The Cheney High School Blackhawks took on Post Falls, the 5A Inland Empire League school powerhouse, last Friday and fell 56-10.
“We played a very good Post Falls team,” head coach Bobby Byrd said. “I imagine they are going to do well in their league and make a run to state. All credit to Post Falls, they executed really well.”
The Trojans started off hot as running back Braden Vaughan scored the first touchdown running it in from the 3-yard line. Quarterback Nate Buer ran in a successful two-point conversion after the score, with it being 8-0 in favor of Post Falls with 11 minutes left in the first quarter.
The following play, senior linebacker Logan Kendall sacked the quarterback but Post Falls continued their scoring streak with a touchdown pass to Jake Pfennigs. The Trojans went for another two point conversion but failed, making the score 14-0.
Post Falls had one more touchdown in the first quarter when Vaughan ran into the end zone from Cheney’s 4-yard line, followed by an extra point, putting the Trojans in a 21-0 lead going into the second quarter.
Buer threw a 23 yard touchdown pass to Taylor Ryan at the beginning of the second quarter, to extend the Trojan’s lead to 28-0.
The Blackhawks then had a punt blocked that was also returned for a touchdown with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter, with 35-0 on the scoreboard.
“We came out and battled,” Byrd said. “We stuttered here and there but the effort was still there. With this team, we did not quit which is what I wanted to see as a coach.”
Going into the second half, the Blackhawks were down on the scoreboard but also on the field as quarterback Cole Hinrichs had to leave the game due to an injury. He is expected to be out for about four weeks and junior Mekhai Goodloe will continue to take snaps in the pocket for Cheney.
“Mekhai stepped in and did a great job for us, that is a tough position to go into and he did it well,” Byrd added.
Post Falls continued to strike against the Blackhawks as there was two more touchdown passes thrown for the Trojans. Cheney eventually made it on the board with a field goal kicked by sophomore Alex Petropoulus, putting the Blackhawks down by 49-3 in the third quarter.
With under a minute remaining in the third, Cheney was down 56-3 until senior wide receiver Peyton Putney ran in a 9-yard touchdown, with the score at 56-10.
“A lot of guys stepped up in the game including Peyton Putney,” Byrd said. “The kids played hard and they played even harder in the second half. The high point for me as a coach was them not quitting and being mentally strong. Being down by that much is a hard thing to do. I have a lot of kids that work hard and don’t quit, which equals a good team. We played hard for four quarters and were tough mentally”
No individual stats were available at press time.
Next up for Cheney is a home game against Eisenhower tomorrow, Sept. 22, with kickoff at 7 p.m. Last year against Eisenhower, the Blackhawks made the three hour trip and came out with a win, defeating EHS 28-14.
“This is another opportunity to get better and improve while getting ready for league,” Byrd added.
League play will start next week as they open up at East Valley on Sept. 29 at 7 p.m.
Grace Pohl can be reached at grace@cheneyfreepress.com.
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