Jim Allen

EWU to extend Hayford's contract

When it comes to the regional soccer playoffs, there’s no room for overconfidence. For the Mt. Spokane boys, there’s no margin for error in today’s 3A loser-out game against a Kamiakin team that’s only 5-12 and hitting the road to face Ryan Campanells’s Greater Spokane League champions.

Even when the goals were hard to come by, Mt. Spokane made it look easy Wednesday night. Facing a packed-in Shadle Park defense, the Wildcats finally broke through late in the first half on the way to a 3-0 win in the District 8 3A title game at Albi Stadium.

In an announcement that Eastern Washington athletic director Bill Chaves said “speaks volumes about where the program is headed on a national basis,” DirectTV said Tuesday that it will broadcast four Eagle football games this fall on its Root Sports network. That’s the same number as last year and two more than in 2012, when the Big Sky Conference and DirectTV agreed to a multi-year partnership. This year, three of those games will be on the road.

Now that they’ve received some help, the Central Valley boys soccer players are ready to help themselves to a 4A District title. The Bears, preseason favorites to win the Greater Spokane League, take on Ferris tonight in a matchup that seemed unlikely less than a week ago. But as front-running Lewis and Clark staggered down the homestretch, CV and Ferris overhauled the Tigers to set up today’s 5:30 p.m. showdown at Spokane Falls Community College.

Even as the soccer ball was being kicked up and down the field Saturday night, it also was being passed to a new generation. And that was the whole point, even if most of the youngsters got their biggest rush from the halftime candy grab on the turf at Spokane Falls Community College.

In their first match in nine years, the Spokane Shadow drew 731 enthusiastic fans for a 2-1 loss to the Bellingham Hammers that was more about the process than the result – on and off the field.

It’s been a banner season so far for the Lewis and Clark boys soccer team. But if the first-place Tigers are to raise a Greater Spokane League championship banner, they’ll have to finish the job this week against their two closest pursuers.

It’s a healthy rivalry, the kind where bragging rights don’t give way to hard feelings. Still, the offensive and defensive players at Eastern Washington don’t mind throwing a few barbs across the line of scrimmage.