Greg Lee: Upon further review, I’m changing the call

I was wrong.

You may recall a column here about a month ago where I wrote that the race in 5A Inland Empire League football was for second, not first.

Thankfully, nobody has called or e-mailed me this week to point out I was wrong. Thanks for being kind. (I can’t count co-worker Jim Meehan’s observation. For the record he checked in at 2:58 p.m. Tuesday.)

I don’t recall a regular season zanier than the one that finished up last week. All four IEL teams were in the playoff hunt going into the final week.

It took a win by Post Falls over Coeur d’Alene to open the door to a possible three-way tie for second. But Lewiston refused to oblige. Instead, the Bengals upset defending state champ Lake City, forging a share of the league title and eliminating PF and CdA.

Many of us – me included – had given up Lewiston for dead three weeks ago when CdA had built a 35-7 lead over the visiting Bengals on the way to a 42-28 victory.

I figured PF would throw the final shovels of dirt on Lewiston’s season the following week. But the Bengals showed they still had more than a pulse when they traveled to PF to stay in the chase with a 39-21 win.

The only thing left before the official coronation of LC as league champ was for the Timberwolves to go down to Lewiston and take care of business last Friday. But LC, which hasn’t been the same team since losing speedy wide receiver Kyle Johnson to a broken foot in late September, fell on its face as the Bengals held off the T-Wolves 26-14.

For the first time since LC moved up to 5A in 2003, a first-round playoff game isn’t being played in the City by the Lake.

I still think LC is the best team in the league. But Lewiston certainly earned its playoff berth because it beat the right teams – something PF and CdA couldn’t do.

But one thing was evident last Friday in Lewiston. If the favored team doesn’t play well it can be beat. This year’s LC team isn’t last year’s LC team. The two biggest things the 2007 team lacks over 2006 are a healthy Johnson and an offensive line that pushes people off the ball.

So even if LC wins Friday, I don’t see the T-Wolves advancing to a state title game for a second straight year.

I could be wrong. I was a few weeks ago. But this time I think I’m right.