Viks back in action after big losses, bye
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 12 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 5, 2012 9:00 PM
Coeur d'Alene High football coach Shawn Amos said back-to-back one-sided losses haven't damaged the confidence of the Vikings (3-2), who are coming off a bye week in preparation of tonight's 5A Inland Empire League opener at Post Falls (1-4, 0-1).
"It was more of a wakeup call than a panic situation for us," Amos said.
After beating Skyview of Nampa, West Linn (Ore.) and Mercer Island (Wash.), Coeur d'Alene lost 71-20 to Skyview of Sammamish, Wash., at the Kibbie Dome to snap a 24-game winning streak, then lost 45-26 at home to Highland of Pocatello the following week.
"I think it (the bye) came at a great time for us," Amos said. "It was nice after five tough games to heal up and get fresh again. We learned a ton of stuff - if we'd played a little easier schedule, we wouldn't have found out our weaknesses."
Amos said those weaknesses were basically "a lot of little things in every aspect of the game," and "I know we have our kids' attention."
Amos said Coeur d’Alene’s success in recent seasons made it easier to weather a couple of bumps in the road.
“It was, ‘OK, where do you want to go from here?’” he said. “Our focus is still to get to the state playoffs.”
Coeur d’Alene plays league foes the next three weeks, traveling to Lewiston next Friday, and hosting Lake City on Oct. 19 before the state 5A play-in games Oct. 26.
Post Falls has lost three straight games, including its league opener 45-24 at Lake City two weeks ago.
Sandpoint (1-4) at Lake City (3-1-1): Lake City has won seven of the last eight meetings between the two teams, and is coming off back-to-back victories over Post Falls and Lewiston in 5A Inland Empire League play. Sandpoint’s lone win came two weeks ago at Timberlake.
Colville (2-3) at Lakeland (3-2): Lakeland has won three straight games. Colville is coming off a 28-7 loss last week to East Valley, a team that beat Lakeland 38-14 four weeks ago.
Bonners Ferry (0-5, 0-0) Intermountain League) at Timberlake (2-3, 1-0): Timberlake has beaten Bonners Ferry eight straight times since the Badgers’ last win in the series, in 2005. Bonners has scored 49 points in five games; Timberlake opened IML play last week with a 56-20 triumph at Kellogg.
St. Maries (2-3, 0-0 Central Idaho League) at Grangeville (0-0, 4-1): After years in the Intermountain League, this will be St. Maries’ first league game as a member of the Central Idaho League.
Grangeville, ranked third in 2A, rebounded from a loss at McCall-Donnelly three weeks ago with a 51-0 victory at the Coeur d’Alene junior varsity last week. The Bulldogs had a game vs. Asotin (Wash.) two weeks ago canceled due to poor air quality from area wildfires.
Kootenai (3-2) at Lakeside (0-4): Kootenai beat Lakeside 52-6 at home five weeks ago. All three of the Warriors’ wins have come by the 45-point mercy rule.
STANDINGS
5A INLAND EMPIRE LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L T
Lake City 2 0 3 1 1
Coeur d’Alene 0 0 3 2 0
Lewiston 0 1 2 2 0
Post Falls 0 1 1 4 0
Friday’s Games
Coeur d’Alene at Post Falls
Sandpoint at Lake City
Lewiston at Moscow
4A INLAND EMPIRE LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Lakeland 0 0 3 2
Sandpoint 0 0 1 4
Moscow 0 0 1 4
Friday’s Games
Colville at Lakeland
Sandpoint at Lake City
Lewiston at Moscow
INTERMOUNTAIN LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Timberlake 1 0 2 3
Priest River 0 0 3 2
Bonners Ferry 0 0 0 5
Kellogg 0 1 0 6
Friday’s Games
Bonners Ferry at Timberlake
Kellogg at Priest River
CENTRAL IDAHO LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Grangeville 0 0 4 1
St. Maries 0 0 2 3
Orofino 0 0 2 2
Thursday’s Game
Lewiston JV at Orofino
Friday’s Game
St. Maries at Grangeville
1A DIVISION I
NORTH STAR LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Wallace 1 0 4 2
Lakeside 0 1 0 4
1A DIVISION II
NORTH STAR LEAGUE
League Overall
W L W L
Kootenai 2 0 3 2
Clark Fork 2 1 4 3
Mullan 0 3 1 5
Thursday’s Game
Clark Fork 50, Mullan 44
Friday’s Games
Kootenai at Lakeside
Lapwai at Wallace
Prep football
Tonight's Games
All at 7 p.m.
Coeur d'Alene at Post Falls
Sandpoint at Lake City
Colville at Lakeland
Bonners Ferry at Timberlake
St. Maries at Grangeville
Kootenai at Lakeside
ARTICLES BY MARK NELKE
PREP FOOTBALL: Post Falls runs past Sandpoint
Sandpoint (2-1) hosts Davis High of Yakima on Friday.
Big Sky Football Kickoff: Plenty of new faces will need to step up for Vandals
“I’ve been very impressed by Zach’s natural ability to rush the passer,” Eck said. “And he’s worked hard on his body, he’s up to about 222 pounds now, and I really think he can be a difference maker for us. He’s still doing some things with the linebackers, but I think his speed can give some offensive linemen problems (as an edge rusher).”
THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Journey to a title in Bonners — with a brief stop in Cd’A
“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.”