Coeur d'Alene braces for upset-minded Borah
Last week, Borah High of Boise posted its first state playoff football victory in 23 years.
Coming off a week to rest up, the Coeur d’Alene Vikings will try to make sure the Lions don’t celebrate a second victory.
Borah (6-4), which upended Capital of Boise 42-27 last week, travels to Coeur d’Alene (8-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. in a quarterfinal matchup in the state 5A playoffs.
Borah quarterback Jake Standlee, a three-year starter, broke his right (throwing) wrist a month ago. He returned recently, and played in the secondary with a soft cast. Then last week, when his replacement at QB suffered a shoulder injury in the first half, Standlee talked the coaches into letting him play quarterback in the second half, “throwing” with a heavily taped wrist.
Borah led 14-10 at the half. Standlee threw three touchdown passes in the second half, two in a 21-point third quarter.
Capital had whacked Borah 39-7 earlier in the season.
“We’ll enjoy this one and try to go to Coeur d’Alene and do some real upsetting,” Borah coach Jason Burton told The Idaho Statesman newspaper of Boise after the win over Capital.
The 5A Inland Empire League comprises 25 percent of the state 5A quarterfinals, as Post Falls (5-4) travels to Mountain View (7-2) of Meridian on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT.
Mountain View’s only losses have come to top-ranked Rocky Mountain (16-6) in the season opener, and vs. Eagle (33-24) at home in week four. Since then the Mavericks, who lost to Coeur d’Alene in last year’s state semifinals, have won five straight, scoring an average of 49 points per game.
In the 3A quarterfinals, Timberlake (6-3) returns to the playoffs after a year’s absence, hosting South Fremont (6-3) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Van Tuinstra Memorial Field.
The Tigers went to the playoffs 14 straight seasons before missing out last year.
In a 2A quarterfinal, St. Maries, seeded eighth by Idaho’s RPI, plays No. 1 seed Declo on Saturday at Holt Arena in Pocatello.
The last time these teams played, also at Holt Arena, St. Maries shut down Keegan Duncan and Declo in the state 2A title game. Declo hasn’t lost since, and still has Duncan, who has committed to Boise State.
As for the picks, Jason and I each went 3-1 on the high school games — I picked New Plymouth to beat St. Maries, and Jason picked Skyview to beat Post Falls. I went 3-0 on the college picks, Jason 2-1 — he had Stanford beating WSU.
For the season, I am 43-18 on high school games, 26-4 on college games, 69-22 overall. Jason is 43-18 on high school games, 21-9 on college, 64-27 overall.
HIGH SCHOOL
Borah (6-4) at Coeur d’Alene (8-0)
Friday, 7 p.m.
NELKE: Coeur d’Alene has usually had a pretty easy time of it at home in these quarterfinal matchups against Boise-area or eastern Idaho schools. Borah, however, could make it tougher than usual and, with a little magic, threaten an upset ala Madison at Cd’A in 2015.
Coeur d’Alene, 36-20
ELLIOTT: Coeur d’Alene has been on another level all season. It might be close, but the Vikings move on.
Coeur d’Alene, 44-30
Post Falls (5-4) at Mountain View (7-2)
Friday, 6 p.m.
NELKE: For a team with so many new faces this year, just getting to the state playoffs — and then winning a first-round game — is quite an accomplishment for Post Falls.
Mountain View, 34-26
ELLIOTT: It was a good win for Post Falls last week. While they’ve got the offense to compete in Meridian, the Trojans fall just short.
Mountain View, 44-36
South Fremont (6-3) at Timberlake (6-3)
Saturday, 1 p.m.
NELKE: The playoffs have not been kind to Timberlake in recent years. The Tigers last won a playoff game in 2014. Time for that to change.
Timberlake, 32-28
ELLIOTT: Timberlake at home should be enough to get to the next round.
South Fremont, 28-24
St. Maries (6-3) vs. Declo (9-0)
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. at Holt Arena, Pocatello
NELKE: An encore performance by the Lumberjacks might be asking a bit too much, but St. Maries won’t go down without a fight.
Declo, 32-26
ELLIOTT: If the Lumberjacks can air the ball out like they did last week, they’ve got a shot. If they don’t ...
Declo, 33-20
COLLEGE
Cal (5-3, 2-3 Pac-12) at Washington State (7-1, 4-1)
Saturday, 7:45 p.m.
NELKE: If the Bears’ 37-3 mauling of the Cougars last year in Berkeley didn’t get WSU’s attention this week, Cal’s win over Washington last week should. Still ...
WSU, 31-13
ELLIOTT: Washington State has been rolling since the folks at ESPN paid them that College GameDay visit. That continues this weekend.
WSU, 38-24
North Dakota (5-3) at Idaho (3-5, 2-4 Big Sky)
Saturday, 2 p.m.
NELKE: Idaho can hang its hat on being undefeated (3-0) at home this year. North Dakota, a former Big Sky member now playing as an independent, is playing for an at-large berth in the FCS playoffs.
North Dakota, 24-21
ELLIOTT: North Dakota still has a lot to play for this season.
North Dakota, 34-20
BYU (4-4) at Boise State (6-2)
Saturday, 7:15 p.m.
NELKE: Seems like the Broncos — or at least their fans, anyway — get more excited about playing BYU than they do many of their conference foes in the Mountain West.
Boise State, 45-14
ELLIOTT: Can you imagine what could happen if BSU loses this game? I can’t.
Boise State, 28-17
Eastern Washington (6-2, 4-1 Big Sky) at Northern Colorado (2-7, 2-4)
Saturday, 11 a.m.
NELKE: The Eric Barriere era continues in Greeley, Colo., with the redshirt sophomore now the “starting quarterback” rather than “starting in place of the injured Gage Gubrud,” following the news that Gubrud was headed for surgery for a toe injury, ending his Eagle career. EWU should continue to roll.
EWU, 38-14
ELLIOTT: This one could get as ugly as the game last week for Eastern.
EWU, 45-20