Gridiron Guesses: COVID-19 starting to seep into this year's season as well

By MARK NELKE

and JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writers

This year, there are three things that could affect a high school football game in North Idaho.

COVID-19.

Or, poor air quality.

Or, a new one this year, a shortage of officials.

Coeur d’Alene’s scheduled home game tonight vs. West Valley of Yakima was canceled because of COVID-19 issues with the West Valley program. West Valley also had to cancel its season opener last week because of COVID-19.

Late Thursday night, @cdaviksfootball tweeted that Coeur d’Alene had scheduled a home game vs. Mt. Spokane for Saturday at 1 p.m. Coeur d’Alene athletic director Bill White said he thought the game was on, but would have to confirm this morning.

So we'll see.

Sandpoint also had its game at Colville (Wash.) canceled due to COVID-19 issues with the Colville program.

And St. Maries' home game with Freeman (Wash.) was moved from tonight to Saturday at noon because of a shortage of available officials tonight.

That leaves Post Falls and Lakeland home tonight, among the bigger schools. Lake City, idle last week, returns to action Saturday vs. Garfield at Memorial Stadium in Seattle.

As for the picks, Mark and Jason each went 6-1 last week, hopefully making up for each of us posting sub-.500 records the previous week.

For the season, Jason is 9-6, Mark 8-7.

The dogs will remain in the crate for at least another week.

Moses Lake (0-1) at Post Falls (0-2)

Friday, 7 p.m.

NELKE: Moses Lake lost its opener 56-21 at home to Bothell (Wash.) last Saturday. Post Falls has yielded 84 points in two games, albeit to two pretty good foes in Sandpoint and Rigby.

Post Falls, 28-21

ELLIOTT: At some point, it's going to click for this youth Post Falls team.

Moses Lake, 34-27

West Valley-Spokane (1-0) at Lakeland (1-2)

Friday, 7 p.m.

NELKE: West Valley won 35-17 at Newport in its season opener last week. Lakeland erupted for 39 points in a win at Columbia of Nampa last week.

Lakeland, 39-35

ELLIOTT: Lakeland gets after them.

Lakeland, 38-28

Timberlake (1-1) at Moscow (2-0)

Friday, 7 p.m.

NELKE: Moscow has wins over Grangeville and Clarkston. Timberlake found its offense last week in a 37-21 victory over Shadle Park. Timberlake has won the last two meetings with Moscow.

Moscow, 33-28

ELLIOTT: Timberlake has a pretty experienced group that found itself last week.

Timberlake, 35-28

Kootenai (0-2) vs. Wallace (1-1) at Sather Field, Silverton

Friday, 7 p.m.

NELKE: These teams met two weeks ago in Harrison Flats, with Wallace winning 46-42.

Wallace, 46-42

ELLIOTT: Kind of a quick turnaround for a rematch with somebody isn't it? Maybe Kootenai steals a win.

Kootenai, 46-42

Lakeside (1-1) vs. Mullan/St. Regis (0-1) at John Drager Field, Mullan

Friday, 3 p.m.

NELKE: Mullan lost its opener last week 44-26 to Thompson Falls (Mont.), in a game played in St. Regis. Lakeside has split a pair of games with District 2 foes.

Mullan/St. Regis, 38-34

ELLIOTT: Could be one of the better games of the weekend if you can find a way out of work this afternoon.

Mullan/St. Regis, 44-40

Lake City (1-0) vs. Garfield (1-0) at Memorial Stadium, Seattle

Saturday, 1 p.m.

NELKE: Garfield opened last week with a 48-8 victory over Bainbridge at Bainbridge Island. Lake City added Garfield to the schedule during the summer after the T-Wolves' opponent last week pulled out, which would have left Lake City with back-to-back bye weeks after its season-opening win at Lakeland, where it scored all 14 of its points in the second half of a 14-3 win. If the T-Wolves play more like the team that showed up in the second half ...

Lake City, 28-21

ELLIOTT: Lake City is going to need more than 14 points to keep up this week.

Garfield, 28-20

Freeman (Wash.) (0-0) at St. Maries (0-2)

Saturday, noon

NELKE: Freeman went 2-4 in last spring's football season in Washington. Freeman and St. Maries are meeting for the first time since 2014. Also, daytime football is seldom a bad thing.

Freeman, 35-21

ELLIOTT: Maybe the experience of the Lumberjacks playing their third game will be the key.

St. Maries, 28-27