Cardinals flattened by St. Maries in season opener

It’s a building season for the Medical Lake Cardinals football squad, and they definitely hit a building called St. Maries in a one-sided, 32-2 non-league blowout in their season opener Friday, Sept. 6, in Idaho.

It was an aggressive St. Maries defense that was penalized five times for 50 yards in the game. It as also a game of opposites. With roughly the same time of possession, and the St. Maries defense zeroed-in on the Cardinal running game and pushing them back for a loss of 24 rushing yards, the Cardinals chose to stick to the pass while the Lumberjacks stayed on the ground, rushing for 345 yards.

“It was a hostile environment,” head coach Jeremy Bahr said, noting that the Lumberjacks sideline was on the opposite side of the field, putting the hometown St. Maries crowd behind the Cardinal bench. “They had some really unruly parents chirping.”

After a scoreless first quarter, the Lumberjacks were the first to put points on the board after recovering a blocked Cardinal punt in the end zone with 11:51 remaining in the second quarter.

But a minute and 38 seconds later, Medical Lake scored a safety that would be their only points in the game with the score St. Maries 6, Medical Lake 2, going into halftime.

The third quarter remained scoreless until a failed St. Maries kick allowed Lumberjack Eli Gibson run the ball 25 yards into the end zone for six more to extend the St. Maries lead to 10, followed with 45 seconds left in the third by another Gibson run for 75 yards after yet another failed kick. Score: 16-2 Lumberjacks.

Lacking depth and taking on a team with a line that Bahr estimated averaged 280-pounds, the Cardinals seemed to lose their determination halfway through the third.

“The kids played their lights out for two and a half quarters,” he said.

It was the fourth quarter that St. Maries gobbled up 14 more points on a 16-yard Dylan Larson run, followed by a Shaun Anderson 10 yarder, sealing the final 32-2 score that notched the Lumberjack’s second win of their season.

It was an air game for the Cardinals, with junior quarterback Ashton Hamilton-Becker completing 8 for 18 for 57 yards and one interception, while sophomore Eugene Haas threw 1 for 2 for 10 yards for a total of 67 yards passing and nine completions in 20 attempts.

The Cardinals running game was stopped cold by the Lumberjacks rush defense — Medical Lake’s 27 rushes netted a negative 24 yards. Senior Brandon Giles was the only running back to gain yards, carrying the ball seven times for seven yards. Of the other four players who ran the ball, all were pushed back into negative territory.

Hamilton-Becker went to senior wide receiver Kolby Wren, who hauled in two catches for 16 yards, and senior Jordan Petersen with one catch for 12; while sophomore Joe Griffey snagged one catch for 10. Seniors Zeke Lewis made one catch for six and Kaleb Vinson one for six. Senior Mason Hammond had two catches for negative six yards.

Despite the score Bahr was impressed by his players.

“I was impressed with some of our first-year guys,” he said.

Bahr singled out Brent Keith and senior Taye Jones.

“Brent Keith played solid on offense and defense,” Bahr said. “And Taye Jones played his heart out.”

But in the end it’s the score, and the amount of real estate it represents that matters in football. The Lumberjacks had both on Friday with 12 first downs to the Cardinal six and 398 total yards to the Cardinal’s 43.

“Effort-wise it was there,” Bahr said. “We just have to clean a few things up offensively execution-wise.”

They’ll need to get things dialed-in. Medical Lake (0-1) will host the Okanogan Bulldogs (0-1) out of the Caribou Trail League tomorrow night. Bahr called the Bulldogs a well-coached, “playoff-caliber team” with lots of returning players. Okanogan will be coming off of a tight 48-44 loss last Friday to the Warden Cougars.

Kickoff for the Friday, Sept. 13, game is 7 p.m. at Holliday Field.

Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.