What a way to start the postseason

According to the social media application LinkedIn, it has been nine years for me at the Press.

In that time, as well as a few years at the Shoshone News-Press in the Silver Valley, I’ve seen a lot of noteworthy moments of high school football.

Last Friday might have taken the cake.

IN THE previous few times I’ve covered Post Falls football games this year, those matchups against Mead, Lakeland and Lake City featured a lot of offense. Outside of the matchup with Mead, Post Falls had won each of those games, one by ground and the other with a strong passing game.

Last Friday’s playoff matchup wound up featuring the passing game, a lot.

Skyview entered the game with senior running back Tyler Crowe fresh off a game where he had 457 yards rushing with six touchdowns, as well as 112 yards receiving with another touchdown.

Crowe was just as good last Friday, running for 274 yards and a two touchdowns against Post Falls.

Yet, Post Falls had an answer for everything he did.

When Crowe scored with 34 seconds remaining, Post Falls didn’t panic.

The Trojans just drove back down the field, scoring a touchdown on a 20-yard pass from junior Derek Pearse to sophomore Josiah Shields in the back of the end zone.

On the ensuing kickoff, Post Falls nearly ended the game by recovering the ball, but Shields intercepted a pass with no time remaining.

And with 22 juniors and sophomores on their roster — many of them starters — the Trojans might just be getting started.

A FEW other games jump out in my mind from my travels.

There was the Kansas tiebreaker between Mullan and Kootenai that was played in a snowstorm at Teeters Field in Kellogg.

How that game was played that night was pretty incredible. Covering a game two weeks later as the Tigers hosted a playoff game — with no snow on the ground — still amazes me.

Prior to that, watching a nonleague football game between Wallace and Bonners Ferry might have been the best of the best.

Wallace, then in 2A, beat the Badgers on that night thanks to an interception stopping a final scoring drive in the final seconds.

SURE, TEAMS that have won state titles such as Coeur d’Alene and St. Maries in various years, but there was something special about Friday’s game.

Maybe it was a little of an underdog finding a way to win a game, but Post Falls (4-4 coming in) was pretty even with Skyview (5-4), which had some young players on its roster as well.

Or it was a team stealing momentum at just the right time.

Friday was just an entertaining playoff game, from start to finish.

Something that fans around here should be getting used to by now.

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 jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.