Post Falls Duo Poses No End Of Problems

Lewiston High School football coach Nick Menegas has a respectful term to describe Post Falls defensive ends Austin Lee and Jeremy Wallace - game planners.

“The bad part is you can’t run away from either of them; it almost makes it impossible to make a game plan because they’re both game planners,” Menegas said. “You look at them on film and go ‘Wow, we better run the other way.’ The problem is you can’t because one is on one side and one is on the other side.”

Numbers 87 (Lee, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior) and 72 (Wallace, a 6-3, 235 senior) have been the main topic of conversation this week among Lewiston’s offensive coaches, as the Bengals (8-2 overall) prepare for a State A-1 Division II semifinal showdown Saturday afternoon against Post Falls (9-1) at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:45. The game is the middle contest of a tripleheader.

“I’d take either one of them,” Menegas said. “Both are excellent players; both are college players.”

And both are leaders in the classroom as honor students.

They’ve caused headaches for opposing coaches all season. Most of the time, teams have chosen to attack to their left (Post Falls’ right in its defensive schemes) hoping to maneuver around Wallace, whom they deem to be the lesser of the two migraines.

Post Falls coach Jerry Lee has tried such things as overloading Wallace’s side to keep teams from running away from his son, Austin. But consistent play by Wallace, who played right defensive tackle last year, has allowed the Trojans the luxury of playing base schemes and avoid unsound situations.

“Jeremy’s been very steady all season,” Lee said. “In fact, one of his best games was against Lewiston.”

The Trojans’ 41-20 win over Lewiston in the fourth week of the season was their first in 17 tries over the Bengals since the teams started playing one another in 1980.

Austin Lee doesn’t mind that teams purposely avoid him.

“Jeremy has played well,” he said. “It’s a tough adjustment from defensive tackle to defensive end, but he made the adjustment well.”

Wallace has noticed and enjoyed the extra attention.

“At first it was very challenging because I had to learn a new position,” Wallace said. “I’ve tried to learn from Austin. I’ve asked him for advice the whole year.”

The first priority of the ends is to contain the run, trying to force backs inside where flowing tackles and linebackers should make the tackles. In pass rush, the ends also try to contain from their outside pursuit and not allow the quarterback to scramble from the pocket.

So when Lee and Wallace make mistakes in their containment, the result can be obvious. But they’ve also made their share of big plays.

In Post Falls’ 49-7 opening-round playoff win over Sandpoint, Wallace recovered a fumble and tipped a pass for an interception.

Lee and Wallace have waged a friendly competition in sacks. They’re tied for the team lead with eight.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with it; it makes you try that much harder when the other guy gets a sack,” Wallace said. “I was ahead by three early in the season but Austin’s caught up with me.”

Notes

Menegas has several other concerns about the Trojans than Lee and Wallace, namely running back Josh Mort.

The junior, who packs both speed and power, ran for a career-high 286 yards on 38 carries in the first meeting between the teams. He piled up the bulk of the yardage and scored four touchdowns in the second half, when the Trojans broke from a 14-all tie.

“I don’t know how you contain him, but we have to find a way,” Menegas said. “The difficult thing is they have so many other weapons, too, that you really can’t get into schemes to key him as much as you’d like because of the potential elsewhere on the field.”

Many of the holes opened for Mort have come behind the blocking of Lee and Wallace, two-way starters at tight end and right guard, respectively. Fullback Josh Dolan has also opened cracks for Mort to dart through.

The Trojans’ ability to control the ball in the first game against Lewiston kept the Bengals’ big-play offense off the field.

Lee sees ball control as critical for his team Saturday.

“When they’re hot, I don’t think anybody can stop them,” Lee said of the Lewiston offense, which features big-play wide receiver Jim Farris and speedy running back Chris Kennedy.

Special invitation

Both coaches expect a wonderfully played game.

“I’m sure it’s going to be a classic,” said Menegas, who is no stranger to semifinal games. His team won the state title in 1993 and was the runner-up the year before.

“There are so many variables, it should be a donnybrook,” Lee said.

Lee expects the experience of losing a heartbreaker to Burley in the semifinals last year (28-25) will benefit his team.

“Last year, we thought we could (get to state) and then after the game, we knew we could,” he said. “Now we’re at a place where we know we can.”

The Post Falls-Lewiston winner will meet the Madison-Caldwell survivor in the title game, which is scheduled for a week from Saturday at Holt Arena in Pocatello. Madison, the defending state champion, and Caldwell meet tonight in Pocatello.

Admission

It’s one price fits all in the triple-header Saturday. General admission is $4.50 and discount tickets are $3.50 for senior citizens as well as middle school and high school students with activity cards.

The action begins at 11 a.m. when Lapwai (9-0) meets Kimberly (8-2) in an A-3 semifinal and concludes when Deary (9-0) meets Mullan (8-1) in an A-4 eight-man semifinal at 4:30.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo