Coeur d’Alene Vikings top season’s first high school power rankings

It shouldn’t come as a surprise which area high school football team received the nod as top-ranked in the first NWPrepsNow power rankings.

Coeur d’Alene (3-0), Idaho’s defending State 5A champ, has recorded impressive back-to-back wins over Central Valley and Ferris. The Vikings received 36 points.

“The Vikings may have lost some key players from last season – Chase Blakley and Gunnar Amos come to mind – but Coeur d’Alene has done nothing to make me think it can’t compete for a fourth state title in five years,” SWX producer Neil Stover said.

Shadle Park occupies the second slot with 28 points followed by Lake City (3-0) with 25, defending State 1A champ Freeman (2-0) with 18, Gonzaga Prep (2-0) with 16 and Lakeland (3-0) with 10.

“Brett Rypien has plenty of company to go along with a solid running game,” Greg Lee, The Spokesman-Review’s lead prep writer, said.

There will be some shakeup in the rankings considering Shadle Park visits Lake City on Friday.

“Watching (Lake City) square off with against Rypien and Company will be fun,” SWX content coordinator Josh Ouellette said.

Freeman, G-Prep and Lakeland also could climb in the rankings. Two-time defending 2B state champ Lind-Ritzville/Sprague (2-0) and Mt. Spokane (2-0) also are on the brink of breaking into the poll.

“The Scotties continue to be the class of small-school football around the Inland Northwest,” Stover said of Freeman.

“Easily the best of the 4A Greater Spokane League teams,” Lee said of G-Prep.

Teams aren’t ranked in the poll based on their potential to beat other teams in the rankings. The top criteria are how far the voters believe the teams can advance in the postseason and how the teams stack up against teams from their respective classifications.