Sandpoint Football Preview

Sandpoint+Football+Preview

Devon Howell, Sports Writer

The Lakeland Hawks(6-1) are working extremely hard this week in preparation to face their league rival, the Sandpoint Bulldogs(2-3), in their first 4A IEL game of the season. 2014 was the last time the Lakeland Hawks football team beat the Bulldogs. The senior night game will take place at Corbit field on Friday, Oct. 7 

Could this be another first-time-in-a-while game for the Hawks? This season, the Hawks beat the Lake City Timberwolves for the first time in 28 years, had their first 5-0 start since 2001, and beat Post Falls for the first time in ten years.

The Hawks are coming off a blowout win against the Timberlake Tigers. The Bulldogs most recently beat the Lake City Timberwolves, 51-13. 

This will be the biggest game of the season for the Hawks. 

Regarding having senior night against Sandpoint, Preston Jeffs, the starting left tackle for the Hawks, said, “I’m not going to lie, it’s kinda scary. This could be the last home game that the seniors get to play, but I am confident in our run game as well as our defense.”

The Hawks have a strong run game with two of the top five rushers in 4A, Thomas Calder and John Cornish. 

Cornish is currently ranked number one for most rushing yards in 4A. He now has rushed for 1149 yards on the season. Calder has 793 yards and is currently ranked fourth in 4A.

The Hawks also have a strong defense that has played two shutout games and has not allowed a team to score more than three touchdowns.  

One of the Hawks’ biggest goals for this season is to win the 4A IEL league. Winning this game would give the Hawks their first league win of the season. After that, they will need to beat the Moscow Bears to be the top team in the district.  

If the Hawks win the district, they will receive a home game in the state playoffs, where they hope to win their first playoff game since they advanced to the 4A classification. Last season, the Hawks made it to the playoffs but had to play top-seeded Skyline and lost. 

The Hawk’s next game will be in two weeks, on Oct. 21, against the Moscow Bears in the Kibbie Dome at the University of Idaho.