he gets behind the wall, it's just gone and he got a couple of really nice blocks."

Knowles told his team all week that he could feel a punt return touchdown coming and sure enough the Bulldogs delivered.

Knowles said it would have been nice to cruise to a victory, but championships are meant to be won on the final play of the game.

"It makes for a good story and the boys will never forget this," he said. "They will remember this forever and live the rest of their lives as champions."

Quarterback Parker Pettit threw for 51 yards and ran for 33 on seven carries. Cox had 12 rushes for 35 yards and Cody Newhart led the team with four catches for 28 yards.

The Bulldogs (3-4) now wait to learn who they will play in the state playoffs next week. Sandpoint will be at the least the No. 5 seed. Knowles said earning the right to host a state game is a big deal for the program.

"We're going to challenge the boys and we're going to expect to win," he said. "The only thing I was disappointed about tonight was we had no boombox to play 'Country Roads'."

SHS 0 6 0 0 — 6

LHS 0 0 0 0 — 0

Scoring summary

SHS — Gerrit Cox 60 yard punt return (kick failed), 0:06.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — SHS, Cox 12-35, Pettit 7-33, Kappen 9-6. LHS, White, 11-69, Suko 7-(-38), Calder 5-(-2).

RECEIVING — SHS, VanDenBerg 2-19, Newhart 4-28, Larson 2-4, Cox 1-0. LHS, Calder 1-40, Munyer 1-0, Waddington 5-74, #70 1-0, Thomas 1-4.

PASSING — SHS, Pettit, 9-23-0-51. LHS, Suko, 9-18-0-118.