Prep briefs: Post Falls Trojans take on streak

A year ago, the Post Falls football team was heavily favored to finally break through against Lake City.

Sometime from the opening kickoff to the final gun, Post Falls fell short of expectation and lost to the Timberwolves, who had dropped their first five games of the season.

For a second straight year, Post Falls is favored to snap its losing streak to Lake City – a streak that has grown to five games.

“Right now, they’re the front-runner. We’re chasing them,” LC coach Van Troxel said. “Coming out of summer camp, everybody thought Post Falls was the best team. They’re big and they’re talented.”

It won’t take an upset for LC to win this year, though. LC went on to capture the 5A Inland Empire League championship last fall, including an upset of Coeur d’Alene.

Post Falls (4-0) visits LC (2-2) in a league opener at 7 p.m. Friday.

“We’ve progressed a ton,” Troxel said.

It showed last Saturday when LC traveled to Snohomish, Wash., and knocked off previously unbeaten Glacier Peak 44-37.

While LC is much improved, Troxel believes Post Falls is a different team, too.

“They’re way better than they were a year ago – all the way around,” Troxel said.

PF coach Jeff Hinz can’t put his finger on why his team has struggled against LC. At the same time, PF has won three straight against CdA.

“That’s a good question,” Hinz said.

The Trojans’ schedule hasn’t tested them to this point. Post Falls has outscored its opponents 198-39.

“It’s been nightmarish. I wish we had our schedule from last year,” Hinz said. “You can’t choose who you play when you’re begging for games.”

Hinz figures LC’s defense will come after the Trojans.

“I really like how they get after it and they fly all over the place,” Hinz said. “We need to have good things happen early to get out to a good start.”

• The best game in the Greater Spokane League features Central Valley (3-1) taking on co-leader Ferris (4-0) on Friday in the second game of a doubleheader at Joe Albi Stadium. Kickoff is at 8.

It’ll be teams with multiple offensive weapons squaring off. The team that plays the best defense will likely prevail.

“It should be a great game,” Ferris coach Jim Sharkey said. “It should be a classic CV/Ferris game like we’ve had the past three years and it could go down to the last possession.”

Record broken

Gonzaga Prep running back Bishop Sankey isn’t the only player setting records in the area.

George Canning of Liberty rushed for a school-record 301 yards and five touchdowns in a win earlier this fall over Springdale. He broke the record set by Jared Jeske (278) in 1992. Jeske played on the Liberty team that won a state championship.

Canning, a four-year starter at RB and linebacker, also returned an interception for a sixth TD, tying a single-game record set in the early 1990s by Kevin Brannon.