More on the line this time with Cd'A, Lake City
Prep football
Tonight's Games
All 7 p.m.
Coeur d'Alene at Lake City
Post Falls at Lewiston
Moscow at Lakeland
Priest River at Timberlake
St. Maries at Orofino
Kootenai at Wallace
Mullan at Lakeside
Standings, schedules / B4
By MARK NELKE
Sports editor
Coeur d'Alene and Lake City have met in football many times before with a league title on the line, but the game usually came with a caveat:
The loser usually still had a chance to qualify for the state playoffs as well.
No such deal this time.
Coeur d'Alene (4-3, 1-0 5A Inland Empire League) plays at Lake City (5-2, 1-0) tonight at 7, with the winner all but wrapping up the league title and the league's lone berth to the state playoffs. The loser is all but eliminated from postseason contention.
"It's huge for both of us," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said. "Lake City is Lake City, but it's a playoff game with us only getting one berth to state. It's no more important than Lewiston or Post Falls. This is a playoff game, and we're going to prepare like that."
Coeur d'Alene has dominated the series of late, winning the last five games. Only a couple of them were within two touchdowns. But this is Lake City's best chance to win since their last victory over Coeur d'Alene in 2009.
"They're a great football team," Lake City coach Van Troxel said of Coeur d'Alene. "Who else (in the north) has been to three state championships in a row? Coeur d'Alene's the only one that's done that in the 20 years that I've been here. They're a great football team. We look at it just like this game (last week's 33-26 victory over Chiawana of Pasco, Wash., ranked third in Washington class 4A at the time) - two really good football teams going at each other. It comes down to who plays the hardest, and who makes the fewest mistakes."
Lake City has qualified for the state playoffs each of the past 16 seasons.
Post Falls (4-4, 0-1 5A IEL) at Lewiston (4-3, 0-1): The loser is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The winner would still need to win next week, and depending on the results of tonight's Coeur d'Alene-Lake City game, even that might not be enough.
Moscow (3-5, 0-1 4A Inland Empire League) at Lakeland (2-4, 0-0): Moscow upset Lakeland last year en route to the league title last year to advance to the state playoffs for the first time since 1997. But the Bears were upended 21-14 last week at home by Sandpoint in their league opener. If Lakeland wins tonight, the Hawks' game at Sandpoint next week will determine the league's representative to the state playoffs.
Priest River (4-2, 1-1 Intermountain League) at Timberlake (4-3, 1-0): Priest River is coming off a 20-13 loss at home last week to Bonners Ferry, a team Timberlake throttled 50-13 the week before in Bonners.
St. Maries (2-5, 0-1 Central Idaho League) at Orofino (6-1, 0-1): Regardless of tonight's outcome, both teams will advance to state 2A play-in games next week. Tonight's winner will host the third-place team from District 3 next week; the loser will travel to the District 3 champion. Both teams have lost to CIL champion Grangeville - St. Maries fell 49-0 at home to the Bulldogs, Orofino lost 21-6 at Grangeville.
Kootenai (5-2) at Wallace (7-0): The top two teams in the North Star League square off for the second time this season, this time at Sather Field in Silverton. In the season opener, Wallace won 74-40 at Harrison Flats.
Mullan (2-5) at Lakeside (1-6): This is the only matchup this year between the North Star League teams; next year, Lakeside drops down to join Mullan in 1A Division II. It's the season finale for Mullan.