Silver Valley Sports Recap: Oct. 14-20

Kellogg football

BONNERS FERRY — It wasn’t pretty, but the Kellogg Wildcats got the job done in the freezing cold of Bonners Ferry, knocking off the Badger 14-0 on Friday night.

Both the Wildcats and Badgers went scoreless in the first half, mainly due to the Wildcats’ struggles on offense while maintaining their solid run of defensive play.

The second half was interesting to say the very least.

Midway through the third quarter the Wildcats blocked a punt that resulted in a safety, and then parlayed good field position into the games first touchdown to take an 8-0 lead heading into the final frame.

The Wildcats would put the final score on the board on a double reverse run from Tyler Oertli, but the game wasn’t over yet.

Over the course of the rest of the game it seemed as though the Wildcat defense was getting flagged on every play, which moved the ball down the field for the Badgers until finally Wildcat sophomore corner KJ Walker was able to go up and pick off the Badgers quarterback and seal the game for Kellogg.

Kellogg (3-4, 2-0 Intermountain League) will travel to Timberlake for the IML championship this Friday at 7 p.m.

Wallace football

Clark Fork 46, Wallace 14

WALLACE — The Miners celebrated senior night last week, but unfortunately Wallace just couldn’t pull of the win over the visiting Wampus Cats.

The Miners opened the game with a 10-play touchdown drive punctuated by senior Mitchell Vawter getting into the endzone for the first of his two touchdowns of the game.

Coach Jared Young was pleased with how his team adapted throughout the season.

Due to low numbers and a lack of older players, the Miners played a non-league schedule this year and still struggled to find themselves.

However, midway through the season the Miners made some changes and things began to move positively for Wallace.

“I felt we really improved this season and really improved our toughness and pride in how we play,” Young said. “Our kids really battled this season and we competed, which was a real point of emphasis for us this year, coming out to play and competing, which our kids did every play, and I am very proud of them for that.”

Young thought this game perfectly reflected the Miners this season, as they showed they were a capable football team, but need to clean up some small errors if they want to turn capability into actual wins.

“The game was hard fought on both sides; we just again had problems with consistency and had a few bad snaps that costs us in another couple of drives and let the game slip away,” Young said. “But all the credit goes to Clark Fork for how they played, but again I was happy with how we battled with a banged up O-line and had a lot of young guns playing and they really gave it their all which is all you can ask.”

Kellogg volleyball

Kellogg d. Wallace

KELLOGG — It was a celebration of cancer awareness when the Wildcats hosted their neighbors from Wallace on Oct. 15.

The Wildcats were able to pull off the win in three sets (25-11, 25-18, 25-17) despite a solid performance from a very game Miner squad.

The Wildcats were propelled to victory on the back of their hitting and serving which kept Wallace guessing all night long.

Senior Cierra Brandt in particular made sure her final game against Wallace was a memorable one as she finished with nine kills and seven aces for the Wildcats.

The Miners seemed to start each set with momentum, but it was dashed each time as the Wildcats would storm back and take the lead.

Wallace coach Katie Bauer watched helplessly as her team fought valiantly against the talented and much bigger Wildcats and was complimentary of both her team and Kellogg during the match.

“I know we were all a bit disappointed,” Bauer said. “We jumped out to a 6-3 lead in that first set behind Riley Valley’s serving, and after some back and forth Cierra Brandt just killed us at the service line for something like 11 points. Kellogg is also huge on the net and it was a fight to deal with that mismatch. We had some amazing defensive plays (Skylar Hill led the way with 10 digs), but Kellogg just had more kills and that was the difference maker.”

Kellogg coach Steph Brunner has been doing everything in her power to keep her team sharp as they look to the postseason with high aspirations.

And she liked what she saw from her team.

“Cierra’s serving was huge tonight,” Brunner said. “We had a lot of solid play all over the court. Kaytee Ferreira played well at the net defensively and Jaron Figueroa had great placement with her hitting. Our hitting and serving really worked well for us tonight.”

Wallace volleyball

Wallace d. Lakeside

PLUMMER — Nicole Middleton had nine digs and Kria Peters 18 assists for the Knights in a 25-15, 25-23, 25-22 loss to the Miners in North Star League play at Ron Miller Court.

Tenley Lambert had five kills and two aces and Glory Olson two blocks for Lakeside (6-12, 3-4 NSL), which faced Wallace again on Saturday in Wallace.

“Wallace just keeps the ball going at you,” Lakeside coach Brad Veile said. “Our biggest issue was we gave away 14 points on serves (46 of 60). We just didn’t do well in that area. Overall, the girls played well, didn’t get down and almost went on a run and fought back.”

Wallace d. Lakeside

WALLACE — The Miners swept the Knights 25-23, 25-20, 25-19 in North Star League play on Oct. 19 at Kirby Krulitz Court.

Statistics were not available.

“We did all right, but we killed ourselves with our serving,” Lakeside coach Brad Veile said. “We served 73 percent, which was our biggest downfall. Wallace played a strong match, and served really well and played their game.”

Lakeside (6-13) will host Kootenai on Wednesday in a 1A Division II District 1 play-in match at 6 p.m., with that winner advancing to face top seeded Clark Fork next Saturday. Mullan will face Genesis Prep in the other semifinal match.