4A Lakeland looks to knock off 5A Lake City
Lakeland and Lake City haven’t met in football since 2011, and 4A Inland Empire League teams haven’t had much success against 5A IEL squads in recent years.
But the 4A Hawks will look to improve to 3-0 this week when the winless 5A Timberwolves (0-3) travel to Rathdrum for the first time since 2010 to take on Lakeland on Friday at Corbit Field.
The teams have only met 10 times since Lake City opened in 1994. Lakeland won in ’94, but Lake City has won every matchup since — though the two teams have played just twice since 2005.
As for the picks, I picked up a game on Jason Elliott, and after three weeks, we are tied overall with 21-8 records, which wouldn’t be much to write home about if anyone actually wrote home anymore.
We both went 4-3 on high school picks, with Jason’s pick of Lakeside perhaps inspiring Clark Fork to a resounding victory.
I went 4-0 on college picks. Jason was 3-1, picking Northern Arizona to beat Eastern Washington.
We haven’t quite reached the “dog days” of pigskin prognosticating, but we might be getting close.
HIGH SCHOOL
All games Friday at 7 p.m.
Eisenhower (2-0) at Coeur d’Alene (3-0)
NELKE: The visiting Cadets, of Yakima, own victories over Stadium (42-28) of Tacoma, and Federal Way (14-7). Ike appears to be a running team, which would help if it got the lead. If not ...
Cd’A, 35-21
ELLIOTT: Coeur d’Alene gears up for what could be its toughest challenge of the year next Friday against visiting Highland High of Pocatello — ranked No. 1 in the latest media poll by the way — with a strong performance against Eisenhower.
Cd’A, 35-20
Lake City (0-3) at Lakeland (2-0)
NELKE: Could this finally be the week Lake City wins its first game under interim coach Brian Fulp? Or does Lakeland beat a 5A team for the first time since 2014? Flip a coin ...
Lake City, 27-26
ELLIOTT: Lake City looked a lot better than that record indicates last week against Ferris High of Spokane. Lakeland might surprise some folks this year.
Lake City, 24-21
Post Falls (1-2) at Moses Lake (0-2)
NELKE: The young Trojans are coming off losses to a couple of pretty good Greater Spokane League teams the past two weeks, but continue to show signs. Moses Lake has losses to Ferris (17-7) and Mt. Spokane (41-14).
Post Falls, 24-21
ELLIOTT: Post Falls can move the ball on offense, and will need to once again to get to .500 on the season.
Post Falls, 38-30
Rogers (0-2) at Timberlake (2-1)
NELKE: The 3A Tigers have doubled their win total after last year’s 1-7 hiccup, and are coming off a thrilling comeback OT win at 4A Moscow.
Timberlake, 28-14
ELLIOTT: Coaches talk about momentum a lot. Timberlake seemed to have just that right now.
Timberlake, 31-17
St. Maries (2-1) at Priest River (1-1)
NELKE: After watching the Stag film from last week (c’mon, St. Maries lost to the Deer Park Stags last Friday), the 2A Lumberjacks rebound and improve to 2-0 vs. (3A) Intermountain League teams.
St. Maries, 34-14
ELLIOTT: I’m guessing after watching whatever film came from last week that St. Maries cleans up its act this week.
St. Maries, 38-20
Kootenai (1-1) vs. Wallace (1-1) at Sather Field, Silverton
NELKE: Kootenai is coming off a bye after being routed by Clark Fork, which last week routed Lakeside, which was routed by Wallace two weeks ago.
Wallace, 54-22
ELLIOTT: Apparently it’s homecoming for the Miners this Friday. It’s good to see these two teams facing off again, albeit in a nonleague game.
Wallace, 42-22
Timberline (0-2) at Lakeside (0-3)
NELKE: If nothing else, this should be entertaining. Because of low numbers at the Weippe school, this will be a 6-man game.
Lakeside, 54-40
ELLIOTT: If you thought 8-man games were like track meets with huddles, get a load of the 6-man game.
Lakeside, 68-58
COLLEGE
Eastern Washington (2-0) at Washington State (2-0)
Saturday, 5 p.m.
NELKE: Would this even be an upset again, after EWU won 45-42 at WSU two years ago? It could happen again, but you would think the Cougars would have the athletes — and the painful memory — to at least slow down the Eagles enough to escape with the win.
WSU, 38-28
ELLIOTT: Cooper Kupp isn’t at Eastern to torch the Cougar pass defense this time, and neither is Beau Baldwin. Washington State should win this one.
WSU, 38-28
No. 17 Boise State (2-0) at No. 24 Oklahoma State (2-0)
Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
NELKE: After two near-walkovers, the Broncos finally face a challenge in the ranked Cowboys in Stillwater. If BSU wins, the Broncos remain in the conversation for a New Year’s Six bowl. If not, they likely drop out of sight and have to settle for beating up on the Mountain West.
Boise State, 45-38
ELLIOTT: Boise State put itself on the College Football map with an upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. No trick plays will be needed this time.
Boise State, 42-28