Greg Lee: Plenty of races to keep an eye on this year

Had the Greater Spokane League not divided into 4A and 3A divisions in football, this could have been a year that as many as eight teams may have had realistic thoughts of a league championship.

The move to two divisions was long overdue. And it should stick – if for no other reason than the GSL should expand by one and perhaps by as many as three 3A teams in three years.

Cheney is destined to move up at the halfway mark of the new four-year classification cycle. I have this on good authority. And East Valley will likely want to tag along. I have this on good authority. And West Valley will likely see that the Great Northern League would be all but dead and want to join. This isn’t so much on good authority.

Anyway, I digress.

Gonzaga Prep will capture the 4A championship and Mt. Spokane will take the 3A title. Unless, of course, Ferris prevails in 4A and Shadle Park does the same in 3A.

I say all that to say this – there are no clear-cut favorites.

You can’t go wrong picking G-Prep or Ferris. The same can be said of Mt. Spokane and Shadle.

The nice thing is all four teams will play each other – although the crossover games are nonleague. But they will be entertaining games nonetheless.

Here’s why I like G-Prep to win the title: Senior running back Jack Bamis. Now he’s no Bishop Sankey – and physically there’s no comparison. Bamis is much bigger. In fact, if Bamis plays in college he’ll end up as a linebacker. He’s got the perfect body, agility and quickness for that position.

The Bullpups should have an aggressive, quick defense, too.

Here’s why I like Ferris to win the title: Senior running back, more like multipurpose back, Jalen Hicks.

Ferris coach Jim Sharkey, an offensive guru, and defensive coordinator Grady Emerson are as good as they come in a league deep in quality head coaches and assistants.

Here’s why I like Shadle to win a title – Senior quarterback Brett Rypien. Enough said.

Here’s why I like Mt. Spokane to win a title – the Wildcats as a whole. The sum of the parts is the big thing here.

• The Northeast A got much tougher with the addition of Colville and Deer Park, which will be in the mix for one of the league’s three state playoff berths.

This year the NEA goes directly to state with no play-in games with the smaller Caribou Trail League.

I expect defending state champ Freeman to run the table in the NEA. The Scotties return practically intact. But league play will be considerably more challenging this fall.

In a season opener last year, Freeman escaped with a 14-7 win over Colville, which qualified for the State 2A playoffs.

• And how about the 10-team Northeast 2B? Wow, will this be a fun league this year.

Wilbur-Creston bumps up from 1B where the Wildcats would have challenged for a state title. In the NE 2B, they could be just another team but I see them playing for a play-in berth.

As I do for two-time defending state champ Lind-Ritzville/Sprague, Colfax and Reardan. Sure LRS lost much to graduation, but have a shovel handy any time coach Greg Whitmore starts singing the wow-is-us tune. His league counterparts aren’t buying it. LRS won’t be as strong as the last two years, but the Broncos aren’t falling off the map.

• In the 5A Inland Empire League, two teams advance to the expanded playoffs. Defending champ Coeur d’Alene should be one of those teams. The other should be Lake City.

• In the 4A IEL, two of the three also qualify in an expanded format. And those two will be Lakeland and Sandpoint.