Weeks of preparing and fundraising for Battle for the Paddle all came together Friday night Jan 16 at Lakeland High School.
For the seventh-straight year, Lakeland took home the coveted paddle in the annual spirit game.
The final score was 189.8- 151.4.
“It felt so rewarding to see it all come together, we as a council put so much work into this event and it is so amazing seeing other people see the work we have done,” Jackie Robbins said. “My favorite part was our sporting events, our teams did so amazing. I know how much work our teams put in preparing for Battle for the Paddle to bring it all together.”
The Lakeland Hawks and Sandpoint Bulldogs student council entered the gym first and had limited time to decorate their student sections.
The Bulldogs had a cowboy theme and the Hawks had a zombie theme.
The Hawks had posters, caution tape, and truly made their section look like a zombie infested area.
The Bulldogs had very little decor, some posters and bananas hung on the railing.
The doors opened at 3:30pm and the students started pouring into the stands. The anticipation was beginning to rise.
Parents also made it to the event and sat in the parent section.
Once 4 p.m. hit the event was ready to begin. The judges were announced and the Battle for the Paddle officially began.
Boys basketball started it off. The starters were announced, the players made their way to their position and the game was ready to begin.
The students on both sides were ready to start the night and began to cheer.
Going into halftime it was clear the Hawks were coming for revenge for last year with the score being 25-14.
While the basketball team was in the locker room for halftime, Cheer was ready to show off their performance they have been working on for months. The cheerleader’s job is to hype up the crowd and get them pumped up.
The Hawks won the cheer portion with 5 out of 5 judges giving them higher scores.
The boys basketball came back from halftime and kept the lead until the end where it was an intense battle with the score being tied or the Hawks barely in the lead for the last few minutes.
The final score of the game was 48-45, Hawks won it getting the first big points for the Paddle.
“It feels like nobody really believed that we could win it,” Austin Hocking said. “We just trusted the process and knew that we could keep it in our favor.”
Peyton Hillman was the player of the game with 12 points.
After the boys game came the first decibel reading, the event where the Hawks have struggled the most the last few years.
One side goes completely silent and the other gets as loud as possible. The Hawks won the first decibel reading getting more points on the board.
The Paddle Babble began to take the court, the Bulldogs and Hawks each put out a group who had come up with a rap and performed it.
The lights go off and the phone lights come out, the students clap along and cheer while the rappers present their rap.
The Hawks rap also won with all five judges.
After the Paddle Babble comes to an end the artwork is presented. The judges chose the Hawks to win 2 chose Lakeland, 2 tied them, and 1 chose Sandpoint.
The next sporting event is about to begin as the wrestling mat begins to get rolled out.
The Bulldogs go out and begin to get warmed up in front of the crowd while the Hawks go up to the mat room to prepare.
This is the second year girls were in the dual line up and the first year they were scored for the dual.
The Hawks come out and the face off begins.
The dual started off at 98 pounds and the girls were put in between the circulating weights.
The Hawks started strong with a forfeit at 98 pounds and then the first girl wrestled at 105 pounds, Teagan Patrick for the Hawks and Mackenzee Donenfeld for the Bulldogs.
The match was intense with Patrick only winning by a point, putting the Hawks up 9-0.
With some forfeits and one other match the Hawks were up 27-6 entering the 126 pound match.
Carson Leonard was bumped up to wrestle Zak Wood. Leonard is ranked number 1 in the state and Wood is ranked number 6.
Leonard wrestles to the third period and sticks Wood. An intense match ended in the Hawks getting 6 more points.
Quinn Miller, a freshman, went out for the Hawks and had a battle at 138 pounds, winning his match 12-6
Jumping up to 157 Cole Cooper went out and wrestled a battle he struggled to turn the kid in the beginning but came out with a fall with 11 second left to spare.
Kalab Hammer came out at 165 ready to wrestle after coming back from an injury early this season. It started out as a low scoring match but Hammer ended up with a near fall and won 8-2.
The Hawks finished out the dual and ended up winning 55-43.
Another huge point getter on the board for the Hawks.
Right after wrestling the row race began and the Bulldogs won.
The dance teams also went out and did their performances. The Bulldogs took that portion, with 4 out of 5 judges scoring them higher and the other one tying them.
Then came time for the second decibel reading, the Hawks were able to get louder than the Bulldogs again.
Now for the Last sporting event of the night is the girls basketball. The Hawks came out hot and by halftime they were dominating the court and went into halftime 33-16.
While halftime happened the lip sings were reformed and the crowd was loud.
The Hawks could be seen clapping along and dancing with the Bulldogs music showing true sportsmanship, and sang along with their lip singing and even did one of the moves at the end.
The Parker Subaru winner was also announced during halftime.
The Hawks came back out ready to keep up the pace and they sure did, winning the game 66-38, making the Hawks win the three biggest parts at Battle for the Paddle.
The player of the game was Jaeli Hoffman with 29 points.
It was now time for the fundraising to be announced even though the cap for point getting was only $25,000 the Hawks raised $26,826.27. The Bulldogs also met the cap but raised less than the Hawks.
The Hawks also won the sportsmanship with 4 out of 5 judges, school spirit with 4 out of 5 judges, and the spirit post with 5 out of 5 judges.
The Bulldogs did win the band.
Now as the scores were calculated some of the Bulldogs accepted their known fate and began to leave the stands, even though the Hawks knew without a doubt the Paddle would stay home the anticipation was high…
“The winner of the 2026 Battle for the Paddle goes too, the Lakeland Hawks,” Jimmy Hoffman said.
The Hawks rushed the court to celebrate the 7 peat.
“The lip sync and dance were my favorite because they were really fun to watch,” Violet Stone-Fenton said. “I feel pretty good, I just feel like it raises the stakes for next year, but I feel like we won by a good chunk.”
