Working to be at their football best
Some high school football coaches call and treat the first six weeks of the season as the preseason, with all that early work viewed as something to get them ready for league.
Get ready, because that part of the season is here.
WHILE A few teams might step out of league play in the next three weeks, as the season winds downs, league play starts this weekend for area teams.
Timberlake, which hasn’t lost an Intermountain League game in eight seasons, opens with Kellogg on Friday at Van Tuinstra Memorial Field in Spirit Lake. The Tigers lost to district rival Lakeland 45-21 last Friday in Rathdrum.
“Our goal tonight — we didn’t think we played very well last week (a 26-7 home loss to St. Maries on Sept. 22) — was really simple, to be better than we were last week,” Timberlake interim coach Brian Kluss said. “And we were. We feel if we continue to get better, we’ll be fine.”
Timberlake enters Friday’s game 0-6, including losses coming to 4A schools Lakeland and Moscow.
“Right now, that’s about the best we’ve played all year long,” said Kluss of Friday’s game, which Timberlake trailed 26-21 after three quarters. “Now if we can do that two weeks in a row, we’ll be fine. And we’re a young team. If we continue to take care of things, we’ll get better.”
The top two teams from the league advance to the state playoffs.
Lakeland is 2-4 entering a 4A Inland Empire League game with Moscow on Friday at Corbit Field in Rathdrum.
“We’ve got a week to fix things,” Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said. “Next week, it’s for all the marbles.”
The top two teams from the 4A IEL advance to the state playoffs.
FOLLOWING THE game on Friday, both Kiefer and Kluss turned their attention to Timberlake football coach Roy Albertson, who missed the game after suffering a heart attack on Sept. 26 before practice.
“Roy is doing really well,” Kluss said. “I believe he was either listening to, or watching the game in the hospital. It was a very successful surgery and he’s up and walking around like he normally would. Things have gone really well as far as his recovery goes.”
Kiefer coached at Timberlake in 2001 and 2002.
“We’ve got friendly rivalries with a lot of schools,” Kiefer said. “It goes beyond a fraternity, because those guys on that coaching staff are guys I coached with and am personal friends with. They’re a classy program and I wish Roy the best.”
Something that Kluss expects to see from Albertson as well.
“There’s no question that he’s going to be back to himself,” Kluss said. “I’m sure he’ll have a few words for me to try and get me to do a better job. And that’s exactly what I expect from him.”
And at this point, so does everyone else.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.