John Drager's final football team at Mullan High School won't be in the state playoffs like most of his previous 30 teams.
Unless, of course, the Lakeside Knights stumble in their final two North Star League eight-man games.
Don't count on it, though. The Knights have all but clinched the league title, especially with remaining dates against Falls Christian on Friday and, following a bye, Kootenai in two weeks.
Lakeside handled Falls Christian (56-6) and Kootenai (62-14) earlier in the season in games shortened by the 45-point mercy rule.
Lakeside rebounded Friday from a 40-20 loss to Mullan on Sept. 6 to spank the Tigers 64-14. The game ended, along with the Tigers' hopes of escorting their coach to the playoffs one last time, with 1:19 left in the third quarter when fullback Sam Lozeau and quarterback Ken Pluff connected on a 10-yard touchdown.
"The kids thought we were as good as Mullan the last time we played," Lakeside coach Ron Miller said. "But I don't know if we're 50 points better. We sure were (Friday)."
Miller respects Drager and will miss Friday night showdowns with his teams.
"It's great that one of the last things he'll remember is that Lakeside beat him," Miller said, laughing. "We've been on the short end of things playing his teams (the past 11 years). It's great that they've named the field after him. It's his field. It's an experience to play at Mullan. It's different than any other place you play. It's a unique atmosphere; it's John's atmosphere and has been for 30 some years."
Drager isn't going to postpone his retirement to have one more shot at the playoffs.
"No," he said, laughing. "I'm done. Just two more games."
The field at Mullan will officially be renamed in Drager's honor in a ceremony Friday.
This 'n that
Coeur d'Alene senior running back Mark Scates has quit. But Scates and coach Bill Anderson have conflicting reasons as to why.
"He's going to have to have his (right) shoulder operated on," Anderson said. "He'll definitely be missed."
Scates, a standout pitcher on the baseball team, had surgery last winter on his left shoulder (his non-throwing arm) after playing injured the entire football season. He had initially planned on not turning out this fall because he didn't want to risk re-injury, but reconsidered two days into practices.
Scates said his right shoulder is fine.
"I just wasn't having fun," said Scates, who decided to quit after Coeur d'Alene defeated Moscow 34-10 two weeks ago.
The girls district soccer tourney begins Saturday with two state berths on the line.
League champion Coeur d'Alene (14-4-1 overall) is heavily favored to capture the district title. Sandpoint, Lewiston, Moscow and Lake City have a shot at the other berth.
The matches figure to be hotly contested because the tournament is single elimination. As crazy as it may seem, the teams played 14 league matches to decide little except seeding.
All matches Saturday begin at 4 p.m. No.8 seed Bonners Ferry (0-14) is at No. 1 CdA, No. 7 Post Falls (2-10-1) goes to No. 2 Sandpoint (12-3-2), No. 6 Lakeland (4-10) treks to No. 3 Lewiston (8-3-3), and No. 5 Lake City (8-6-2) visits No. 4 Moscow (8-4-3) in what should be the toughest opener.
Play resumes Tuesday with the LCMoscow winner visiting the CdA-Bonners Ferry winner and the Lakeland-Lewiston winner traveling to play the Sandpoint-Post Falls winner. Both matches are at 4 p.m.
The championship match will be played Thursday at CdA.
