PREP FOOTBALL: Hopefully, a return to normalcy
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 4 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 11, 2015 9:00 PM
Prep football
n Tonight's games
All 7 p.m. except where noted
Ferris at Coeur d'Alene
Central Valley at Lake City
East Valley at Lakeland
Lethbridge at Timberlake
St. Maries at Medical Lake
Wallace at Kootenai
Garfield-Palouse at Lakeside
Post Falls vs. University at Roos Field, Cheney, 6 p.m.
After an opening week shrouded over concerns of poor air quality, followed by a week where the threat of a teachers' strike raised uncertainty with the schedule, the days preceding Week 3 of the high school football season have been relatively quiet.
Ferris (0-1) at Coeur d'Alene (1-1): The Saxons were blanked 42-0 by Olympia last Saturday at the Emerald City Kickoff Classic in Seattle. Ferris trailed 35-0 at the half.
Coeur d'Alene bounced back from getting shut out for the first time in 11 years by rallying past Central Valley 37-30 last Friday.
The two teams met last year at Albi Stadium in Spokane, with Coeur d'Alene pulling away for a 31-8 victory.
Central Valley (0-1) at Lake City (0-2): Lake City showed improvement in last week's 35-14 loss to Lewis and Clark at Albi Stadium. The Timberwolves trailed 14-7 late in the first half before the half ended on a bizarre play where Lake City blocked a Lewis and Clark field goal, but a Tigers player picked up the ball behind the line of scrimmage and ran it into the end zone, extending Lewis and Clark's lead to 21-7.
Lake City won last year's matchup with CV, 57-21 at home.
Post Falls (1-1) vs. University (1-0): University racked up 575 total yards - 372 on the ground - in a 43-23 win at Sandpoint last week. Treivon Tuggles rushed for 206 yards on 24 carries for the Titans, who outscored the Bulldogs 20-0 in the second half.
Post Falls led Sandpoint 19-7 in the third quarter two weeks ago at the Kibbie Dome, before the Bulldogs rallied for a 20-19 victory.
Last week, the Trojans coughed up a 26-0 lead to Skyview of Nampa and fell behind 27-26, but rebounded with a touchdown drive to win 34-27.
U-High won last year's matchup 37-27 at Post Falls.
East Valley (1-0) at Lakeland (0-2): The Knights opened last week with a 48-18 victory at Deer Park. Colin Spendlove scored five touchdowns for East Valley - four on pass plays, one on a fumble return. Lakeland is coming off at 45-22 loss at West Valley.
Lethbridge Collegiate Institute (1-0) at Timberlake (1-1): The Rams, from Alberta, beat Bishop O'Byrne of Calgary 38-6 last week in Lethbridge. Tanner Sudo - who, according to the Lethbridge Herald, is also an accomplished judoka - scored three touchdowns for the Rams.
The Tigers are coming off a 34-7 loss at Freeman (Wash.) in which the Scotties rushed for 305 yards.
St. Maries (2-0) at Medical Lake (0-1): The Cardinals lost their opener 19-7 at home to Orofino, a game called early in the third quarter due to lightning strikes.
St. Maries is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 1997.
St. Maries won last year's matchup 29-18 at home.
Wallace (1-0) at Kootenai (0-1): The Miners, whose opener at Lapwai two weeks ago was canceled due to the poor air quality, beat Garfield-Palouse 26-8 last week. Kootenai lost 32-6 at home to Clark Fork last week in its opener.
Garfield-Palouse (0-1) at Lakeside (0-2): The Knights have given up 132 points in their two losses.
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.”