Cheney doesn’t let this one get away

It wasn’t going to happen again.

A week after giving up a lead and ultimately losing to the Pullman Greyhounds, the Cheney Blackhawks weren’t about to repeat the mistakes of a week ago against the Sandpoint Bulldogs on a brisk night in front of a large crowd at Tom Oswald field.

The Blackhawks took advantage of four Bulldogs turnovers to coast to a 28-10 win in a nonleague matchup.

“We started a little slow but were able to control things,” said Cheney head coach Jason Williams.

Sandpoint turned the ball over on downs twice in Cheney territory in the first quarter. The Bulldogs did, though, use a running back tandem of sophomore Kyle Perry and junior Curtis Roop to march down the field and take an early 3-0 lead on a Quinn Pearlstein field goal.

The Bulldogs (2-3) hurt themselves though after fumbling on their own 29-yard line with 52 seconds before halftime. The Blackhawks used a 25-yard scramble by senior quarterback Andrew Graham to set up a quarterback sneak by Graham two plays later to take a 7-3 lead.

In the second half, the Blackhawks used a 52-yard run by junior Austin Kline to set up another quarterback sneak by Graham to take a 14-3 lead.

After a missed field goal, the Blackhawks took advantage of a Shane Hammel interception to set up an eventual 1-yard touchdown run by Kline.

“I was kind of a bend-don’t-break defense,” Williams said. “It was nice. (The defense) stepped up real well after last week.”

A 6-yard touchdown run by sophomore Brayden Butikofer capped the scoring for the Blackhawks (4-1). The touchdown was set up by a nifty 15-yard reception by senior tight end Matt Riddle.