Capital falls to state's best team, 41-9

This is becoming a season of character-building. Capital, facing Lakes, the state's top-ranked 3A squad, struck first, but couldn't hold back a powerful offense, eventually losing 41-9.

Capital (1-3 overall, 0-2 WCC) showed an ability to sustain drives against Lakes with a conservative passing game from sophomore Kellen Camus and tough inside running by twin brothers Riley and Reid Wall. But in the end, Lakes (4-0, 2-0) just had too much offense on the ground and through the air.

Schmidtke, a transfer from Life Christian, completed 20 of 27 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns and Dominick Davis ran wild for 168 yards and three touchdowns. His touchdown runs of 50 and 43 yards in the third quarter broke open the game after the Lancers led 20-9 at halftime.

"I thought they were bigger, faster and stronger than us," free safety Joseph Ingman said.

Lakes amassed 476 total yards of offense and it could have been worse had Lancers receivers not dropped a couple of deep passes that were on the mark.

Up next: Clover Park, who dogged Timberline for a while before fading. We're probably out of the playoff picture, but could use a win just to bring back some confidence.