Mike Vlahovich

This is the time of year every football athlete plays for. The lucky ones begin state competition this week and, in case you missed it, Lakeside is among them. The Eagles, just fourth in the Northeast A League, are the only conference team to advance to state after beating Caribou Trail League champion Cascade (Leavenworth) 21-14.

PASCO – North Central's boys cross country team is so young, it doesn't know any better. That is as good an explanation as any why they are bringing home the school's first state championship trophy in 29 years.

A trio of Greater Spokane League football teams stakes its state playoff hopes with 1 p.m. home games today. Gonzaga Prep (8-1) plays Columbia Basin League No. 3 seed Eisenhower and Ferris will play at Albi Stadium against CBL No. 2 Moses Lake in 4A preliminaries.

For the first time since 1966, a Central Valley boys cross country team competes in state. And for the first time in school history, both boys and girls teams will be racing in the meet today at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. CV's young girls won their first regional championship (the 1982 team won state before this qualifying tournament was in place) for a return trip.

Lewis and Clark's trip to the Tri-Cities tonight sets Greater Spokane League postseason football in motion. The Tigers (5-3) are at Columbia Basin League 4A champion Pasco (8-1) at 7 in Edgar Brown Stadium. They played the Bulldogs in their last playoff appearance in 2003.

Caleb Gillespie is representative of the strength of this year's edition of Great Spokane League football. The East Valley senior is one of three returned first-team All-Greater Spokane League linebackers and among a host of other hard hitters at that position who have lifted their teams this weekend into the postseason.

Speaking prior to last week's game against Freeman, Colfax football coach Mike Morgan said his team could reach the state playoffs by "either going through the tunnel in the mountain, or climbing up the mountain, through the trees and over a cliff to reach the other side." In other words, the Bulldogs could win the Northeast A League by beating the Scotties and stay home for a state qualifying playoff game against the Caribou Trail League's fourth finisher.

In case you missed it, the state qualifying game pairings for Greater Spokane League and Northeast A League teams have been set. Playoff teams have been determined in the Great Northern League and Class B post-season pairings are nearly set. Lewis and Clark filled the GSL field thanks, in a bit of irony, to Central Valley. Bears coach Rick Giampietri was an assistant at LC in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Trailing Central Valley by three points, University had first-and-goal with time running down, 7 yards away from a possible postseason football berth. But in a blink of the eye their season was ended by host CV sophomore Brad Whitley.

The Freeman Scotties put their backs against the wall in the opening game of the 2006 football season. They lost at home 14-13 to Kettle Falls despite limiting the Bulldogs to 66 yards of total offense, while compiling 216 of their own.

Two proud defensive football teams, Gonzaga Prep and Lewis and Clark, turned in rock-ribbed efforts in their season finale Thursday. But G-Prep's offense proved to be its best weapon in the 26-7 victory that assured a perfect Greater Spokane League season championship.

In case you missed it, the Greater Spokane League volleyball, cross country and soccer regular seasons came to an end (where did the fall seasons go?) and playoff positioning was decided in several finales. Post-season competition begins as early as today. Here's a quick look at what happened and what to expect:

"Awesome!" Central Valley girls cross country coach Dennis McGuire used the term at least three times in conversation after the Bears ended the current longest-running win streak among Greater Spokane League high school athletic teams.

Sophomore Ali Warren set the tone and University's Murderer's Row did the rest. The Titans interlopers beat Rogers' old guard 20-1 in five innings Thursday to complete a 16-0 season and become the expanded Greater Spokane League's first official slowpitch softball champion in their first try at the sport.

A soft rain began to fall at the beginning of the Greater Spokane League girls cross country meet between unbeaten three-time defending champion Mt. Spokane and title contender Central Valley. CV's Bears also rained on the Wildcats' parade. Their 27-28 triumph ended Mt. Spokane's GSL winning streak at 53 consecutive league meets.

Barry Poffenroth and two of his assistant coaches, Jerod Crowley and Ryan Butner, will return to the Central Valley baseball program in the spring. The yearly coaching contracts of the trio and out-of-building varsity assistant John Seefried initially were not renewed near the end of the school year following a complaint about possible recruiting infractions.

In case you missed it, Friday night East Valley football place kicker Josh Polello joined select company. Polello became the 11th player in Greater Spokane League history to convert a field goal from a distance of 50 yards or longer. His 50-yarder to end the first half during a 24-0 victory over Lewis and Clark tied for ninth all-time.

For one of the few times this year, East Valley put the finishing touches on a Greater Spokane League football game. The result was a 24-0 whitewash of visiting Lewis and Clark. The Knights, now 5-2 in the GSL, have allowed only one touchdown and a total of 13 points in the first half all year. The two losses attest that second halves haven't gone as well.

University can share responsibility in its 35-14 loss to Ferris Thursday night in a Greater Spokane League football game between playoff contenders. While the Saxons (6-1 overall, 5-1 in the GSL) proved unstoppable offensively, the Titans (4-3, 4-2) were in many respects their own worst enemy. It began on the game's first series after 285-pound fullback Levi Wilson bulled forward for nine yards on two carries. The Titans then tried an option pitch. The ball wound up rolling backward 15 yards on the Albi Stadium turf.