Trojans drop wild 56-42 game to Ontario

Posted: Saturday, Oct 06, 2007 - 11:16:55 pm PDT
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By ROD HARWOOD
Sports writer 

POST FALLS -- At one point in the second quarter, Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz said into the headset, "This looks like an arena football game."

The Trojans lost a wild one Saturday afternoon in a game that featured 831 total yards -- more than 600 yards in total offense in the first half alone -- along with 98 total points, six first-quarter touchdowns and two kickoff returns for touchdowns.

Senior Levi Buckles caught seven balls for 178 yards and three first-half touchdowns and still Post Falls wasn't able keep pace with Ontario, Ore., in its 56-42 nonleague loss.

"I think it was an accumulative team effort. It wasn't any one unit's fault," Hinz said. "The offense could have capitalized and scored when they had extra opportunities in the second half off the turnovers.

"Special teams could have covered kicks better and the defense could have played a little more physical."

It started off with a bang and just kept going. Starting quarterback Nikk Reinhardt hooked up with Buckles on a 55-yard corner route for a touchdown on the second play of the game against a defense that hadn't give up a touchdown in its previous five games.

But before the dust settled, Ontario senior Loren Stewart returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards for the touchdown and just like that it was 7-7 in less than two minutes.

"We knew we were in for a handful with their offense because they can throw the ball. Buckles is the best player we've seen," said Ontario coach Randy Waite, whose 4A Tigers (6-0) play in the Greater Oregon League.

"We didn't know how our defense would respond being scored on so quickly. But we pride ourselves on special teams. We had three punts for touchdowns in one game, so to come right back was big."

The initial minutes of the game turned into the Buckles and Stewart Show. Stewart broke off a 73-yard touchdown run and Buckles hauled in a 49-yard scoring pass from Reinhardt to tie it 14-14 with 5:52 left in the opening quarter.

Buckles, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior, hauled in his third touchdown pass of the first half to cut the Ontario lead to 28-21 with 8:25 left.

"It's fun catching touchdowns like that, but this game was about us not finishing," said Buckles, who caught five balls for 170 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.

Stewart rushed for 106 of his game-high 272 yards in the first half. He also had a 61-yard touchdown run in the second half.

"We watched them on film and we knew they were a good passing team, but they were even better than we thought," said Stewart, who rushed for 225 yards earlier in the season. "That first touchdown was a real gut shot. It shocked us. We haven't seen receivers like this. It just wasn't (Buckles), they were all good."

Jake Turner also returned an 84-yard kickoff for a touchdown.

The Tigers roughed the punter near the end of the second quarter and Reinhardt, who also does the punting chores, left the field on wobbly legs and didn't not return in the second half.

He finished 9 of 19 for 196 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Casey Dragon, a 6-foot, 200-pound senior who started the season at quarterback before suffering an ankle injury in the second game of the season, returned and completed 19 of 29 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

The Trojans (4-2) couldn't take advantage of six Tiger fumbles. Cole Amende led the Post Falls defense with six tackles and Jerod Kennedy finished with 5.5 tackles

Post Falls finished with 388 yards passing and 449 total yards on the day. Ontario rushed for 398 yards and finished with 432 total yards.

Post Falls opens its 5A Inland Empire League schedule at Lake City on Friday.

Ontario 28 7 7 14 -- 56

Post Falls 14 7 7 14 -- 42

PF -- Levi Buckles 55 pass from Nikk Reinhardt (Reinhardt kick)

• -- Loren Stewart 87 kickoff return (Jacob Haueter kick)

• -- Stewart 73 run (Haueter kick)

PF -- Buckles 49 pass from Reinhardt (Reinhardt kick)

• -- Jake Turner 10 run (Haueter kick)

• -- Turner 42 run (Haueter kick)

PF -- Buckles 19 pass from Reinhardt (Reinhardt kick)

• -- Bret Martin 23 pass from Josh Mejia (Haueter kick)

PF -- Brandon Brubaker 19 pass from Casey Dragon (Dragon kick)

• -- Stewart 61 run (Haueter kick)

PF -- Randy Hamilton 4 pass from Dragon (Dragon kick)

• -- Turner 84 kickoff return (Haueter kick)

• -- Sap 18 run (Haueter kick)

PF -- Brubaker 9 pass from Dragon (Dragon kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Ont, Stewart 19-272, Turner 11-76, Sap 3-20, Mejia 4-33, Keyes 2-(-6), Lopez 2-18, Lang 2-(-15). PF, Hamilton 15-46, Brubaker 2-(-7), Reinhardt 2-15, Dragon 3-(-11), Buckles 1-12, Bartholomew 1-0.

PASSING -- Ont, Sap 2-4-0-10, Mejia 1-1-0-23. PF, Reinhardt 9-19-1-196, Dragon 19-29-4-194, Brubaker 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING -- Ont, Turner 1-9, Martin 1-23, Stewart 1-1. PF, Buckles 7-178, Brubaker 9-109, Hamilton 6-38, Perkinson 4-46, Weeks 2-17.