The Lakeland Hawks football team (5-3) are looking to win big against their rivals the Sandpoint Bulldogs (4-2).

The Hawks are coming off two straight wins against the Moscow Bears and Timberlake Tigers by huge margins of 59-0 and 50-0. Both of those wins came on senior night and homecoming. But, the Bulldogs are also coming off some big wins against Lewiston, Lake City, and Moscow. 

The Hawks have a huge weapon in junior running back John Cornish. Cornish this season has 748 rushing yards along with reaching the end zone 14 times. Along with the receiver duo of Seniors Alden Waddington and Richie Thomas who have both reached the end zone a combined 10 times. 

This game is a huge one for the Hawks. If the Hawks beat the Bulldogs, the first round of the state tournament will be played at Corbit Field. If they do not win, the Hawks will have to travel and play the first round and the rest of the state tournament down south.

But it won’t be an easy game for the Hawks. The Bulldogs are ranked second in the Idaho 4A class, and 13th out of all of Idaho. They have won some big games including beating Post Falls, Lewiston, and Lake City all by a decent margin. In addition to that, the Bulldogs home field happens to be an all-turf field, so it will be tough to adapt to it as the Hawks have not played on turf once this year against Preston High School.

Head Coach Tim Keifer is not nervous about the fact that the Bulldogs have beat the 5A teams.

“By the time Sandpoint played Post Falls they were a completely different team from when we played them,” Keifer stated.

The Hawks will play for the chance at a home birth at state Friday, October 22nd, at 7 pm, at War Memorial Field in Sandpoint.