Must-win for Trojans tonight
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 3 months AGO
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order. | October 22, 2010 9:00 PM
Post Falls has no margin for error tonight — beat Coeur d’Alene, or its playoff hopes are dashed.
“Our backs are against the wall. We’re basically in the playoffs right now (win or go home),” Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz said.
Fourth-ranked Post Falls (6-1, 0-1 5A Inland Empire League) plays host to second-ranked Coeur d’Alene (6-1, 1-0) tonight at 7 at Trojan Stadium.
A Post Falls win muddies up the 5A playoff picture. A Coeur d’Alene win eliminates Post Falls and Lewiston from playoff contention, and means Coeur d’Alene and Lake City (5-2, 2-0) are in the playoffs, and Lake City’s game at Coeur d’Alene next Friday will determine the host team when the two squads meet again the following week in the first round of the playoffs.
Coeur d’Alene has some margin for error, but would rather not have to think about Plan B.
“It’s just as critical to us as it is to them, because we don’t want to get into another Kansas tiebreaker,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos, whose team beat Post Falls and Lewiston in a Kansas tiebreaker last year to make the state playoffs. “I don’t think people remember, but they (the Trojans) were the preseason pick to win the (league).”
Coeur d’Alene won 44-3 at Lewiston last week; Post Falls lost 22-21 at Lake City on Oct. 1.
Post Falls has won the last three meetings with Coeur d’Alene, but neither coach is putting much stock in that.
“We don’t have the magic Coeur d’Alene recipe — we just got it done,” Hinz said of those games.
Sandpoint (3-4) at Lake City (5-2): Sandpoint won at Lakeland last week without star running back/kick returner Anthony Gold, and Lake City beat Wenatchee without quarterback Mark Smyly, both due to injuries. It is doubtful either will play much or at all tonight, with both teams facing huge league games next Friday — Sandpoint at home vs. Moscow in the 4A Inland Empire League, Lake City at Coeur d’Alene in the 5A IEL.
Lakeland (2-6, 0-1 4A IEL) at Moscow (5-2, 0-0): Lakeland needs to win tonight or its season is over, and Moscow’s game at Sandpoint next week would decide the league’s lone berth to the state playoffs.
Bonners Ferry (3-4, 2-0 Intermountain League) at Timberlake (2-5, 2-0): A win would wrap up the league’s No. 1 seed to the state playoffs for Timberlake, which closes out IML play next week at winless Kellogg. Timberlake has beaten Bonners Ferry six straight times over the past four seasons.
St. Maries (3-5, 1-2 IML) at Priest River (2-5, 1-1): St. Maries needs a victory to keep its slim playoff hopes alive. Otherwise, its season is over.
Clark Fork (2-4, 2-4 North Star League) at Lakeside (5-2, 5-2): Lakeside won the first meeting 54-14 on Sept. 17 at Clark Fork.
On the air/web: Coeur d’Alene-Post Falls is on KVNI and www.IdahoSports.com; Sandpoint-Lake City is on www.niwebsports.com.
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“The whole process has been completely amazing,” said Nathan Williams, now in his fourth season as the Badgers boys basketball coach. “And the parents … it’s an hour and a half to Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, when we’d play an AAU game, and an hour and a half back, and there were so many times there was 6, 8 inches of snow. And we’ve got a game at 8 a.m. They’d always schedule us at 8 a.m., coming from Bonners. So we’re waking up at 5 … it was crazy. But the commitment from the parents and the kids has been amazing.”