NORTHWEST NOTES: Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Lake City football job down to

three candidates

Three finalists were recently announced for the head coaching job at Lake City High.

Bryce Erickson, the quarterbacks coach at Idaho, Lake City assistant coach Travis Harmon and Deer Park head coach Keith Stamps are in position to replace Van Troxel, who retired after 22 years as coach at the school.

Interviews will all three finalists are scheduled for Friday.

Troxel, who stepped down in January, posted a record of 142-85-1, winning two state titles and advancing to the state title game two other times. In 37 total season as head coach, which included 13 at Hellgate High in Missoula before coming to Lake City, and two years at Hamilton (Mont.) High before that. His overall record is 219-164-1.

Eastern Washington announces

2016 football schedule

With its three non-conference foes combining to win seven games in the postseason a year ago, Eastern Washington University has officially announced its 2016 football schedule. The 11-game schedule is still considered tentative and changes are possible, and game times will be announced this summer.

The season opens on Sept. 3 at Sun Bowl champion Washington State. The Eagles then play at five-time NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Champion North Dakota State on Sept. 10 in the first of a home-and-home series against the Bison. Eastern, which won the national title in 2010 prior to NDSU’s incredible run of five-straight, are scheduled to host the Bison on Sept. 16, 2017, in Cheney.

Eastern’s 2016 home opener is versus Northern Iowa on Sept. 17, in a rematch of last year’s 38-35 loss for EWU in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Eagles will be looking for their first-ever win against the Panthers when the two schools meet for the seventh time, while EWU knocked off NDSU 38-31 in overtime in the only previous meeting with the Bison on Dec. 11, 2010, in the FCS Playoffs.

Eastern is 0-3 all-time versus Washington State, including a slim, 24-20 loss in Pullman on Sept. 8, 2012, in the first Eagle-Cougar varsity meeting since 1908.

Those three non-conference foes combined to win 74 percent of their games overall last season (31-11), 72 percent in league play (18-7) and 88 percent in the postseason (7-1). Eastern’s 2015 schedule, which featured 2014 national runner-up Oregon, included teams that won a collective 68 percent of their games the year prior (68-36).

Eastern’s Big Sky Conference schedule begins Sept. 24 at Northern Arizona, which soundly defeated EWU at home a year ago 52-30 in Cheney. Eastern will host UC Davis on Hall of Fame Day on Oct. 1, followed by another home game against Northern Colorado on Oct. 8. After a bye, Eastern will play at Montana State on Oct. 22 in a league game.

Montana, a perennial playoff participant and Big Sky title contender, will visit Cheney on Oct. 29. After a road game at Cal Poly on Nov. 5, the Eagles will have Senior Day on Nov. 12 against Idaho State. Easter closes the regular season Nov. 19 at Portland State, which joined Montana as runner-up in the league last season and advanced to the playoffs.

Southern Utah, last year’s league champion with a 7-1 mark and final 8-4 record, is not on EWU’s 2016 schedule for the second-straight season. A year ago, Eastern started 0-2, won six-straight games and then finished with three losses to miss the playoffs. The Eagles were 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky to finish in a four-way tie for fourth with NAU, North Dakota and Weber State.

Washington State finished 9-4 overall and 6-3 in 2015, but what made the season most memorable was how they started and ended it. After losing 24-17 to Portland State to open the season, the Cougars ended it with a 20-14 victory over Miami in the Sun Bowl.

North Dakota State also dropped its opener to a Big Sky foe, 38-35 to Montana in Missoula. But the Bison followed with wins over Weber State (41-14) and North Dakota (34-9) on consecutive weeks, then won the Missouri Valley Football Conference title with a 7-1 mark. The team’s lone loss in its last 14 games was to South Dakota (24-21), and NDSU roared through the playoffs to finish 13-2. The Bison out-scored opponents 130-36 in the playoffs, including a 37-6 win over Montana, a 23-13 victory over Northern Iowa and a championship game victory over top-ranked Jacksonville State 37-10.

Besides its win over Eastern, Northern Iowa beat Cal Poly 34-20 prior to opening Missouri Valley Conference play with three setbacks to eventual playoff teams (Illinois State 21-13, North Dakota State 31-28 and Western Illinois 24-19). The Panthers followed with seven-straight wins, including playoff victories over Eastern Illinois (53-17) and Portland State (29-17). Northern Iowa finished 9-5 overall and 5-3 in the MVFC.

Eastern has fared well in previous meetings with the Pac-12 Conference, including a 49-46 victory over 25th-ranked Oregon State in 2013 in only the fourth victory by a FCS team over a ranked FBS foe. The Eagles also suffered close defeats to Washington (59-52 in 2014 and 30-27 in 2011).

SEPTEMBER

Home games in CAPS

3 — at Washington State. 10 — at North Dakota State. 17 — NORTHERN IOWA. 24 — at Northern Arizona.

OCTOBER

1 — UC DAVIS. 8 — NORTHERN COLORADO. 22 — at Montana State. 29 — MONTANA.

NOVEMBER

5 — at Cal Poly. 12 — IDAHO STATE. 19 — at Portland State.