Lake City rolls on

POST FALLS – Just about the only thing that stopped undefeated Lake City on its way to a victory here Friday night was, well, Lake City.

The Timberwolves scored often en route to a 56-20 victory over the Trojans in an Inland Empire League football game.

But they could have scored more.

“We let them get back in the football game,” Lake City football coach Van Troxel said. “We had a few dropped balls and we turned the ball over a few times.”

Quarterback Garren Hammons directed a pair of scoring drives before the first quarter was 6 minutes old and had the Timberwolves sitting second-and-goal at the Post Falls 5 on the second play of the second quarter before the Trojans recovered a fumble in the end zone.

The senior closed out the first half by throwing a pair of touchdown passes, a 44-yard strike to Kyle Johnson and a 30-yard scoring toss to Tyler Sanders.

“I have to give Post Falls a lot of credit,” Troxel said. “They did a really good job of taking away the run from our quarterback. But the problem is, when you do that, you leave yourself open to pass.”

Post Falls was without starting quarterback Jake Salisbury, who injured a foot during practice Wednesday and watched the game from the sideline.

“One of the D-linemen fell on it,” the senior said. “It’s only for this week. I tried to come back and play (this week), but I couldn’t go.”

Salisbury’s replacement, junior Casey Dragon, played well, directing three scoring drives – including an 80-yard, 11-play drive after recovering a Lake City fumble in the end zone.

Dragon found junior wide receiver Levi Buckles in the end zone to cap the drive, cutting the Lake City lead to 14-6.

Lake City’s two remaining regular-season games are at Moses Lake Friday and at home against Lewiston to close out the regular season.

“I think maybe our guys were a little down the road a little,” Troxel said. “We can’t do that next week against Moses Lake because that’s such a big team that we will really have our hands full.

“Any chance they’ll be looking past them will be gone the first time we sit down and start looking at game film of our next opponent.

“And then I think we’ll be really prepared for the finale with Lewiston. That’s the game that they’ve been aiming for all season long – the one that determines the IEL crown and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. That’s what we’ve been fighting for.”