Sandpoint football heads to Moscow tonight to open IEL play

MOSCOW — It’s the most crucial point in the season for Sandpoint football as the Bulldogs open 4A Inland Empire League play tonight at rival Moscow.

SHS is fresh off a bye week that allowed them to heal up for a potential postseason run. They also utilized the break to play two-hand touch football with the Sandpoint Middle School seventh and eighth graders this past Thursday.

“We kind of just had a day to remember where we come from,” head coach Ryan Knowles said.

The Bears are still licking their wounds from a 59-0 loss at Lakeland last Friday. The Hawks scored 49 first-half points to cruise to a Homecoming victory.

Knowles attended the game to try and get a feel for both of the Bulldogs’ league foes, but didn’t gather much from it.

“It was really hard to get a whole lot out of it,” he said. “It got out of hand pretty quickly and I don’t think that’s indicative of the team that Moscow is.”

The Bears (3-4) are currently on a three-game losing skid, falling at Lake City 26-12 on Sept. 24 and at Lewiston 48-13 on Oct. 1. Knowles said his team went back and watched film from those two games to get a better idea of the Moscow team they will encounter on the gridiron Friday.

The Bears have shown a willingness to air it out this season as quarterback Leon Hutton has passed for over 300 yards in five games.

After suffering a blowout defeat, Moscow will certainly be looking to bounce back in a big way against the Bulldogs.

“They’re well coached and they got some very good players, and I expect nothing but their best,” Knowles said.

Sandpoint (3-2) enters Friday’s matchup as the fourth-ranked team in 4A. After seeing that 59-0 scoreline in the Moscow-Lakeland game, the Bulldogs could get overconfident but Knowles is making sure that doesn’t happen.

“Confident is expecting the same results that we’ve had with the same hard work that we’ve had,” he said, “where cocky is expecting the same results without doing any of the work, so we just try and focus on ourselves and who we are and what we do.”

The last time the Bulldogs took the field on Oct. 1, they rolled to a 28-13 Homecoming win over Lake City to finish 3-1 against 5A schools this fall. Running back Gerrit Cox had three touchdowns in the game, giving him 15 total on the season.

Sandpoint saw one key piece of their defensive line return against the Timberwolves — Levi Balison — but the Bulldogs will still have to rely on some reserves along the front in their battle with the Bears.

Last season, SHS toppled Moscow twice at War Memorial Field — 31-21 in the regular season and 31-13 in the 4A state quarterfinals. Prior to 2020, the Bulldogs had dropped two straight to the Bears.

With a win over Moscow, Sandpoint would set up a regular season finale showdown at War Memorial Field against Lakeland next Friday. The victor would claim the 4A IEL title and the right to host at least one game in the state playoffs.

The Bulldogs are proud of the victories they’ve been able to claim thus far, but the journey to state is just getting started. The team knows the next two games will determine their postseason fate and records are meaningless in games of this magnitude.

“I’m hopeful that what we did in our previous five games primed us to be ready for the next two,” Knowles said. “It’s not going to change how Moscow approaches us, so we just need to go out and handle our business.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Moscow. You can listen to the game on AM 1400 KSPT, ROCK 103 (FM 102.9) or rock103fm.com. You can also find a link to a livestream of the game on spbulldogs.com.