Greg Lee: Greater Spokane League football will be nothing short of entertaining

What have we learned after two weeks of high school football for Greater Spokane League teams?

It’s really simple for me. Go ahead and etch Gonzaga Prep’s name on the 4A championship banner. There will be no chase for the title. It’s not going to be close.

Go ahead and do the same on the 3A banner. Mt. Spokane will cruise to another title.

G-Prep should have its way in league play. The Bullpups came within a yard of pulling off a season-opening win on the road against one of the best 3A teams in the state.

Last week, the Bullpups flew to California and picked up an impressive win.

For a second straight week, G-Prep’s new quarterback, converted running back Connor Halonen, had a big impact. After gaining 209 yards rushing and scoring four touchdowns in the opener, he rushed for 120 and scored another TD last week. He also completed 3 of 6 passes for 57 yards and a TD.

G-Prep has plenty of other weapons and the defense is solid. The Bullpups are only going to get better. That’s a scary thought.

When I put together our preseason predictions for our special section, I thought there would be a clear separation between the top three 4A teams and the bottom three teams.

After seeing University play against Post Falls last Saturday, though, I was clearly wrong. All apologies to the Titans.

U-Hi is definitely in the mix for one of the other two postseason berths (4A gets three this year). In fact, the league opener Friday pitting the Titans against Mead will be telling.

I picked Mead to finish second. I did that largely because I knew the Panthers would have a high-octane offense with the ability to score and score often. I took a leap of faith that the Panthers’ defense – worst among the 4A teams last year – would be improved.

I suspect it will be in time. But after allowing 54 points to a good Post Falls team and giving up 62 to an even better Coeur d’Alene team, I’m left to wonder. CdA backed off the throttle or it could have been worse.

I envisioned a final-week showdown for the league title between G-Prep and Mead. Now I’m not so sure.

U-Hi presents a problem of a different kind for the Panthers. The Titans’ best defense could be it’s ball-controlling offense, which could keep the Mead offense stalled on the sideline.

I picked Central Valley to take the third and final postseason berth. Our sample size of the Bears is small considering CV’s game last week against Lake City was canceled.

CV showed well in some areas in its season-opening 29-27 loss against Colson Yankoff-less CdA.

Bears coach Ryan Butner had two quarterbacks capable of starting going into the season. Now he’s down to one, Grant Hannan, after Matt Gabbert suffered a season-ending broken collarbone for the second year in a row.

Hannan provides an exciting element to CV’s offense. He’s a dual threat. If he gets out on the edge, he can wreak havoc on defenses.

The other two league openers feature Lewis and Clark at G-Prep and CV meeting Ferris at Albi. I’ll be curious to see how the Saxons fare against the Bears.

The 3A teams are still a month away from starting to decide two postseason berths.

I picked Shadle Park to earn the second berth with North Central a step behind.

We’ll have a better read on NC after the Indians face their third Great Northern League team in as many weeks at preseason favorite West Valley on Friday.

WV beat Shadle 38-20 in a season opener.

Of course, much could change in the next month.