St. Maries Wins Iml Tiebreaker

Finally, a winner. Or at least a runner-up.

A three-way tie for second place in the Intermountain League football season ended Tuesday night in Post Falls, when the St. Maries Lumberjacks emerged from a Kansas tie-breaker with a State A-2 berth.

St. Maries (6-3) outlasted Lakeland (3-6) and Kellogg (7-2) in Tuesday’s tiebreaker. The three schools had identical 3-2 IML marks. League champ Bonners Ferry had already clinched a state berth.

St. Maries will travel to Bishop Kelly Saturday to face the second-ranked Knights.

“We’ll be the underdog, but our offense can keep us in the game if it’s close,” St. Maries coach Curt Carr said. They proved that on Tuesday.

St. Maries scored on its first two drives to win its opener against Kellogg. Lakeland had won a coin toss at the beginning of the tiebreaker to earn a bye.

In the deciding matchup, St. Maries used a long touchdown pass and a tough stand on defense to beat the Hawks.

Lakeland got the ball at the 40-yard line to begin the playoff but couldn’t score. St. Maries was also stopped from the same starting spot, and got the ball for the second time from the 20-yard-line after winning a coin toss.

On the first play of that drive, Jeremy Craner caught a touchdown pass from Skyler Willard and the Lumberjacks converted the two-point conversion.

Lakeland running back Travis Costa fumbled on the second play of the Hawks’ drive after the Craner touchdown and the Lumberjacks’ Billy Brebner recovered the ball to end the game.

“We just had to step it up a notch tonight and we played well enough to win,” Craner said.

In the opening game, Kellogg running back Josh Easley ran 40 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game and the Wildcats converted the two-point conversion to put St. Maries in a hole.

The Lumberjacks marched down the field to answer the score and then made a two-point conversion to keep the game alive. St. Maries got the ball first from the 20-yard line and eventually scored on a Justin Hall touchdown and Craner two-point conversion.

Easley then took over again with a 8-yard-run to bring the Wildcats within two points, but Craner intercepted the two-point conversion to win the game.

“It’s a hard loss, but they covered the conversion perfectly,” Easley said.

G-Prep stars move on

Gonzaga Prep’s twin towers have decided to continue their basketball careers out of state. Jennifer Williams, a 6-foot-1 second-team all-Greater Spokane League post who averaged about 13 points a game, is going to the University of New Mexico and Theresa Palmer, also 6-1, is going to Loyola Marymount.

Both gave oral commitments this week. The official early signing period begins next Wednesday.

“I really like the coach, the school and the team,” Williams said. ” I have a little bit of concern because my parents won’t be able to watch me. I picked it because the weather is nice and the town (Albuquerque).”

Williams picked the Western Athletic Conference Lobos over Pepperdine and Portland of the West Coast Conference.

Palmer, who averaged more than 11 points a game last year, opted for the WCC, choosing Loyola, which is in Los Angeles, and passing on Gonzaga, Brown, Weber State and Pacific.

“I was totally impressed with the coach,” she said. “They put academics and athletics on the same level. They made me feel welcome. I loved the place, basically.”

Palmer didn’t even take her four remaining campus visits after going to Loyola.