Viks get another shot at Skyline
Tonight's Games
All 7 p.m. except where noted
Skyline at Coeur d'Alene, 8 p.m.
Hillcrest at Lake City
Post Falls vs. Sandpoint at EWU
East Valley at Lakeland
Grangeville at Timberlake
Kootenai at Deary
Lakeside at Wallace
Last year, any thoughts of a competitive game between Coeur d'Alene and Skyline of Sammamish, Wash., evaporated early, and Skyline rolled to a 71-20 victory over the Vikings at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.
"Last year, honestly, they were better than we were," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said.
This year?
"I think we have a chance to be better, and they lost some good players," Amos said.
Coeur d'Alene (1-1) plays host to Skyline (0-1) tonight at Viking Field, in the second game of the Idaho Football Classic. Kickoff is scheduled for around 8 p.m. The first game, at 5 p.m., pits Vanden High of Fairfield, Calif., vs. Copper Hills of West Jordan, Utah.
Most of Skyline's key skill-position players from last year have moved on, including quarterback Max Browne, who is at USC. Skyline's quarterback this year is Kilton Anderson, a senior transfer from Naples, Fla., who is said to be more of a veer-option QB than a pocket passer. Anderson has verbally committed to South Alabama.
"We feel good about playing them,"Amos said. "I think we have a chance to play with them; we have to continue to play better."
Coeur d'Alene is averaging 46 points per game this season. But the Vikings are also allowing an average of 39.5. Coeur d'Alene started slowly against West Linn (Ore.) before coming on strong in the opener, then started strong last week against Bothell (Wash.) before fallling late.
"We haven't quite put a full game together," Amos said. "When we do, we can be a pretty good football team."
Hillcrest (0-2) at Lake City (1-1): The visiting Knights, from Idaho Falls, are coming off a 32-24 loss at Twin Falls in four overtimes. Morgan Pyper ran for 87 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries for Hillcrest, which lost to Rigby 19-14 in its opener.
Lake City is averaging 41.5 points per game and, after yielding 63 points to Rocky Mountain of Meridian in its opener, allowed just 10 last week at Kennewick (Wash.).
Tonight's game will be Lake City's only game at home out of its first six games.
Sandpoint (0-1) vs. Post Falls (0-2) at Eastern Washington University, Cheney: The game, scheduled for Roos Field, was scheduled to be a part of a Washington-Idaho border doubleheader, but fell through due to an Eagles home game on Saturday.
"Our athletic director asked us if we wanted to play someone else, and we said we'd play Sandpoint," Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz said. "It should be a good experience for our kids to play on the red turf."
Post Falls will be the designated home team, and will wear black and visiting Sandpoint will wear white, as opposed to the Bulldogs' home red.
Sandpoint lost 37-21 at East Valley last week in its opener.
East Valley (1-0) at Lakeland (0-1): Standout receivers Gage Burland and J.T. Phelan combined to catch five touchdown passes last week in the Knights' win over Sandpoint. Last year, the pair combined for 10 catches for 135 yards as East Valley beat visiting Lakeland 38-14.
Grangeville (1-1) at Timberlake (1-0): Grangeville, a 2A school, played 4A Moscow tough in a season-opening 21-14 loss, then handled 3A Kellogg 31-6 last week. Timberlake, also a 3A school, lost 23-7 at Grangeville last season.
Kootenai (1-1) at Deary (1-1): Deary beat Potlatch 32-28 in its opener and lost 40-8 to Genesee last week.
Lakeside (0-1) at Wallace (2-0): This is the first of two meetings between the two teams to decide the North Star League's lone berth to the state 1A Division I playoffs. Since the 1A classification was divided into Division I and Division II in 2004, Wallace has advanced to the playoffs every year.