Trojans, Vikings collide tonight
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 1 month 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 21, 2011 9:00 PM
Asked what most concerned him about the Coeur d'Alene High football team, Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz said he couldn't really narrow it down to one thing.
"They have all facets of the game covered," said Hinz, who brings his fourth-ranked Trojans (6-1, 1-0 5A Inland Empire League) to top-ranked Coeur d'Alene (7-0, 1-0) for a key league matchup tonight at 7.
"The two facets everyone forgets about is their special teams and their defense. They usually kick it off into the end zone. And they have a great pass rush."
The winner puts itself in a position to win the league title, though nothing will be completely settled until next week.
Tyson Johnson has rushed for 902 yards and 13 touchdowns for Post Falls, which has won four straight. Joey Pfennigs has passed for 927 yards and nine touchdowns, and Johnny Haskew has 27 receptions for 451 yards and three TDs. Seth Anderson has four TD catches.
“They’ve got some weapons,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “I don’t think they have to be one-dimensional against us, and I’m sure they’re pretty confident. They’ll be a handful.”
Hinz referenced the “ungodly” numbers the Vikings are putting up this season — Coeur d’Alene is averaging 55.4 points per game, Chad Chalich has thrown for 1,944 yards and 26 touchdowns with just one interception, Carlos Martinez has rushed for 524 yards and six touchdowns, Bubba Duran has 36 receptions for 494 yards and six TDs, and Deon Watson has 30 catches for 471 yards and seven scores.
Coeur d’Alene is averaging 496 yards per game. The defense is averaging just over three sacks per game, led by Joe Roletto’s 4.5 sacks on the season. Roletto also has a team-high three interceptions.
“We’ve got to keep their offense off the field, and we have to control the ball, score some points and chew up some clock, and not put our defense in bad positions,” Hinz said.
Other games:
Lake City (4-3) at Sandpoint (1-6): It’s the second of two straight road games for Lake City before its key 5A IEL matchup with Coeur d’Alene next Thursday. Sandpoint has lost five straight games, the last four by a combined 230-67.
Moscow (3-4, 0-0 4A Inland Empire League) at Lakeland (5-3, 1-0): Lakeland, which routed Sandpoint 61-27 last week, can win the league title and clinch its first playoff berth since 2007 with a victory over the Bears tonight at Corbit Field.
Lakeland quarterback Eric Cooper has passed for 1,866 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. Troy Carr and Taylor Campbell have each scored nine TDs. Corey Hansel has rushed for 456 yards, an average of 8.4 yards per carry.
Priest River (0-7, 0-2 Intermountain League) at St. Maries (1-7, 0-3): This is the season finale for St. Maries, which will leave the IML after this season and drop down to 2A next year.
Timberlake (5-2, 2-0 IML) at Bonners Ferry (2-5, 1-1): Timberlake can clinch a state 3A playoff berth with a victory. Bonners Ferry’s lone league victory was 32-31 over St. Maries, a team Timberlake beat 72-12. Timberlake has beaten Bonners Ferry seven straight times.
Mullan (1-5, 1-5 North Star League) at Kootenai (2-5, 2-4): Kootenai can clinch a berth in the state 1A Division II playoffs with a victory. Kootenai won 86-40 at Mullan five weeks ago.
Wallace (6-1, 6-0 NSL) at Lakeside (7-1, 6-1): Lakeside needs to win to force a tiebreaker with Wallace for the lone berth to state from 1A Division I. If not, Lakeside’s season is over. Wallace won the first matchup 74-24 in Silverton.
5A INLAND EMPIRE LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Coeur d’Alene 1 0 7 0
Post Falls 1 0 6 1
Lake City 1 1 4 3
Lewiston 0 2 4 4
Friday’s Games
Post Falls at Coeur d’Alene
Lake City at Sandpoint
Lewiston is idle
4A INLAND EMPIRE LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Lakeland 1 0 5 3
Moscow 0 0 3 4
Sandpoint 0 1 1 6
Friday’s Games
Moscow at Lakeland
Lake City at Sandpoint
INTERMOUNTAIN LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Kellogg 3 0 3 4
Timberlake 2 0 5 2
Bonners Ferry 1 1 2 5
Priest River 0 2 0 7
St. Maries 0 3 1 7
Friday’s Games
Priest River at St. Maries
Timberlake at Bonners Ferry
Kellogg at Kamiah
NORTH STAR LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Wallace 6 0 6 1
Lakeside 6 1 7 1
Kootenai 2 4 2 5
Mullan 1 5 1 5
Clark Fork 1 6 1 6
Friday’s Games
Mullan at Kootenai
Wallace at Lakeside
Clark Fork is idle
Prep football
Tonight's Games
All at 7 p.m.
Post Falls at Coeur d'Alene
Lake City at Sandpoint
Moscow at Lakeland
Priest River at St. Maries
Timberlake at Bonners Ferry
Mullan at Kootenai
Wallace at Lakeside
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