Silver Valley Sports Recap: Sept. 23-29

Wallace football

SILVERTON — It wasn’t the most exciting game, it wasn’t a win, but for the Wallace Miners, last Friday night was exactly what they needed.

An improvement.

After going scoreless through their first three games, people began to wonder if the Miners would ever get on the scoreboard.

With two weeks between their last game and their homecoming game against Lakeside, the Miners decided to make some changes.

Between showing a renewed dedication in practice and senior Logan Hull taking over at the QB position, Wallace wasn’t going down without a fight and it showed.

Hull ran for two touchdowns, including a 75 yard scramble in the first quarter, which had the Wallace faithful on their feet in celebration.

Wallace may have lost 30-12, but the Miners found the momentum they had been lacking all season.

Miner head coach Jared Young had been waiting to see some life out of his team. After the frustrating weeks with embarrassing losses he knew something had to change.

“We had two great weeks of practice and really stressed being more physical because we knew Lakeside would be,” Young said. “Our defense really played well and tackled as a team, we just played too much of it. We have to take better care of the football. We put the ball on the ground way too many times. Overall I was very pleased with how we competed and came to play.”

Had the Miners taken care of the ball better, the odds of this game being closer or even a Miner win become exponentially better.

Hull’s play was a revelation for the Miners who had lacked a real playmaker on offense and his coaches noticed.

Now it’s back to the drawing board for the Miners, who will run it back with Lakeside this Friday in Plummer, which could be interesting to see how they game plan for the seemingly revitalized Miner attack.

“If we continue to work hard and compete I like our chances in every game the rest of the way this year. We played Miner football this week and showed great pride and heart, we have to continue that,” Young said. “I give credit to Lakeside, they ran the ball with toughness and played a good game. We will see them again this week and it should be another battle. If we clean things up on offense and take care of the ball and continue to tackle well, this next game should be a fun one.”

Wallace and Lakeside will kick off at 7 p.m. this Friday, at Lakeside High School.

Kellogg volleyball

Kellogg d. St. Maries

KELLOGG — The Wildcats continued their run of solid play as they cruised through the Lumberjacks in three sets (25-14, 25-17, 25-13) on Thursday, Sept. 26, at Andrews Gymnasium.

Once again the Wildcats’ front line of Hailey Cheney and Cierra Brandy made life difficult for their opposition, but it was the facilitation of their back row players and setters who really set the tone for the relatively quick match.

“The passing needs to be there for us to run our advanced sets and they did a great job at getting it up to Grace (Nearing, the setter), was allowing us to keep the ball and the momentum,” Coach Steph Brunner said. “Hailey and Cierra were huge at the net again tonight, Grace Nearing did an absolute phenomenal job getting to every ball and putting up great sets. Jaron Figueroa saw the court wonderfully tonight and placed the ball very strategically while Piper (Rainio), Chloe (Wilbur), and Erin (Van Hoose) all did a great job in the back row digging up balls.”

Mullan football

West Yellowstone 48, Mullan/St. Regis 30

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — The Mullan/St. Regis Tigers went on the road for arguably their toughest test of the season to date.

After losing their first game of the season the week before, coach Stetson Spooner had no idea what version of his team was going to get off the bus, but they responded with a lot of fight despite coming up short to Montana’s fifth-ranked 8-man squad.

Down late in the game, Mullan took some shots that had boom or bust potential and unfortunately it went the other way, but Spooner wasn’t disappointed with his team’s effort.

“We still have a lot of little things to iron out to become the team we know we can be,” Spooner said. “After dropping the ball last week this was a step in the right direction for us despite the loss.”

Mullan volleyball

Clark Fork d. Mullan

CLARK FORK — The Tigers were beaten in three sets by the host Wampus Cats on Thursday, Sept. 26, in North Star League play. No further information was received.

Wallace volleyball

CDA Charter def. Wallace

COEUR d’ALENE — Megan MacKinney had six kills and six aces as Coeur d’Alene Charter topped visiting Wallace 25-19, 25-17, 25-15 on Monday night, Sept. 23, at Holy Family Catholic School.

Coach Katie Bauer wasn’t terribly thrilled with her team’s play, but also mentioned that her squad wasn’t exactly sprinting into the match at full strength.

“All I can say was that it wasn't our best match and we have been battling illness and injury,” Bauer said.

Also last week, the Miners beat the Kootenai Warriors in three sets on Thursday, Sept. 26, at Kirby Krulitz Court. No further stats or information was received for the game.

Kellogg soccer

St. Maries 2, Kellogg 0

KELLOGG — Vanessa Casa and Bianney Ventura scored unassisted goals for the Lumberjacks in an Intermountain League win over the Wildcats on Thursday, Sept. 26, at Teeters Field.

First half — 1, SM, Vanessa Casa (unassisted), 27:00. Second half — 2, SM, Bianney Ventura (unassisted), 63:00.

Shots on goal — SM 8, Kell 4.

Saves — SM, Jenna Holder, 5; Kell, Erika Rose, 6.