Top local sports stories of 2013

It was not easy narrowing it down to the top 10 stories. A team pretty much had to win a state or national championship to make the cut. A lot of real good accomplishments — many second-place finishes at state, and many standout individual performances — got left off.

So here are the top 10 sports stories of 2013, as selected by the Coeur d’Alene Press sports staff:

1 Coeur d’Alene High football

The Vikings had to overcome adversity on and off the field to capture their third state 5A football title in four years.

And, in the title game, Coeur d’Alene had to overcome a deficit with a drive for the ages in the closing minutes in November.

Trailing throughout the fourth quarter and with time running out, the Vikings drove 80 yards in the final minute and a half. Backup quarterback Austin Lee scrambled the final 15 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 47 seconds left, and Coeur d’Alene rallied past Highland of Pocatello 31-28 in the state 5A championship football game before an estimated 5,500 at the Kibbie Dome.

“We needed a little good luck; we’ve been dealing with enough bad luck,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in October and then watched his son and starting quarterback, Gunnar Amos, suffer a concussion late in the regular season, then a broken ankle in the first round of the state playoffs. “A real testament to this program and these kids and these coaches. And Highland is one heck of a football program. Those are two evenly matched teams.”

Coeur d’Alene (9-3) was in its fourth straight state title game, after finishing second last year. Highland (11-1) had beaten Coeur d’Alene 24-21 in Pocatello earlier in the season.

“It’s amazing, it’s the greatest feeling in the world,” said Coeur d’Alene senior Jackson Carlson, who returned an interception for a touchdown in the first half, and also recovered a fumble. “I’ll remember this the rest of my life, this whole season. It’s just crazy. All the misfortune that’s happened to our team so far, something had to go our way.”

Lee, a sophomore, shined in relief of Amos, guiding the Vikings to a victory over Post Falls on the final week of the regular season. He then came in when Amos was injured in the state quarterfinals vs. Timberline of Boise, and helped Coeur d’Alene beat Capital of Boise in the semis.

But he had plenty of help from a talented and deep Viking team, led by University of Washington recruits Matt James and Chase Blakley.

2 Lake City softball

For the second time in three seasons, the Timberwolves won the state 5A softball title. For the second time in three seasons, Lake City did it with a perfect season.

After going 26-0 two years ago for the program’s first state title since 2001, the Timberwolves finished 28-0 this year, culminating with a 10-0 win over Eagle in six innings to win the state championship in May at Ramsey Park in Coeur d’Alene.

“They were a driven group all year long,” Lake City coach Laura Tolzmann said. “They’re phenomenal and one of the best groups I’ve been around in my coaching career.”

It is the third time a 5A team has finished the season undefeated.

“We knew we’d face some tough teams and we’d have some good games in the tournament,” Tolzmann said. “What was awesome for us was that we were able to have different kids step up in each game. That’s the thing with this group, it’s all about the team.”

Coeur d’Alene, which upset Lake City 5-2 last year in Chubbuck for the state title, lost to Lake City 4-3 in the semifinals and then lost to Eagle 4-2 to finish third at 20-10.

“When we came up short against Lake City, I could see the air go out of the balloon,” Coeur d’Alene coach Larry Bieber said. “As hard as we dug in against Eagle, we couldn’t execute and get the job done.”

In the title game, Vanessa Shippy and JaeCie Wilson, who bat 1-2 in the lineup, had three hits each for Lake City, and combined to score five of the team’s 10 runs.

“It’s great,” said Shippy, a second baseman who has signed to play at Oklahoma State. “We knew our team was capable of doing this. Our offense came out rocking all year long and it showed in this game. When I get on base, the game is more exciting for me. All year, we knew what we wanted and we came out and got it. We wanted our season to end like this. It was rough for us offensively on Friday, but it was good for us to end like this.”

Stangel, now a freshman pitcher/right fielder at Missouri, closed her high school career with a 92-9 record — with only two losses the last three seasons. She was 28-0 as a senior at Lake City. Shippy batted .737 and stole 56 bases. Both were named to numerous All-American teams, and Stangel was named national Player of the Year on one.

Of the 14 individual and team records Lake City keeps track of, the 2013 Timberwolves broke records in 12 of them.

3 Post Falls girls basketball

The Trojans had already developed a pretty good core of returning seniors, with guard Brooke Litalien, a starter since her freshman year; forward Dani Failor, a starter since her sophomore year; and point guard Katie King.

Add in senior Hallie Gennett, a transfer and an all-Greater Spokane League selection at University High in Spokane, and Post Falls emerged as the preseason favorite to win the state 5A title.

The Trojans didn’t disappoint, losing just one game all season, and beating Coeur d’Alene in a nail-biter of a state title game in February at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

In a game with eight lead changes — most coming in the second half and overtime — two free throws by Failor with 5.6 seconds left gave the Trojans the lead for good in a 46-44 win over the Vikings.

Failor, who went on to be named the Gatorade Idaho Player of the Year, totaled 11 points and 11 rebounds, and finished the tournament with 44 rebounds.

“It feels so amazing,” Failor said. “It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world. It’s kind of like redemption for losing it (a state title) in volleyball my sophomore year, maybe not. But to be able to pull it off and come out with a win is amazing.”

The title game was the fourth meeting of the season between Post Falls (24-1) and Coeur d’Alene (21-6). Coeur d’Alene won the first meeting, Post Falls the last three.

“I knew from the very start it was going to be like every other game we’ve played,” second-year Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. “We knew it was going to be close. It’s been that way all four times we’ve played them and didn’t expect anything less this time.”

Coeur d’Alene took a 44-41 lead with a little over a minute remaining, but a 3-pointer by Lexi Smith tied the game with 58.6 seconds remaining.

“Unfortunately, the horn went off with them ahead,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Dale Poffenroth, who guided the Vikings to their seventh title game appearance in the last eight years. “I thought our kids played really, really hard.”

5A Inland Empire League teams have now won the last seven state titles. Starting with Lake City winning in 2007, each of the four teams in the league have won a state title over that stretch. Coeur d’Alene won three straight from 2008 to 2010 and Lewiston the next two in 2011 and 2012.

It was Post Falls’ fourth state title in school history, and the first since winning back-to-back titles in 2002 and ’03.

4 North Idaho College wrestling

Ten years in the making, the North Idaho College wrestling team finally brought the NJCAA championship back home.

But just like with coach Pat Whitcomb’s first title in 1998, the Cardinals had to share the title.

NIC and defending champion Labette Community College of Parsons, Kan., finished tied with 120 team points at the NJCAA tournament in February at the Jacobson Exhibition Center in Des Moines, Iowa.

“It’s been a nutty, nutty weekend,” Whitcomb said. “It was back and forth all day today (Saturday), but it ends with a national title, and that’s a good thing.”

NIC last won the championship in 2003 and also won in 2001, both coming under Whitcomb. It was the 14th national title in program history.

“It’s been a while,” Whitcomb said. “To bring it home the same was as we did in ’98, it’s almost fitting. It was a heavyweight fight with us and Labette. We’d get a pin, they’d get a pin. It was great to watch.”

NIC could have won the title outright, but defending national champion Devin Aguirre of Labette defeated NIC sophomore Ryan Zumwalt in the 165-pound championship match. Then Labette could have won it outright, but a loss at 184 pounds by a Labette wrestler left the teams tied.

“It was just kind of a crazy deal,” said Zumwalt, who because of knee surgery hadn’t wrestled this season prior to the Region 18 tournament, when he won his weight class. “Before the match, Pat started to calm me down and told me ‘I’m Ryan Zumwalt, and I’d take care of it,’ and that pumped me up. Having to share the title makes it a little bittersweet and it’s tough, but we know we deserve it.”

Sophomore Jarrett Morrill (141) and freshman V.J. Guilio (197) each came back through the consolation bracket to finish third for NIC.

5 Football coaches Amos, Hinz diagnosed with cancer

When word got out that Coeur d’Alene High football coach Shawn Amos was diagnosed with Hodkins lymphoma, one of the first people to call him offering support was Van Troxel.

Yes, the coach of rival Lake City High. The coach who lost his own father, legendary coach Ed Troxel, to cancer in 2001.

“It wasn’t a surprise. It was, of course, appreciated,” said Amos of the phone call, noting how tight-knit the coaching fraternity is, no matter the competition.

“Like I tell everybody, Van and I have been competing at a very intense level for 17 years, and we still like each other,” Amos said. “I’ve always respected him; I’ve stolen a lot of ideas from him.”

Amos was diagnosed in mid-October. As you might expect from chemotherapy treatments, he has his good days and not-so-good days. The cancer didn’t keep him from coaching, and his players rallied around him.

Another jolt to the North Idaho coaching fraternity occured in November, when Post Falls football coach Jeff Hinz, who coaches against Amos in the 5A Inland Empire League, was diagnosed with what in layman’s terms is called “non-smoker’s lung cancer.”

In early November, Hinz said his left hip started hurting.

He thought it was a charley horse, but the pain didn’t go away. The pain spread to his leg, but visits to urgent care and his doctor revealed nothing unusual.

Then, walking around the house on Thanksgiving morning, Hinz put all his weight on his left leg, and his femur snapped in half. The bone snapped in his thigh, just below the hip joint.

He was rushed to the hospital for surgery, where doctors did some scans — and found Hinz had a tumor in his leg, and a tumor in his lung.

The tumor started in his lung, traveled to the hip bone, and settled in his leg.

Hinz is 42, a non-smoker, and said the doctors “seem real positive,” about his chances of surviving the cancer. They found a spot about the size of a quarter in his lung, and a tumor about the size of a plum in his upper thigh, just below the hip joint.

“The bad news is, it’s lung cancer,” Hinz said. “The positive news is, there are three different strains of lung cancer, and the strain that I have is the most treatable form of lung cancer. And, with the proper regimen of medication, I have a good chance of living a normal life.”

Hinz and his doctors said it was almost a blessing in disguise that his leg snapped, because who knows if or when the cancer would have been diagnosed otherwise.

6 Coeur d’Alene girls cross country

At Freeman Park in Idaho Falls, Coeur d’Alene defended its state 5A girls cross country title with 63 points thanks to four finishers in the top 10, beating runner-up Boise by 37.

“We’re more than excited right now,” Coeur d’Alene coach Cathy Compton said. “This was all as a team. The girls stayed united and perfect together. There was some pretty tough competition as usual, but the girls handled it with grace and style.”

Sophomore Emily Callahan finished third for Coeur d’Alene in 19:14.03, with Krista Story fifth in 19:29.45, Kara Story sixth in 19:29.48 and freshman Caitlin Conway eighth in 19:42.08.

Callahan was battling leg pains leading up to the race, according to Compton. It was later discovered that Callahan competed with four torn muscles in her left leg.

“She ran her heart out today,” Compton said. “Those pains we weren’t aware of before the race, but she did really great.”

“I thought I had a good race, but now I can’t walk,” Callahan said afterward. “It was a fun course.”

7 Chalich and Watson

Local high school stars have gone on to make an impact on the Idaho Vandals football team, but they have been few and far between.

Former Coeur d’Alene High standouts Chad Chalich and Deon Watson have played together since they were little kids, helped the Vikings win back-to-back state championships, and both redshirted last year at the University of Idaho.

This year, both played key roles as redshirt freshmen for the Vandals.

Chalich earned the starting job at quarterback, and started the first seven games, guiding Idaho (1-11) to its only victory, over Temple. Chalich suffered a shoulder injury early in the Vandals’ seventh game, vs. Arkansas State, and wound up missing the rest of the season.

He finished with 113 completions in 184 attempts for 1,224 yards and five touchdowns, with three interceptions. He also rushed for 204 yards.

Watson, a wide receiver, played in 12 games, starting 10. He was third on the team with 24 receptions for 279 yards and one touchdown.

8 Coeur d’Alene basketball coach Leiss resigns under pressure

Kent Leiss, in his 10th season as Vikings coach, resigned abruptly late in the season, under allegations from parents of verbal abuse of players.

“The biggest issue that parents had was that with my coaching style, some thought I was verbally abusive,” Leiss said. “I’d call it tough love. I’m pretty direct with my players, but I guess in this day and age, some kids can’t take it.”

Darren Taylor, in his first year as assistant coach at Coeur d’Alene, was named interim coach for the remainder of the season. Under Taylor, the Vikings went 3-3 and were eliminated in the second-place game at the 5A Region 1 tournament.

Leiss had an overall record of 140-91 at Coeur d’Alene. The Vikings were 10-7 under Leiss when he resigned. Leiss previously coached at Flathead High in Kalispell, Mont. In 24 seasons as a high school coach, his overall record is 318-216.

Leiss said he elected to resign, rather than fight for his job, because he was “led to believe there was no other choice.”

“I’ve been a coach and teacher for 24 years,” Leiss said. “I’ve never had one negative coaching or teaching evaluation. It’s hard to swallow right now, but if they don’t want me to be coach, then I’ll coach somewhere else.”

Leiss guided the Vikings to state four times, all in the last six seasons, including a second-place finish in 2008. The Vikings were sixth in 2007, third in 2011 and went 0-2 at state last season.

Days after he resigned, Leiss turned in a letter rescinding his resignation — hoping to return as coach of the team.

However, he was not allowed to return as coach, and was told he would not be considered when the school hired a new coach.

9a Coeur d’Alene Little League All-Stars advance to regional semifinal

The Coeur d’Alene Majors (age 11-12) All-Stars were right in the middle of the most exciting games played the first three days of the Northwest Regional tournament in August in San Bernardino, Calif.

That was the case again in the semifinals.

Unfortunately, Coeur d’Alene couldn’t hold another last-inning lead and lost, 5-4, against Eastlake Little League of Sammamish, Wash., ending their successful postseason run.

“It kind of bites a little bit because we lost three games down here like that,” Coeur d’Alene manager Paul Manzardo said.

Coeur d’Alene dropped its tournament opener against Lake Oswego, Ore, scoring two runs in the first inning before losing, 3-2, on a walk-off run in the sixth.

They returned the following night against Billings, Mont., built a 5-0 lead and then let a three-run advantage slip away in the sixth inning before losing, 9-5, on a walk-off grand slam in the seventh.

Coeur d’Alene still managed to reach the semifinals as the fourth-seeded team. They found themselves matched against top-seeded Eastlake, a team that went 4-0 during pool play.

Coeur d’Alene fell behind, 1-0, in the first inning, but took advantage of two errors and two wild pitches to score four runs in the second and move ahead, 4-1.

Eastlake chipped away against Coeur d’Alene right-hander Anton Watson, scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pull within a run. Meanwhile, Coeur d’Alene did not collect its first hit until one out remained in the sixth, when Brandon Gay lined a ground-rule double that hopped over the fence in right field.

Watson was two pitches shy of his 85-pitch limit when he came out in the sixth. He faced pinch-hitter Jack Rud, nearly struck him out looking on a 2-2 pitch just off the outside corner, but ended up walking him, finishing his day.

Eastlake rallied with two runs after Watson left, scoring the winning run with a pitch got past the catcher and bounded to the backstop.

Manzardo said he hoped his team will learn from the experience.

“I hope they take what they feel right now and turn it into something positive,” he said. “That’s the beauty of competition.”

9b Post Falls wrestling

At the state wrestling tournament in Pocatello in February, Post Falls sophomore Drake Foster pinned Chase Green of Madison High in Rexburg 1 minute, 18 seconds into the first period at 120 pounds to win his second straight state title after winning at 106 pounds in 2012.

“I knew that I had to be really focused heading into it,” Foster said. “After they introduced us (for the finals), I just never stopped warming up after the 98-pound match. It’s kind of shocking to me to have won two straight. Not many people can say they’ve gone 2-for-2. But as my dad told me, the target on my back is going to keep getting bigger and bigger.”

Post Falls finished with four champions — Foster, freshman Alius De La Rosa (106), senior Austin Wilson (160) and sophomore Seth McLeod (170) — and finished second for the second straight year, this time with 232.5 points.

“It’s exciting for Alius as a freshman to get a title,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “All of our champions all the way through the tournament were really dominant. Foster had a perfect tournament, Alius pinned three of his four opponents, Austin (Wilson) was dominant in his matches — and Seth pinned or majored (decision) all his opponents. All of them did a great job.”

Centennial High scored a record 318.5 points to win the state 5A team championship.

“Heading into state, we knew that Centennial was bringing a lot of guys (25 total),” Foster said. “We knew it be tough to beat them. Our guys wrestled their hearts out, but in that situation — they just kind of ran away with it.”

“We just weren’t as deep as they were,” said Reardon of Centennial. “We knew we’d have to wrestle well, but just on sheer numbers — they had the advantage and wrestled great.”

10 Coeur d’Alene boys swimming

The depth of the Coeur d’Alene High swim team really paid off in November at the Boise West YMCA as the Viking boys scored in all but one event to claim their first state title since 1998.

“All season, the depth got us through league, districts and it definitely helped at state,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Rich Swoboda, who also coached the ’98 Viking team. “There were a lot of strong performances this weekend.”

Dyson Savage, Kade Hern, Kyle Jones and Ethan Cordes teamed to win the 4x100 freestyle relay for Coeur d’Alene.

“We’d won the meet by the 100 (yard) breastroke,” Swoboda said. “The kids knew they needed to have a clean performance and it was the only victory of the day, which was exciting.”