Sandpoint falls in 3 overtimes, 43-40

SANDPOINT – Caldwell High football coach Matt Strong kept searching for the right words, as if there was some proper way to describe his team’s improbable 43-40 triple-overtime victory over Sandpoint on Friday night.

Almost too excited to speak, Strong tipped his cowboy hat back and settled on the obvious: “Awesome, just a tremendous high school game. Just a fabulous, fabulous football game.”

Caldwell escaped from a two-touchdown deficit in the second half to pull even midway through the fourth quarter. After exchanging missed field goals and touchdowns in the first two overtimes, Sandpoint took a 40-37 lead on Blake Mahler’s 24-yard field goal in the third extra session. When it was the Cougars’ turn, they tapped into their reservoir of trick plays for the game-winner to send an overflow crowd at Barlow Stadium home disappointed.

On their first play from the 10-yard line, quarterback Trey Spath pitched the ball to Freddie Chavez, who quickly prepared to throw the ball back to Spath in the left flat. Seeing that Spath was temporarily covered, Chavez started to run, giving Spath time to get open near the goal line. Chavez lobbed a pass to Spath for the winning touchdown.

“We emptied the whole playbook – and then some,” Strong said.

Caldwell, avenging a 42-0 loss to Sandpoint in the State 4A semifinals last year, improved to 9-1 and earned a rematch with unbeaten Bishop Kelly in the semifinals next week. BK beat Caldwell 32-7 in the regular season. Sandpoint finishes 8-2.

The offensive outburst caught most by surprise. Both teams had thrived on defense most of the season, but each yielded numerous big plays.

“I really didn’t think it was going to be that kind of game,” Sandpoint coach Sean Dorris said. “I could have never imagined it would be that high scoring with two outstanding defenses playing each other. They just made one more play than we did.”

The Bulldogs will ponder a bunch of what-ifs. They committed five turnovers, a handful of costly penalties and allowed a couple of long kick returns that gave the Cougars favorable field position. Every Caldwell scoring drive started within Sandpoint territory.

“Those things are going to be part of every high school game,” Dorris said. “It’s hard to be perfect, though we strive to be. These are 16-, 17-, 18-year-old kids and these are things you see at any level of football.

“We definitely had our opportunities. We had a lead of a couple touchdowns and pretty good momentum, but they were able to battle back and sneak one out.”

Sneaky, indeed. Caldwell used the halfback option pass to the quarterback a couple of times and mixed in a couple of flea-flickers to boot. Most of the time the gadget plays worked. Chavez, who rushed for 104 yards, connected with Spath to tie the score at 30 with 6:49 left in the fourth quarter.

After falling behind early, Sandpoint grabbed a 20-9 halftime lead, largely on running back Dan Parrish’s 172 yards (229 for the game). When Blake Mahler added a 30-yard field goal with 7:28 left in the third quarter, Sandpoint seemed to be in control at 23-9.

But a fumble and an interception gave Caldwell possession at the Bulldogs’ 36 and 44, respectively. Spath, who was just 2 of 14 for 6 yards in the first half, finally started connecting with his receivers. Two Spath TD passes evened the score at 23.

Sandpoint reclaimed the lead when Parrish followed excellent blocking on a fourth-down screen pass for a 33-yard TD. But each time Sandpoint seemed to assert control, Caldwell answered.