Greg Lee: Lot of moments to remember, if not all golden

The just-completed fall sports season had plenty of intriguing stories.

By comparison, though, this fall wasn’t as golden as recent falls.

Just one North Idaho team captured a state championship. That honor went to the Bonners Ferry boys soccer team.

Here’s a look in the rearview mirror at the fall:

Football

Four teams – Lake City, Lakeland, Timberlake and Kootenai – came within a win of advancing to state title games. The only team that probably would have had a chance at winning a championship would have been Kootenai, based on the final scores of the title games. In 5A, Meridian handled Capital, the team that beat LC, 44-14; in 4A, Blackfoot breezed past Nampa, the team that beat Lakeland, 46-14; in 3A, Shelley knocked off defending champ Fruitland, the team that beat Timberlake, 19-13; and in 1A Division II, Salmon River, the team that rallied to beat Kootenai 20-18, edged Carey 46- 42.

Lake City, which shared an Inland Empire League title with Lewiston, avenged a 26-14 loss at Lewiston by traveling back a week later to handle the Bengals 32-12. The Timberwolves, who were coming off their first perfect season at 12-0 last year, found out how special that season was this year. Essentially injury free a year ago, LC had too many key injuries this season.

Lakeland played Nampa even for three quarters before the Bulldogs got the deciding score in the final quarter.

Timberlake ran into a Fruitland team that had as much speed and more size.

And Kootenai will wonder what might have been until next fall when the Warriors could make another deep run into the state playoffs.

Next year, LC’s string of 11 straight trips to the state playoffs will be in jeopardy. Coeur d’Alene will return the most talent – similar to what LC returned in 2006. The Vikings will support the experience with a nucleus of juniors-to-be who went undefeated as sophomores this year.

LC, Post Falls and Lewiston will be in the mix for the second state berth.

In 4A, Lakeland and Sandpoint are developing a healthy rivalry. And Moscow believes it is getting to a point where it can challenge for a state playoff berth.

In 3A, the Intermountain League should be as tight as it has been in years. Timberlake will lose much to graduation. Don’t expect the other four IML coaches to send Timberlake coach Roy Albertson sympathy cards.

“I can’t close the book on football without pointing out some of the significant career numbers established by Boise State University-bound Byron Hout of Lake City and Nick Puckett of Timberlake. Both were three-year starters, and they set school records that could stand for many years to come.

Hout, the 5A state player of the year in 2006, finished with 256 tackles, 19 sacks, 47 tackles for losses, 16 forced fumbles and 42 hurries. Puckett finished with 5,463 rushing yards and 6,026 total offensive yards. He had 60 career rushing touchdowns and 70 overall. He also set the school mark for single-game rushing (301) and single season (2,159).

Soccer

The Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Sandpoint girls were as close to evenly matched as one could get this fall, and that same competition should carry over next year.

CdA’s boys fell short of their goal of winning a state title, but Vikings coach Eric Louis’ crew had a respectable run to get to the state semifinals. Louis will have some voids to fill next year, and Lake City is probably the early favorite with most of its team back.

The Sandpoint boys, meanwhile, didn’t qualify for state for the first time under 10-year coach Randy Thoreson. The Bulldogs will be more than motivated to make sure it stands as just a one-year absence.

In 3A, a tip of the hat to Bonners Ferry boys coach Wayne Wilkerson. With the nucleus returning next year, the Badgers will be in the hunt for a repeat state title.

Volleyball

Sandpoint and St. Maries ran into better teams in their respective state finals, but they have nothing to be ashamed of in their runner-up finishes.

Sandpoint, the 2006 4A state champ, will return its nucleus next fall. That could mean another state title banner to hang up in the gym.

In 5A, Coeur d’Alene handled crosstown rival Lake City twice in league and once at regionals, but it was the young Timberwolves who brought home a state trophy (fourth). That will just ratchet up the rivalry between them next year.

Cross country

I was told early in the fall to keep an eye on Coeur d’Alene freshman Kinsey Gomez. Several of my cross country friends told me she was in the class of Breanna Sande of Lake City and Corissa Yasen and Jenny Reese of CdA from years past.

They were right. Gomez kept improving through the year, culminating with a state championship. She’s set the bar high. She wants to win four state titles – a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in Idaho.

Sandpoint junior Megan Bartlett also captured a state title, and she’ll seek a 4A repeat next year.

LC senior John Coyle (second) and sophomore C.J. Helbling (third) also had outstanding seasons as did Bonners Ferry senior Melody Braden (fourth).