Options are always good to have

There is a ton of hidden gems hanging around the sports field in North Idaho.

Whether in the swimming pool or a football field, you never know just who or what's going to jump out on any given night.

DURING A nonleague football game on Friday night, the Lakeland Hawks ran the option pretty well, but came up short at Post Falls 28-21.

Lakeland had its chances to pull off the win, but the Trojans defense got stingy when it needed to and kept the Hawks off the scoreboard, outside of a 21-yard field goal by Cade Coffey at the start of the final quarter.

"I wouldn't say that Lakeland's a speed option team," Lakeland head coach Tim Kiefer said. "It's a little new to us and we're still ironing out some things."

Tailback Tuekota Vandever finished the game with 204 yards rushing, including a 95-yard run in the second quarter for Lakeland, which finished the game with 321 yards rushing as a team.

"I think we've ran the speed option six times this year," Kiefer said. "And we just need some practice with it."

After a nonleague game this Friday against Colville, the Hawks will host Timberlake on Oct. 18, then finish at home vs. Moscow (Oct. 25) and at Sandpoint (Nov. 1) in their two 4A Inland Empire League games.

With wins against Moscow and Sandpoint, Lakeland can advance to the state 4A playoffs starting Nov. 8 for the second time in three seasons.

As it appears now, the Hawks have options when it comes to that point.

WHEN IT comes to prep swimming, maybe the highest recruited athlete in some time practices his laps in the Coeur d'Alene area.

Bryce Kananowicz, who swims for the Lake City High swim team and the Coeur d'Alene Area Swim Team, and does online courses through the Idaho Virtual Academy, recently verbally committed to the University of South Carolina.

After having 100 schools contact him, it came down to between five schools, most of them in the Southeastern Conference.

Like any other recruit coming to school on an official visit, they took him to football games, tailgates and showed him what it might be like to compete for that school.

"Every school trip they sent me to a football game," Kananowicz said. "Every place I went, the team won."

Games included Washington State at Auburn, Eastern Kentucky at Louisville, Mississippi at Alabama and Vanderbilt at South Carolina.

"Seeing them win was crazy every place I went," Kananowicz said. "You're always standing and never sitting down. The SEC is so supportive in every sport. It really doesn't matter if you're the slowest or fastest, and you've always got 250 to 500 people watching and cheering for you."

First things first for Kananowicz, who will look to win his third straight 200-yard individual medley for Lake City at the state meet on Nov. 8-9 at the Boise West YMCA.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.