Sandpoint trades blows with rival Coeur d'Alene, comes up just short

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene treated fans to a classic Friday night.

After trailing 21-2 at the half, the Bulldogs fought back and scored three touchdowns to take a 22-21 lead early in the fourth quarter.

But a late field goal from Coeur d'Alene and a sack by Wyatt Potter on Sandpoint's Parker Pettit on fourth down with under a minute left allowed the Vikings to survive for a thrilling 24-22 victory at War Memorial Field.

"That was a helluva high school football game," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said.

The Bulldogs gave the Vikings everything they could handle, never letting up and making the 5A school earn every yard.

SHS fought until the bitter end and was on the verge of knocking off the North Idaho powerhouse, but ultimately an inability to execute in some key situations down the stretch made the difference, Sandpoint head coach Ryan Knowles said.

"In a two-point game you're going to go back and you're going to kick yourself about every one that you missed," he said. "If you win by two points, you just chalk it all up to we're good and you move on, so that's what is crazy about a two-point loss is you're going to look at every play, and it's going to stink."

This loss stings, but Knowles said the Bulldogs gave it everything they had.

"I love this team," he said. "I love being around them, they're mature guys and they fight their butts off ... I hate losing, but I'm proud of the guys and the grit they showed."

Last season, Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene renewed their rivalry for the first time since 2011. The Vikings handed the Bulldogs a 55-0 defeat in that matchup.

Amos was impressed with the fight SHS gave his team.

"Sandpoint is definitely back," he said. "That's a tough program and I'm excited to have that kind of back where it should be — us and them as a rivalry."

Coeur d'Alene has now won five straight meetings between the two schools.

The Bulldogs came out in the second half on a mission. They scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter — a 22-yard pass from Pettit to sophomore wide receiver Connor Hindberg and an 11-yard run by Gerrit Cox — to cut the deficit to 21-16.

Following a punt by Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint got the ball back and marched down the field quickly thanks to a 36-yard run by Cox. On the second play of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs pulled out a trick play. Pettit tossed the ball back to Cox on a reverse and the senior running back threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Hindberg. SHS went for the two-point conversion, but failed to make the score 22-21 in favor of the Bulldogs.

On the ensuing possession, Coeur d'Alene chewed up the clock and kicked the game-winning 20-yard field goal with 5:19 left.

Sandpoint was able to get to the CDA 40 with just over a minute left, but back-to-back negative plays sealed the win for the Vikings.

In the first half, Sandpoint earned a safety when Coeur d'Alene snapped the ball out of the back of their own end zone.

Knowles said his defense stepped up and silenced the Vikings' ground attack, holding them to minus 10 yards rushing. Cox, Wes Benefield, Levi Balison, Will Hurst and Joseph Hughes all made huge plays in the CDA backfield in the second half.

A 62-yard fumble return for a touchdown by the Vikings in the second quarter proved to be costly for the Bulldogs.

Cox had 196 total yards and two touchdowns, Hindberg reeled in two catches for 55 yards and two scores and Pettit was 10-of-22 for 131 yards. He was held to 10 yards on the ground. Arie VanDenBerg grabbed five catches for 77 yards.

Knowles said his team will learn from this game and be stronger because of it.

"You got to digest all that, put on your big boy pants and show up and learn how to get better because we got all our goals still in front of us," he said.

Sandpoint (1-1) travels to Colville, Wash., next Friday.

CDA 7 14 0 3 — 24

SHS 0 2 14 6 — 22

First quarter

CDA — Gunner Giulio 24 yard pass from Brayden Bengtson (Ethan Johnson kick), 8:36.

Second quarter

CDA — Rob Collier 8 yard pass from Bengtson (Johnson kick), 9:45

CDA — Tanner Langley 62 yard fumble return (Johnson kick), 5:50.

SHS — Safety, 1:28.

Third quarter

SHS — Connor Hindberg 22 yard pass from Parker Pettit (Jacob Gove kick), 8:38.

SHS — Gerrit Cox 11 yard run (Gove kick), 2:29.

Fourth quarter

SHS — Hindberg 33 yard pass from Cox (Cox run no good), 11:18.

CDA — Bengtson 20 yard field goal, 5:19.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — SHS, Cox 26-154, Pettit 13-10, Wimmer 2-16. CDA, Giulio 1-2, Bengtson 7-(-18), Collier 6-6.

PASSING — SHS, Pettit, 10-22-131, Cox 1-1-33. CDA, Bengtson, 21-32-218.

RECEIVING — SHS, VanDenBerg 5-77, Frank 2-15, Cox 1-9, Hodges 1-8, Hindberg 2-55. CDA, Wuolle 1-5, Collier 6-26, Cope 2-23, Giulio 2-39, Entzi 1-12, Langley 2-13, Farrar 2-14, Griffin 2-49, Mallory 2-25.