SHS football goes for it, wins overtime thriller against Lewiston

SANDPOINT — Fortune always seems to favor the bold.

In overtime on Friday night, head coach Ryan Knowles was faced with a difficult decision — go for the win or keep on playin’.

He went with the former and the gamble paid off for Sandpoint football as they pulled out a thrilling 42-41 win over Lewiston.

"We felt like we had a play to get it done and certainly we did," Knowles said.

The Bengals started on offense in overtime and quarterback Jace McKarcher connected with James White on a 4-yard touchdown pass to give the Bengals a 41-34 lead.

However, the score didn’t faze the Bulldogs one bit. Sandpoint got the ball at the Lewiston 10-yard-line and on fourth down junior quarterback Parker Pettit found sophomore wide receiver Max Frank for a 6-yard touchdown.

With the score at 41-40 in favor of the Bengals, Knowles sent out his kicking team to attempt the extra point and tie things up. However, after a discussion with his coaching staff, Knowles called a timeout and decided to go for the two-point conversion and the victory. He believed his team could get the job done, and the Bulldogs delivered.

Pettit rolled out to his right and fired a pass to junior wide receiver Arie VanDenBerg, who made a diving catch on the goal line to give SHS the win.

The team stormed the field after the game-winning play and rang the Victory Bell for the first time this season. It was an unbelievable finish to a game that will be remembered for years to come.

Bulldog fans were on the edge of their seats biting their nails when Sandpoint lined up to go for the two-point conversion, but not Knowles. He didn’t feel the pressure of his decision because he knew his team would execute.

"There's a calming feeling because we've prepared so much for things like this,” he said.

Friday’s battle on the gridiron was a true classic as Sandpoint and Lewiston went up and down the field all night — combining for over 1,000 yards of offense. The two long-time rivals traded blows left and right, but the Bulldogs threw the final knockout punch to take down undefeated Lewiston (4-1).

Knowles said he wasn’t surprised to see the game turn into a shootout and he was proud of the fight the Bulldogs showed to rebound from back-to-back losses.

"I thought that we could get into matching some scores with them," he said, "and I wasn't quite sure how our defense was going to respond to last week and we shored a lot of things up, but with the dynamic offense we played tonight it was tough. We just kept playing complimentary football; we'd give up a big play, but then we'd make a big play. We just kept matching it and sticking around."

Sandpoint only led once against the Bengals, but they surged ahead when it mattered most. Lewiston had a chance to win the game in regulation, but a 34-yard field goal attempt with five seconds left went wide left.

There were several moments in Friday’s game where the Bulldogs could have let the momentum swing drastically in the Bengals’ direction, but they didn’t. They had an answer every time they needed one.

One of those moments came late in the third quarter when a pass intended for VanDenBerg in the end zone was picked by Lewiston. The Bengals took over at their own 10 and four plays later Cruz Hepburn sprinted into the end zone for a 77-yard touchdown to give Lewiston a 34-20 lead.

That could’ve been the turning point in the game, but it wasn’t. Less than a minute later, Pettit dumped the ball off to senior running back Gerrit Cox on a swing pass and he took it 69 yards to the house to bring the Bulldogs back within 7 points.

On the next Lewiston drive, junior linebacker Wes Benefield sacked the Lewiston quarterback on a third down to force a punt. Sandpoint got the ball and nine plays later Pettit dove into the end zone from a yard out on a QB sneak to tie the game at 34-34 with 9:09 left.

The Bulldog defense gave up 338 rushing yards to the Bengals, but held them scoreless in the fourth quarter when they were severely shorthanded on the defensive line. Knowles said his unit settled down when it counted.

"Our three starting defensive linemen are out and we had three guys that had never played a snap of varsity football go basically the whole game tonight after Will Hurst went down and they just did man's work," he said. "They put on their big boy pants and did it, and I couldn't be prouder of them.

They could have folded but they didn't."

Both teams scored on their opening drives of the game. McKarcher found Hepburn for a 15-yard touchdown pass to get things started. Then Pettit responded just over a minute and a half later when he evaded a Lewiston defender in the backfield, fought through a handful of tackles and sprinted into the end zone for a 34-yard score to make it 7-7.

The teams traded three and outs before Sandpoint put together a drive early in the second quarter that got them down to the Lewiston 18-yard-line. The drive stalled there and Knowles called on his field goal unit to attempt a 35-yarder.

Jacob Gove’s kick came up just short and Lewiston took over. Two plays later, Hepburn broke loose down the sideline for an 83-yard touchdown run to give the Bengals a 14-7 lead with 7:18 remaining in the second.

Just 30 seconds later, Cox broke through a huge hole created by his offensive line for a 30-yard touchdown to knot the game at 14-14.

Lewiston scored 10 seconds before halftime to take a 21-14 lead into the break. On Sandpoint’s first possession of the second half, Cox found paydirt from 2 yards out.

Cox had another monster night for the Bulldogs, racking up 263 total yards and three touchdowns.

Pettit finished 13 for 21 for 193 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. On the ground, he tallied 107 yards and two touchdowns.

Frank had five receptions for 91 yards, and VanDenBerg reeled in five for 41 yards. Knowles said the catches from Frank and VanDenBerg in overtime were "big time."

The Bulldogs amassed 495 yards on offense, and Knowles gave credit to his prolific offense for keeping the team in the game when the defense was struggling.

"I praise the offense for blowing life into the defense when we weren't feeling too hot about things," he said.

Sandpoint (2-2) hosts Lake City at 7 p.m. next Friday at War Memorial Field.

Lewiston 7 14 13 0 7 — 41

Sandpoint 7 7 13 7 8 — 42

First quarter

L — Cruz Hepburn 15-yard pass from Jace McKarcher (Thor Kessinger kick good), 9:48

SHS — Parker Pettit 34-yard run (Jacob Gove kick), 8:07

Second quarter

L — Hepburn 83-yard run (Kessinger kick), 7:18

SHS — Gerrit Cox 30-yard run (Gove kick), 6:48

L — James White 5-yard pass from McKarcher (Kessinger kick), 0:10

Third quarter

SHS — Cox 2-yard run (kick blocked), 7:52

L — McKarcher 19-yard run (Kessinger kick), 6:09

L — Hepburn 77-yard run (kick no good), 2:42

SHS — Cox 69-yard pass from Pettit (Gove kick), 1:57

Fourth quarter

SHS — Pettit 1-yard run (Gove kick), 9:09

Overtime

L — White 4-yard pass from McKarcher (Kessinger kick).

SHS — Max Frank 6-yard pass from Pettit (Two-point pass from Pettit to Arie VanDenBerg good).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — L, Hepburn 17-200, Shaw 11-19, McKarcher 25-118, Jelinek 1-1. SHS, Cox 23-195, Pettit 14-107, Wimmer 1-2, Frank 1-(-2).

PASSING — L, McKarcher, 15-28-0-206. SHS, Pettit, 13-21-1-193.

RECEIVING — L, White 5-60, Hepburn 3-36, Jelinek 3-25, Rice 1-16. SHS, VanDenBerg 5-41, Frank 5-91, Cox 2-68