The B’s

Northeast B-11: Two of the top four B-11 football teams from last year play in the opener when defending champion Lind-Ritzville heads up to Ferry County to face Republic, which finished third last year. Both teams have new coaches, and Republic’s Shawn Anderson has a large task ahead if he wants to get the Tigers back to the playoffs, let alone the state semifinals. In other league openers, Wilbur-Creston (1-0), which beat 1A Lake Roosevelt 14-0 to open the season, plays at Selkirk; Springdale is at Odessa (1-0), which opened with a 26-14 win over Bridgeport; and Liberty is at Reardan. Northeast B-8: Inchelium opens its football season by traveling to near Prescott to play Jubilee Christian (1-0), which defeated Almira/Coulee-Hartline 28-24 on Friday. Sprague-Harrington (1-0) finishes its two-game stretch against Idaho schools when the Falcons play in Harrison at Kootenai (0-1) on Friday night. Southeast B-11: After DeSales kicked off the football season with a 45-7 blowout over 2004 state quarterfinalist La Salle last Friday, the other five teams begin their seasons with non-league games. In Friday’s marquee games, Asotin travels to Orofino (1-0), an Idaho State 2A participant that blew out 3A St. Maries 64-0 last week, and DeSales (1-0) visits Baker City (0-1), which made Oregon’s State 3A quarters last year. On Saturday, Tekoa-Oakesdale/Rosalia looks to rebound from last year’s 0-8 season at home against 1A Liberty Bell (0-1). Southeast B-8: LaCrosse-Washtucna (1-0) won its 36th consecutive game last week with a 56-6 drubbing of Wellpinit, and the Tigercats will attempt to tie St. John’s 36-year-old State B record Friday against Mohawk (Ore.) at Burbank.

–J.D. Larson and Josh Petrie