Top stories of 2018

As selected by the Press sports staff

Coeur d’Alene plays at Little League World Series for first time

In the summer of 2017, Cooper Smith made the trip to Williamsport, Pa., just to get a taste of what it was like at the Little League World Series.

The atmosphere, the games, all of it.

“The fields were awesome, the stadium was awesome,” Smith said. “I’d never seen a stadium that was that big and that nice. It really made me want to practice harder and play harder to get to play in that stadium someday.”

Someday turned out to be this year as Smith, as well as his Coeur d’Alene Little League Majors teammates, took the field at the Little League World Series in Williamsport.

It was the first time a team from North Idaho had qualified for the Little League World Series.

“It’s awesome,” Smith said. “It’s even better because I get to play this year. It’s a dream come true. It’s every kid’s dream to go to Williamsport. And we’re getting to do that.”

Jeff Smith, Cooper’s dad and the Coeur d’Alene Little League president, was also a little surprised when he got to Williamsport last summer.

“Pulling into town, it wasn’t any different because there’s nothing like seeing the complex for the first time,” Jeff Smith said. “Cooper, he knew what to expect when they showed up. The other kids were oohing and aahing about the complex. Cooper showed them around, where the souvenir stand, concession stand and the grove was. He already knew the lay of the land.”

This year, Jeff Smith arrived in Williamsport the day before the tournament started with his wife, Candice.

“We drove up from Baltimore,” Jeff Smith said. “We pulled into where the Little League museum was that overlooks the two stadiums. I pulled over and nudged her and her jaw dropped. It just blows you away. The people here are awesome.”

Numerous fans back in Coeur d’Alene stopped what they were doing to watch on TV as the local boys took the national stage.

At Williamsport, Coeur d’Alene lost a heartbreaker in its opener, losing 5-4 to Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., after taking a three-run lead into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Cd’A was eliminated from the tournament the next day with a 3-0 loss to Peachtree City, Ga.

Coeur d’Alene concluded its play in Williamsport by playing Spain in a crossover game, winning 5-0.

Christopher Reynolds earned the win in relief for Coeur d’Alene, and also doubled and scored a run.

“Christopher has been extremely steady for us all year with the bat,” Coeur d’Alene manager Sean Cherry said. “He usually comes through in those high-pressure situations where we really need him.”

Post Falls High

wrestling team sets scoring record en route to third state title in four years

After sending 10 wrestlers to the finals of the state 5A wrestling tournament, Post Falls coach Pete Reardon turned to his coaches and asked a simple question.

“Would you have picked this team to set the scoring record?”

Well, they set it.

Then shattered it.

Post Falls, behind seven individual champions and 10 finalists, scored 338.5 points to lap the field for a state team title at Holt Arena in Pocatello in February, for the program’s third title in four years.

“It still hasn’t hit me yet,” said Reardon, in his ninth season. “People started asking about the points record and it started to become a conversation with our fans.”

Post Falls broke the previous record of 320.5 set by Centennial of Boise in 2014.

“We really didn’t think it was possible,” Reardon said. “After our final match, I looked at all our coaches, and we looked at each other, and I said, ‘Would you have picked this team to set the scoring record?’ I didn’t think we had that kind of depth to do it. It’s crazy. I can’t believe that just happened.”

Freshmen Roddy Romero (98 pounds) and Isaac Jessen (113), sophomore A.J. De La Rosa (132), juniors Ridge Lovett (126) and Tyler Morris (152) and seniors Jordan Grimm (120) and Brayden Huber (160) claimed titles for Post Falls.

Romero earned his first title by beating teammate Braxton Mason in the finals.

“It was really cool that the top two in that weight class were from Post Falls,” Romero said. “It didn’t feel like a pressure thing, but more to go out and have fun. After the match, we pointed to the crowd, and it was a cool moment.”

Likewise, Morris took on fellow Trojan Wyatt Shelly in the finals at 152 pounds.

“It was more calming than nerves in the finals,” Morris said. “I knew going into the match that whoever was going to win had put in the work during practice. After the match, I just told him I loved him and we’re always going to be friends.”

Grimm beat Preston Owens of Kuna by a 7-5 decision for his first title.

Grimm had finished second and third in the past two years.

“It was a huge difference knowing I’d been there before,” Grimm said. “All of it’s really hard to believe right now.”

De La Rosa had to hold off Angel Rios of Columbia for a 2-1 decision.

“I didn’t think I had the energy to make it through,” De La Rosa said. “With 10 seconds left, I was kind of gassed, but knew I needed to get it done. I had faith I could do it and it gave me the push to get through it.”

Lovett, the lone repeat champion for Post Falls, won his third straight title with a 10-4 decision over Derek Ramos of Hillcrest.

“I’ve wrestled him in the finals the last three years,” Lovett said. “It was just a blessing from God. We’ve had great teams in the past, but this might have been the best we’ve had. It was amazing we all came together and got it done.”

After three-straight runner-up finishes, Huber broke through with a title, beating Devin Smith of Madison.

“After getting second three years in a row, I came into the season humble and confident,” Huber said. “I was confident in my skills and got the job done.”

Post Falls girls

win first state title

since 2013

They took a gamble on going to Las Vegas to get better this season.

In February, Post Falls pushed in all its chips.

And hit the jackpot.

Sophomore Tyler McCliment-Call had 21 points for Post Falls in a 62-53 win over the previously unbeaten Eagle Mustangs in the state 5A girls basketball championship game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

“Our whole focus, even before this year was this moment,” Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. “Coming into the season, we had a chance to be pretty good and making our schedule, it was all geared for this and wanting to prepare for that, it was huge. We had a lot of blowout games this year, and to come down here and win three close ones, it definitely helped us.”

It was the program’s fifth state title in school history and first since 2013. It was the first time since Coeur d’Alene beat Rocky Mountain in the 2014 title game that a team from District 1 won the 5A championship.

Post Falls finished 24-2 while Eagle — which lost in the title game for the second straight year — finished 26-1.

For a while at least, the game was a lot like the 2017 semifinal game, with Gonzaga signee Melody Kempton forced out of the game with a third foul in the third quarter, then a fourth in the final quarter.

“I’m just so excited right now,” said Kempton, who finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists. “We came in, and knew on the third day, it wasn’t going to be which team was better, it was going to be the team that worked harder. And we were determined to be the one that worked harder.”

In 2017, Eagle rallied from a 54-50 deficit to beat Post Falls 57-54 in a semifinal game.

In the final, senior Sydney Parks had six points and four rebounds for Post Falls, playing extended minutes in the second half with Kempton sitting with foul trouble.

“It feels amazing,” Parks said. “It’s exactly what we’ve been looking for this year. I knew last year that we were going to get it this year.”

McCliment-Call finished the tournament with 67 points in the three games.

NIC men’s basketball

team nabs NWAC crown

Two years into their tenure in the Northwest Athletic Conference, the North Idaho Cardinals accomplished something no other NIC men’s basketball team has done: finish the year with a tournament title.

NIC rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit to force overtime, then outscored the Peninsula Pirates 16-9 in the extra session for a 90-83 victory in the NWAC men’s basketball championship game in March in Everett, Wash.

“It’s big for our team, big for our school and big for our program after making the switch (to the NWAC),” Cardinals coach Corey Symons said.

RayQuan Evans (28 points, nine rebounds) was named the tournament MVP, averaging 34 points a game during the two-weekend, four-game tournament. Ashanti Potts-Woods scored all 23 of his points in the second half and joined Evans on the all-tournament team. Iain McLaughlin added 14 points off the bench for NIC (25-8).

“RayQuan had four unbelievable games in the tournament,” Symons said.

The Cardinals moved from the NJCAA to the regionally-based NWAC following the 2015-16 season. Led by Evans’ 47-point effort, NIC beat Everett in double overtime the previous weekend to advance to the semifinals.

NIC softball team

wins first NWAC title

NIC had it all — power, defense and pitching — all season.

And all of it was on display when it counted as top-seeded NIC beat No. 6 Lower Columbia of Longview, Wash., 8-5 to win the championship of the Northwest Athletic Conference softball tournament in May at the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex in Spokane.

“It’s breathtaking,” said freshman pitcher Madi Mott, who struck out six and finished 29-1. “I didn’t think I was going to cry, and tears of joy came down. It’s just a great feeling to be a part of this amazing team ... best team I’ve ever been on.”

NIC, in its fourth season in the NWAC after nearly two decades in the NJCAA, finished 50-3 and won its last 23 games.

“We had 10 sophomores, and they just believe in the process,” said NIC coach Don Don Williams, who started the Cardinals program in 1998. “We started talking about that in September, and they just stuck to it. And they took our freshmen in, and got them on board, and they just worked. They worked hard, and they stuck together, and everyone got better, and persevered. It was just an amazing season.”

NIC hung on for a 7-5 victory over No. 3 Edmonds on in the semifinal. The next day Lower Columbia, which finished 42-14, eliminated Edmonds (42-8) with a 7-1 victory.

Genesis Prep boys

win second straight state title

Junior Williams’ knee and, to a lesser extent, Jonny Hillman’s head might disagree, but the 1A Division II boys basketball title game was a relatively stress-free performance for the Genesis Prep Jaguars.

Genesis Prep pressed its way to a 23-4 lead after 11 minutes, and coasted to a 59-33 victory over the Carey Panthers at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa in March for its second straight state title.

“Last year, it was happiness, and it was an awesome feeling,” said Hillman, the Jaguars’ junior guard who scored a game-high 21 points. “This year, it’s a lot more deeper than that. It’s a lot more emotional win for us. I honestly feel better about this win, even though last year’s game was closer (68-62 over Dietrich), and there was more emotion in the game. With the seven seniors, and all the adversity that we had to go through this year, this one feels a lot more special.”

Genesis Prep, which boasted six seniors, finished 21-4.

Williams, the Jaguars’ second-leading scorer, went down late in the first quarter when his right knee locked up while he was playing help-side defense.

“They said it might be a torn meniscus,” Williams said.

After icing it for a bit, then cheering on his teammates, he and other seniors came back in for the final few seconds. With the clock winding down, he took a pass on the left wing and drained a 3, holding the follow through for several seconds.

“It felt great,” said Williams, who hobbled out of the locker room for the interview. “My brothers were cheering me on, they gave me the ball, they gave me an opportunity to hit a last shot.”

“It’s a God thing that he hit that 3,” Genesis Prep coach Marsell Colbert said. “We didn’t expect him to shoot the ball. It wasn’t about him shooting the ball, just getting him out there so he could finish his career on the floor. And just to show you how God works, he hits that 3 … wow.”

Cd’A Charter girls

3-peat in soccer

The pressure in trying to 3-peat this season, Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy girls soccer coach Stacy Smith figured, was just in getting to the championship game.

Wins in the first round and semifinals at state earned the Panthers a figurative sundae.

The title game was about putting a cherry on top.

Eliason Cherrstrom, Cali Shipman and Sandy Faulkner each scored once as Coeur d’Alene Charter blanked Sugar-Salem 3-0 in the championship game of the state 3A high school girls soccer tournament in October at the Sunway Soccer Complex in Twin Falls.

Coeur d’Alene Charter (21-0-0) won its third straight state title, and fourth in five seasons, in the Panthers’ fifth straight trip to the state title game.

“It came down to who had more energy today, and I think we just did,” said Smith, in her third season as coach. “We were able to play more possession than the other team. You could tell, for every 50/50 ball, our girls were wanting it more. We were able to capitalize on our chances in front of the net, and most of Sugar’s shots came from outside the 18.”

Coeur d’Alene Charter won 17 of its 21 games by shutout, and outscored its opponents 139-5 on the season. The Panthers are 54-3-2 in three seasons under Smith.

Genesis Prep benefits as IHSAA reverses decision on F1 students

The Idaho High School Activities Association Board of Control reversed its ruling from one year ago, voting 8-4 in September at a meeting in Fort Hall to allow F1 (international) students to play in the postseason.

The action was effective immediately, IHSAA executive director Ty Jones said.

In September 2017, at a meeting in Coeur d’Alene, the IHSAA board voted 11-3 to ban F1 students from playing in the postseason, starting with the 2018-19 school year. They could continue to play in the regular season, the IHSAA ruled.

“Our board always evaluates/re-evaluates the decisions and rules and regulations of the association,” Jones said. “We received some new information from the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations) legal counsel that we did not have last year that we may want to look at the rule again.”

Genesis Prep Academy, a 1A Division II school in Idaho’s smallest enrollment classification and located in Post Falls, sent a formal letter of appeal to the IHSAA this summer, requesting that F1 students be allowed to play in the regular season and postseason, as they had in years past. The board discussed the matter at its August meeting, and voted on it at the September meeting.

“Though I was disappointed to see such a number of IHSAA board members vote to uphold an ill-advised ruling that targeted Idaho students based on where they come from, we are encouraged that the majority vote was to reaffirm these students’ civil rights, to be treated fairly and equally under the law and the IHSAA rulebook,” Genesis Prep principal Chris Finch said.

F1 students differ from exchange students in that F1 students can attend up to all four years of high school, while exchange students are typically here for only one year.

Genesis Prep has a few F1 students on each of its rosters in boys basketball, girls basketball and volleyball.

Genesis Prep is one of the few schools in Idaho accredited to accept F1 students — most are small, private Christian schools. Only three larger, public schools — none from North Idaho — are accredited.

In the three seasons their basketball programs have been sanctioned by the IHSAA, the Jaguars placed third at state in 2016, and won the state title each of the past two seasons.

Genesis Prep’s girls basketball team took third at state in 2017 and lost in the state championship game in February.

Sting Timbers girls

second at national tourney

Many of the members of the Sting Timbers 00/01 girls soccer team have played for youth tournament championships.

Some have played for a state title.

A few have won a regional championship. Even fewer have played for a national title.

But the Sting Timbers’ bid to win a national title came up short in July, as they lost 1-0 to Green White SC of Illinois in the 18U championship game of the US Youth Soccer National Presidents Cup at Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield, Ind.

“Our 9-0 run, since State Cup, came to an end today at the pinnacle match of soccer that any team in our area has earned,” Sting Timbers coach Julio Morales said. “The energy and support of the entire community has been phenomenal. We played our hearts out for each and every one that has helped us achieve this.”

Four Sting Timbers players were named to the “Top 11” in their division at nationals — goalkeeper Lily Foster, forward Megan Drake and defenders Eryn Ducote and Bridget Rieken.

After finishing second at State Cup, the Sting Timbers went 6-0 at regionals, then won all three group-play games at nationals to advance to the title game.