BK shocks Sandpoint again
SANDPOINT – The Sandpoint Bulldogs played host to Bishop Kelly in the State 4A football playoffs for the second consecutive year Friday night, and for the second time in as many years they walked off the field in a state of shock.
Bishop Kelly (8-2), by means of a modified fumblerooskie and an onside-kick recovery, scored 14 points in the final 5 minutes to eliminate Sandpoint 28-24 in front of a stunned standing-room-only crowd at soggy, misty Barlow Stadium.
Things didn’t start that well for Sandpoint, either, as the Bulldogs trailed 14-0 after the first five minutes on a 54-yard touchdown pass from BK senior quarterback Kyle Cefalo to senior wideout Ryan Bokan, who followed his catch up with a 75-yard interception return for another score.
But Sandpoint (5-5), thanks in large part to staunch defense and a rushing onslaught by senior Kurt Stoll, got back into the game with a pair of second-quarter touchdown runs.
Junior quarterback Ryan Armbruster capped a nine-play, 78-yard drive with a keeper around right end to make it 14-7. The Bulldogs then took advantage of a BK miscue when a snap sailed over the punter’s head. Sandpoint took over at the BK 6-yard line and Stoll scored on a 5-yard plunge two plays later.
Junior Kyle Gibson’s 29-yard field goal was the only score of a third quarter in which the Bulldogs dominated time of possession and allowed the Knights just one first down – just their third first down of the game.
Sandpoint took advantage of another BK gaffe early in the fourth quarter, recovering a fumble on the Knights 23-yard line. After a 22-yard Stoll run on first down, senior fullback Daniel Hanson took it in from the 1 to put the Bulldogs up by 10 at 24-14.
That score held until the 4:37 mark, when, on third-and-9 at the Sandpoint 41-yard line, it happened.
Cefalo swept right, along with everybody on both teams – everybody except guard Javier Galindo, who was racing to the left and down the sideline for a 41-yard touchdown. Cefalo, who after the game said he and his teammates have worked on the play all season, had handed the ball off to the lineman before leaving the under-center area.
On the ensuing kick, BK booted it on the ground to the left and recovered it, after it hit a Sandpoint player, at the 50-yard line. Three first downs later, with just 38 seconds to go, the Knights faced a fourth-and-goal at the Sandpoint 1-yard line and decided to go for it instead of kicking a game-tying field goal.
Cefalo took the snap and squeezed to the right of center, falling just over the goal line.
Sandpoint had a chance for a Hail Mary from the BK 42, with zeros on the clock, after the Knights were called for roughing the passer but were unable to convert.
“Letting a silly-ass play like that score on us was the biggest turnaround in the game,” said Sandpoint coach Mike Mitchell, who said he had no problem with his team’s effort. “What we did was let momentum slip away from us.
“And then everybody in the world knew they were going to do an onside kick – and we work on it and work on it, but we can’t cover it, and you just can’t turn the ball over in a situation like that.”
Stoll finished with 244 yards on 36 carries.
Last year Bishop Kelly rallied in the final 2 minutes to upset Sandpoint 21-20.
The Knights will next play Mountain Home, an upset winner over Skyview.