Greg Lee

An analogy that aptly describes the Lake City High girls basketball team is that of an orchestra. Not a proficient orchestra by any means, but a work in progress that is hitting most of the right notes these days.

Ask Lakeland High senior Zach Horsley how he fared at the 4A state wrestling tournament last year and the quick answer is simple. Third place.

Elmer Jordan, a Coeur d'Alene icon as a high school coach and businessman, died Sunday. He was 87. Jordan was the winningest boys basketball coach in Coeur d'Alene history, leading the Vikings to two state titles (1949 and 1963). In 23 years as head coach, his teams were a combined 425-183 (.699 winning percentage). He retired in 1968 to pursue a career in real estate.

Just after the Lewiston High boys basketball team had cut into Coeur d'Alene's nine-point lead late in the fourth quarter, Bengals coach Dave Cornelia took a timeout. "I just told them it's not over," Cornelia told his team moments after 6-foot-8 senior post Andrew Packwood hit a jumper from the free-throw line to pull the defending Inland Empire League champs within 59-52 with 2:35 to play. "We had some magic in this gym last year."

It's easy to think you're seeing double when you see guards Andrew Prohaska and Nate Clinton at the front of the Coeur d'Alene High boys basketball team's full-court pressure. A referee may have said it best.

SPIRIT LAKE – David Hayes wanted to finish his high school wrestling career in Bonners Ferry. Health issues involving grandparents on both sides of his family, though, necessitated that the Hayeses move near Rathdrum. So Hayes, a state champion a year ago, will try to repeat wearing a different singlet this winter.

The Madison High boys basketball team returned essentially three starters off a team that finished runner-up at the State 4A tournament a year ago. Lake City returned one starter off a team that lost a play-in game for a 5A state berth and finished with a 10-13 record.

Most years high school coaches whose teams are picked as league favorites do their best to sidestep the topic. They come up with the typical song and dance about how they should be among the contenders. You know the usual refrain.

MOSCOW, Idaho – The Lake City High offensive linemen kept telling their coaches to just load up and follow them. It took Lake City's coaches a half before they listened Friday. When the Timberwolves abandoned all attempts at finesse and became physical, LC's offense was like an out-of-control bulldozer rolling downhill in the IHSAA/United Dairymen of Idaho 5A state championship football game.

The 2005-06 girls basketball season had an entertaining finish, to say the least. Coeur d'Alene, Moscow, Kellogg and Wallace played for state championships. Coeur d'Alene, Kellogg and Wallace return the core of their teams. At the very least, those teams hope to be playing in Nampa's Idaho Center on championship Saturday come mid-February.

In Lake City High football coach Van Troxel's program, it's not where you start, it's where you finish. Four years ago wide receiver Shane Fitzgerald played on the freshman B squad. Last Friday he caught a touchdown pass in the Timberwolves' playoff win over Meridian.

SPIRIT LAKE – Going into the season, Fruitland High coach Bruce Schlaich thought his football team was a year away from challenging for a state title. Especially since Schlaich had to retool his offensive line. The opportunity to win a state championship arrived Saturday as the Grizzlies had their way with previously undefeated and No. 2-ranked Timberlake 28-6 in a 3A semifinal before an estimated crowd of 1,000 at Van Tuinstra Memorial Field.

With weather conditions dictating the tempo, the Lake City High football team reverted to its old style – the grind it out, pound-it-down-your-throat mode. Coupled with a defense that likes it physical, too, the No. 1-ranked Timberwolves manhandled defending 5A state champ Meridian 31-7 in a semifinal Friday played before a rain-soaked, chilled crowd estimated at 2,000 at Lake City.

What do you get when you combine the Destroyer, the Hammer, the Ghost and the Opportunist? They're the nucleus of the best defense in Lake City High School history.

The Timberlake High football team's defense didn't spend much time on the field in the first half. It's a good thing, too, because the Tigers defenders seemingly lived on the field in the second half.

If there were any doubts before Friday, there aren't any now. The No. 1-ranked Lake City High football team undressed Coeur d'Alene in every way imaginable as the Timberwolves tromped the visiting Vikings 48-7 in a State 5A playoff opener played in steady rain.