LHS football does what it does best: ground and pound

Sep. 4—Two weeks of high school football has proven what everyone already knew: nothing.

It's too early to tell who's the cream of the crop and who's sticking to the bottom of the barrel.

But there certainly are some takeaways from the week that was:

Let's get physical

Lewiston looked like an inexperienced team during its Week 1 loss to Layton (Utah) at the Rumble in Rexburg.

However, the Bengals bounced back tenfold in their 52-21 win against Capital on Friday.

The Bengals ran for 445 yards, with three players eclipsing 100 yards, something that never has been done in the long history of the program.

In this one, senior Ethan Shaw ran for 134 yards and four touchdowns, junior Jackson Lathen had 103 yards on eight carries and a score, and junior quarterback Drew Hottinger tallied 104 yards on seven carries.

Senior tight end James White got in on the act, finishing with five carries for 76 yards with two touchdown runs.

It's the kind of football coach Matt Pancheri expects out of his team.

Hottinger wasn't bad through the air, either, going 4-for-9 passing with 110 yards and a 63-yard touchdown pass to Lathen across the middle of the field.

He led Lathen perfectly to make sure the speedy back didn't have to break his stride as he trotted to the end zone.

Just as good was the Lewiston defense, as it held the Eagles to 48 rushing yards.

The best 8-man team in the state?

It was a battle to the end between Oakley and Kendrick — Idaho's defending state champions in Class 1A Division I and Division II, respectively.

Junior quarterback Ty Koepp hit senior tight end Jagger Hewett for a 10-yard touchdown with around 40 seconds to go, then Hewett picked off a pass about 10 seconds later to seal a 52-48 victory in what arguably could be called the biggest regular-season win in program history.

Tigers coach Zane Hobart said earlier in the week his team was much different from the one that lost 52-0 to the Hornets last year.

Kendrick went out and proved the coach to be prophetic.

"Oakley is a great program (who has a) chance to three-peat," Hobart said afterward. "(The teams) exchanged punches, exchanged blows. The team that had the ball last was going to win (and I'm) glad it was us."

Since that loss in 2021, the Tigers have went 9-1, the lone loss being a 24-22 decision at home against 1A DI Genesee on Oct. 22, 2021. And the only reason Kendrick lost that game was because of Jack Johnson's heroics.

Johnson, who graduated in the spring, had 101 yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns, including a 26-yarder in the fourth quarter to put the Bulldogs in front. He also had 8 1/2 tackles in that contest.

Barring that, the Tigers have been the class of the area in the eight-man ranks. However, now they might be the best eight-man team in the state.

Redemption boys

Clarkston was looking forward to redeeming itself after falling to Moscow a year ago. The Bantams did so in impressive fashion.

Clarkston looked like a team that already had played a game in a 47-0 rout of the Bears at Adams Field in it season opener.

Junior quarterback Carter Steinwand was 15-of-27 passing for 277 yards and three touchdowns, each to different receivers. He also used his legs, running for 23 yards, including a 14-yard score in the second quarter.

The Bantams' defense also was impressive, limiting Moscow to an eye-popping -4 yards rushing.

It's the kind of momentum Clarkston needed ahead of its annual Battle of the Bridges game at 7 p.m. Friday at home against Lewiston. The Bantams haven't won in the past six meetings in the series, and trails overall 82-42-7. Clarkston's last win against the Bengals came on Sept. 19, 2014, in a 21-19 decision.

Pixley may be contacted at (208) 848-2290, tpixley@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @TreebTalks.