Hillcrest overcomes strong Lakeland start, snowy elements to earn championship game berth
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AMMON — With 20 seconds on the clock, Hillcrest head coach Brennon Mossholder paced the sideline by himself, 20 yards from any of his players or coaches.
Lakeland had the ball in the redzone. But his Knights had a two-score lead.
Even after a dynamite comeback, which saw his Knights outscore Lakeland 35-7 over the final 25 minutes of the game, Mossholder was feeling the pressure of a semifinal game very much in doubt. He knew that, given the conditions, an onside kick would be difficult to recover.
He told EastIdahoNews.com that the only way to relieve that pressure was for his defense to hold its line.
And it did.
The Hawks never found the endzone, and thus Mossholder’s hands team was never tested.
Instead, the Hillcrest defense put the finishing touches on what was an incredible second-half resurgence, sealing a 42-28 Knights victory and berth into the 5A State Championship game.
“It certainly wasn’t clean,” Mossholder said of his team’s performance. “I think that’s the poorest I’ve seen us tackle in a while … three turnovers. I just told the guys, that’s not going to get it done in the state title game, but it was just enough tonight. We found a way. We persevered.”
Everything went Lakeland’s way out of the gate.
The Hawks (9-3) took the opening kickoff and asserted their ground dominance, running 10 straight times for 67 yards and a 7-0 lead.
Hillcrest (9-3), looking to answer, was driving when senior running back Titan Larsen fumbled possession back to Lakeland in Hawks territory.
Once again, the Hawks rode a powerful rushing attack, capped by a 53-yard touchdown run from senior Lovie Weil, to take a 14-0 lead 11 minutes into the game.
The Knights finally did find the endzone, with 4:39 left in the first half.
Junior Tyson Sweetwood, a normally prolific two-way quarterback, finished a 50-yard touchdown drive with a three-yard scoring run. The Knights did not throw a single pass on the possession.
When the game began, the air was cold but dry. Not long after the opening kick though, snow began to fall, and it never let up. By the time the teams returned from halftime, the Westmark Stadium turf had turned from green to white, and officials were changing out balls between every play.
Sweetwood, known for spinning a beautiful deep ball, threw most of his passes near or behind the line of scrimmage — when he threw at all.
Mossholder said he would have loved to run his normal offense, and attempt explosive pass plays. Alas, he had to adjust with the elements.
“That’s not the Hillcrest offense you’re used to seeing, but we average 35 and we just put up 42. You find a way. … You find a way in the elements,” he said.
Lakeland was also finding a way, attempting just six passes in the first half, choosing instead to ride Weil up and down the field.
The physical running back carried the ball 14 times for 139 yards in the first half. Three of those runs ended in the endzone, including the one that gave Lakeland a 21-6 lead with 1:22 left in the second quarter.
After Sweetwod began the ensuing possession with a pair of incompletions, it appeared the Knights were contempt to kill some clock before punting the ball back to the Hawks. But Sweetwood took the QB draw 21 yards and reignited his offense.
One minute, Six plays and 51 yards later, Sweetwood and Hillcrest were back in the endzone with seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Beginning with that drive, the Knights would outscore Lakeland 35-7 over the final 25 minutes of the game.
The defense picked up, allowing only one score coming on the heels of a third Knights fumble deep in their own territory.
Weil, who rolled in the first half, was flattened in the second half — though he did find the endzone once more on the short-field, third-quarter score.
Haydon Benson, Lakeland’s senior QB, found little in the passing game, while Sweetwood did hit a few big pass plays.
The home team’s signal-caller also broke an 72-yard run, setting up a Larsen touchdown to pull within one score late in the third quarter.
The Knights scored again, on a Larsen run with 7:31 remaining in the game, to tie the score at 28. After another defensive stop, Sweetwood led his offense to a go-ahead score with 3:23 left.
Lakeland, needing to make a play, trailing 35-28 with just over two minutes remaining, were again stopped, giving the Knights the ball at the Hawks’ 10 yard line.
Before calling an offensive play to start the drive, Mossholder called a timeout.
His only message to his offense? “Hold the ball with two hands.”
Larsen did not heed that instruction, and crossed the goal line with just one hand on the ball.
Asked about his team’s comeback, turning a 21-6 deficit into a 42-28 victory, Mossholder spoke about the training his team goes through in order to be prepared to battle for a full 48 minutes.
“I think we were able to wear them down over the course of the game,” Mossholder said. “And we just started executing. We didn’t turn the ball over anymore, we tackled better.”
The coach was proud of his team’s ugly win. It showed heart, effort, fight. When the Knights play for the 5A football banner, Mossholder expects things to be cleaner, and the explosive offense to be on display.
“I think we’ll get a chance to see that in the dome next week,” he said.
The Hillcrest coaching staff will be in attendance at the ICCU Dome Saturday, when Minico faces Skyline for the right to do battle with Hillcrest in that championship game.
