Lake City sophomore nose guard stands out
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. | September 2, 2011 9:00 PM
Sophomore Gavan Rosteck made an immediate impact in his first varsity game last Friday for Lake City in its 46-21 victory over Lakeland in the season opener for both teams.
Rosteck, a 5-foot-10, 220-pound nose guard, tackled a Lakeland ballcarrier for a safety and helped the Timberwolves hold the Hawks to 27 rushing yards.
"He's going to cause some people some problems," Lake City coach Van Troxel said. "He's been a running back/linebacker, but he had a blast tonight. I think we solved that problem. It's been kinda 'push come to shove,' but now, when he finally got out here I think the light's gone on in his head like 'yeah, this is all right.'"
Tonight, Lake City plays host to Post Falls in one of those matchups between 5A Inland Empire League teams that does not count in the league standings. The teams play again Sept. 30 at Post Falls in the league matchup.
Both teams are 1-0. Post Falls beat Lewiston 29-16 last week in another nonleague game between 5A IEL teams.
Asked if he might play it close to the vest in the first meeting and save the "good stuff" for when they meet in league play, Troxel said he didn't think so, noting it's still a rivalry game. Then he added, "I don't know what the good stuff is yet. We're still trying to find out what the good stuff is."
On Saturday, Coeur d’Alene (1-0), ranked No. 1 in 5A, plays Moses Lake (0-0) in the Emerald City Kickoff Classic at 5:30 p.m. at Century Link Field in Seattle. It’s the fourth of five games to be played that day in the home stadium of the NFL’s Seahawks.
Last year, Coeur d’Alene beat Moses Lake 31-0 at home in a game called midway through the third quarter because of repeated lightning strikes in the area. Coeur d’Alene was scheduled to travel to Moses Lake this year, but Emerald City Kickoff Classic officials asked the teams to move the game to Seattle.
“That’s going to be a neat experience,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said of playing in an NFL stadium. “I think the kids will be more excited than the coaches. To us, it doesn’t matter where we play, but you don’t get that opportunity that often.”
This week is the season opener for all of the Washington schools. Also tonight, Lakeland (0-1) plays at Colville, St. Maries (0-1) visits Medical Lake, Timberlake (1-0) travels to Riverside. In the only other all-Idaho matchup, Kootenai (0-1, 0-1 North Star League) visits Lakeside (1-0, 1-0) in a league game.
Prep football
Tonight's Games
All 7 p.m.
Post Falls at Lake City
Lakeland at Colville
St. Maries at Medical Lake
Kootenai at Lakeside
Timberlake at Riverside
Saturday's Game
Coeur d'Alene vs. Moses Lake at CenturyLink Field, Seattle, 5:30 p.m.
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