Sandpoint continues quest for state title

SANDPOINT — There's a map in the Sandpoint Bulldogs' locker room showing the location of every football team in the state.

Tonight, one of the teams located the farthest away (roughly 530 miles) is making the long trek to Sandpoint for the second round of the state 4A football playoffs.

The Bulldogs (5-3) will host Shelley (5-5) at War Memorial Field for the second straight year in the second round of the playoffs. The game begins at 7 p.m.

"It's amazing how far up up here we are," Sandpoint coach Ryan Knowles said. "So if we have to travel down south, it's a pretty big production. So, you know, getting teams to travel up here certainly is nice and we'll really enjoy playing in front of a home crowd."

While the Russets aren't unknown to Sandpoint, the game promises to be a tough one and the Bulldogs are going to have to come out ready to play, Knowles said.

"It's important that our offense stays on track and takes care of the football," Knowles said. "We've been having a lot of success recently and I'd love to see us stay on track."

That also means getting the run game going, and playing well on both defense and on special teams.

Knowles said he would love to see the Bulldogs, who had over 400 yards rushing in their first-round win over the Skyview Hawks of Nampa, match that level of production.

"I'm excited to watch all parts of the offense coming together," he added.

But Knowles said the Bulldogs face a tough opponent in Shelley, which features a good defense and a wing-T offense.

"They're going to run the ball a majority of the time with very few wide receivers, so it will be a lot different than the last couple of teams that we played," Knowles said. "We're going to have to play good assignment football and get off the field and be opportunistic. And we got to take care of the ball and special teams."

Key to the Bulldogs will be quarterback Parker Pettit, who continued his impressive season last week by completing 3 of 5 passes for 68 yards, rushed six times for 91 yards and scored two touchdowns.

"He's been executing at a very high level," Knowles said.

Max Frank rushed for 160 yards and four touchdowns, and also caught a TD pass last week.

Also key to the game is the Bulldogs' offensive line, who "keep wanting to up themselves" in terms of how many yards they can produce in rushing.

However, the Bulldogs will have more than just football on their minds tonight after a tough week of the field.

"Austin Smith is our right tackle and will be playing with a heavy heart after losing his mother on Monday," Knowles said. "He is a great young man and his courage and toughness is on display. His mother, Darcey Smith, was also a team mom and supported all the boys on the team. It has been a tough week in that regard."

Sandpoint won last year’s battle with Shelley, 21-14 after falling behind 14-0 in the second quarter. The Bulldogs never blinked, and scored 21 unanswered points in the quarterfinal match.

The Bulldogs took their first step toward a possible second state title in school history last week by defeating Skyview 63-35.

The first half of the game saw Sandpoint largely in control with its opponent doing its best to defend against the Bulldogs' high-powered offense. Skyview pushed back and tied the game at 28 in the third quarter before the Bulldogs broke it open, marching down the field for five unanswered touchdowns.

Shelley, seeded 11th in the 16-team playoffs, whacked No. 6 Emmett 37-13 last week in the first round to earn a trip north to face Sandpoint, seeded third.

"They upset a pretty good team last week," Knowles said.

The Sandpoint-Shelley winner will play the winner between defending champion Skyline (7-3) and Twin Falls (8-2) next week in the semifinals. Skyline defeated Sandpoint in last year's state title game.