Opportunistic Post Falls prevails

The Post Falls High football team is back.

And Lake City coach Van Troxel proved to be prophetic.

Earlier in the week, Troxel warned that Post Falls had improved so much that it would upset one of the area’s established programs at some point this season. He was just hoping it wouldn’t be Friday.

The inspired 4A Trojans shocked the 5A Timberwolves, 35-19, in an Inland Empire League opener before an estimated crowd of 1,800 at Trojan Stadium.

The victory, easily Post Falls’ biggest in seven years, snapped a seven-game losing streak to LC. The Trojans’ last win over a T-Wolves team came in 1996 during coach Jerry Lee’s first stint as head coach.

Post Falls senior quarterback K.C. Billetz struggled initially to find the words to describe the win. But as the reality of the victory sunk in he found his stride.

“This is the game I’ve been thinking about since last year,” said Billetz, who watched his team let a 20-3 halftime lead over LC slip away in the final two quarters a year ago. “This is the game that I wanted to win out of all of them. I’ve been thinking about how it would feel to win for the last week, and it feels even better than I thought it would.”

Post Falls (2-0) played error-free football. LC, meanwhile, fumbled eight times, and the Trojans recovered six.

Twice in the first half alone, LC (1-1) fumbled deep inside Trojans territory, including twice after earning first-and-goal situations. And late in the first half, a wide-open LC wide receiver dropped what should have been a breakaway touchdown.

And seemingly each time LC coughed up the ball, Post Falls made the mistake hurt.

LC scored first late in the opening period when running back Joey Symbal plunged in from 1 yard out.

Post Falls answered on its first offensive play when Billetz hit running back Nick Canger, who had gotten behind LC’s secondary, on a 71-yard TD connection. Then the Trojans converted on a two-point try.

The Trojans scored four straight TDs. After taking a 22-7 lead into halftime, Post Falls went ahead 28-7 midway in the third quarter.

“They had turnovers that hurt them and we tried to take advantage of that,” Billetz said. “This is going to be a great step for the rest of the year. From here on out we’re going to have the confidence and we’re going to know we can win. It’s a huge step for us.”

Lee said his team was especially looking forward to playing LC.

“They know they played a great team,” Lee said of LC. “Lake City was scary every time they had the ball. Defensively we rose to the occasion and offensively we moved the ball. Last year we thought we played very hard (against LC), but at the end we sort of let it get away. We talked about that a lot. Our kids were fired up because they were playing a great program.”

Troxel praised the Trojans. And he said his team will improve because of the loss.

“That’s a good football team,” Troxel said of the Trojans. “They played hard, but you can’t win with six turnovers. That’s the bottom line. If they turn the ball over six times it’s our (game). We don’t like it one bit, but we’re going to resolve to get a whole lot better.”

Post Falls travels to Vallivue of Caldwell next Friday while LC will get a chance to measure itself against one of the top 5A team from the Boise area when it plays host to Timberline.