I couldn't even jinx him with Thursday's feature story. Minnerly's ability to scramble, throw on the run, throw with precision, run bootleg and option-pitch and occasionally go long, coupled with clock management, proved the difference in the East's comeback 17-14 win over the West in the All-Star Summer Classic football contest in front of a full house at Central Valley. CV's Tyler Cochran led all tacklers with seven solo and two assists.

"Minnerly, what can you say?" said coach Dave Carson. "What a great competitor, one of the great ones to come from Spokane. He has a great knack for making plays."

The Ferris senior enabled Gonzaga Prep's retiring coach to go out a winner.

"That's the way it should be," said Carson. "No regrets. The assistant coaches did a helluva job. It was a helluva game."

My game story for tomorrow's Spokesman follows.

Tonight's the night for the best of Washington's football players who square off in the High School East-West All-State Summer Classic, 7 at Central Valley.

Eight Greater Spokane League players are in the east lineup, TE/DE Patrick Mealey and RB/LB Tyler Cochran from Central Valley, QB/DB/Rec Lonnie Quirk from East Valley, QB Jeff Minnerly and RB/DB McKenzie Murphy from Ferris, RB/LB Alex Shaw from Lewia and Clark, QB/LB Bryan Karwacki and kicker Mat Barker from Gonzaga Prep.

Hopefully thunderstorms stay away until the game's over.

It's hot, humid - yes, it's summer - but football is in the air (and will be literally) when East meets West in Thursday's High School All-State Football Summer Classic, 7 p.m. at Central Valley.

Here's the second installment, about West receiver Cory MacKay (Eastlake), who committed to, then de-committed from the UW and signed with WSU. Tomorrow in Chapter 3, we visit with a couple of Greater Spokane League quarterbacks and future Eastern Washington University teammates Jeff Minnerly (Ferris) and Bryan Karwacki (Gonzaga Prep).

Then it's game day. Be there. Some 50 will go on to play in college and you'll get a sneak peak.

The Spokane Chiefs have traded goaltender Kevin Armstrong to the Prince George Cougars in exchange for a fourth round draft selection in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft.

The Spokane Shock have moved back into the No. 1 spot in the Week 15 Coaches Poll, the arenafootball2 (af2) league office announced today.

The arenafootball2 league announced today that QB Nick Davila has won the Schutt Offensive Player of the week and teammate Raul Vijil earned the Cutter’s Catch award for his one-handed touchdown catch in the second quarter.

Can't get enough baseball? The annual American Legion wood bat tournaments are this 4th of July weekend. Games are spread among fields in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene.

Also, a couple of former North Central boys and the best of Spokane's and Idaho's girls basketball players are on the road for tournaments. The Girls head to Oregon City this weekend, then Seattle for the prestigious End of the Trail tournament and then Seattle's Midsummer Night's Madness featuring elite teams from all over the country.

The Spokane Stars Blue team has nary a Spokane player, made up of athletes from throughout Idaho and Washington, but the Red team is almost exclusively GSL and local gals. Other Spokane and Idaho stars are on several other teams, including the Northwest Blazers and North Idaho Elite.

For those of you who read the newspaper you already know. For those who follow this blog, many of the state's top 4A and 3A football players are in town prepping for Thursday's East-West All-State Classic, 7 p.m. at Central Valley. Be there or be square (youth league football players get in free as do past participants of this game. For the rest it's $7 to get your football fix before the real thing begins again in about six weeks). I'll have stories in The Spokesman-Review all week.

Baseball junkies out there wanted to keep this blog alive so I have something for you to weigh in on.

Since the Dodgers became Spokane’s select baseball benchmark a few years back, several teams have sprung up – the Monster Dogs, Rattlers, White Brothers Academy among them. It got me to thinking. Are there enough elite players out there in the Inland Northwest to justify that many teams?

Emma Wasson, a fixture at Gonzaga games for more than 35 years, died Saturday at the age of 83.

Wasson purchased a program before every game and used it to keep score. She sat near the end of Gonzaga's bench at the McCarthey Athletic Center and behind the scorer's table at the old Kennel. She often could be seen chatting with coaches and hugging players prior to games.

Click below for an article that will run in Tuesday's S-R, as well as a couple from the S-R archives.

The Spokane Indians held off Tri-City 1-0 in 13 innings Sunday.

Click the tab below to read my unedited game story.

Fierce but friendly competition: The Nike Center Court at Hoopfest was where the elite basketball teams played Sunday. I ventured out into the heat to see how they were doing. Below is my video.

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COUGARS

The Olympic Track trials offered a plethora of WSU news this morning. Add to that an editorial from the Seattle Times about Cougar football, and the plate is surprisingly full for the end of June.

Editor’s note: Former University of Idaho linebacker David Vobora, the last pick in the NFL draft, has been dubbed Mr. Irrelevant and was feted last week with a variety of events in Southern California that concluded Saturday. Here is Vobora’s final report.

The Spokane Shock clinched their third straight Western Division title on Saturday night with a 56-54 victory over the Central Valley Coyotes.

The victory wasn't an easy one. It took a last-second field goal from kicker Brian Jackson for the persistent Shock to earn the win over their division rivals.

My unedited game story is below.

COUGARS

Backup quarterback Cole Morgan, who played his high school ball at Ballard in Seattle, has decided to transfer to Western Washington University, where he has an opportunity to play. Morgan and Western made official yesterday what has been rumored for a while.

With Gary Rogers and Kevin Lopina etched in stone as the Cougars' top two quarterbacks, Morgan's chances of playing would have depended on injuries. Redshirt freshman Marshall Lobbestael, who was pushing Morgan for the third spot, will now hold that spot on his own going into fall camp, which starts in early August.

Wide receiver Etu Molden, who played four seasons with the AFL’s Chicago Rush and was an Arena Bowl champion in 2006, was picked up by the Spokane Shock.

There's more about Molden here in the press release.

UPDATE: My game advance on tomorrow's game (5 p.m. at the Arena) against the Central Valley Coyotes is posted below.

COUGARS

Just wanted to get you caught up on the NBA draft news. Read on for links about Kyle Weaver and Derrick Low.

COUGARS • UPDATED: 9:20 P.M.; 10 P.M.

The Charlotte Bobcats picked former Washington State guard Kyle Weaver with the 38th pick in Thursday's NBA draft. Read on for an unedited version of my story that will appear in Friday's S-R.

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Lake City High School named its head girls basketball coach Thursday.

Click the tab below to read more.

The sixth annual Battle in Seattle will take place Dec. 20th at KeyArena in Seattle. More here on the Gonzaga-Connecticut matchup.

The Zags knocked off the Huskies 85-82 in Boston last season.

COUGARS

Was in Pullman yesterday looking for an apartment and spent some time in the athletic department, watching little kids run up and down the basketball court under the mostly watchful eyes of WSU basketball players. Talked with some of the coaches and players from football, basketball and baseball. And had no trouble finding a parking space. Summer is sure different.

What do you think?

In this article featured on ESPN.com, contributor Gary Joyce thinks that Dustin Tokarski, the Spokane Chiefs goalie who was drafted in the fifth round by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, is one of three NHL prospects to keep an eye on.

When you're done reading, I'd be interested to know what your take on the subject is.

UPDATE: Here's an item on Chiefs defenseman Jared Cowen, who (not surprisingly) got the invite this week to try out for Canada's Under-18 team. Also, Chiefs defenseman Jared Spurgeon and goalie Dustin Tokarski - recent NHL draft picks - were invited to Team Canada’s National Junior Team Development Camp in Ottawa at the end of July.

They're powerful, they're fast, they're sleek. They're boats racing through ... wait, a grass field?

That's right, they're sprint boats. And the track at Webb's Slough in St. John, Wash., is in its second year in the racing circuit. More than 3,000 people turned out June 21 to watch the racers fly through corners and down straightaways at up to 70 mph over water.

Here's my video from the event.

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