Mike Vlahovich

East Valley is into postseason, and University will be playing for that right as Greater Spokane League high school football races toward its conclusion. The Knights (4-2) clinched the Greater Spokane League's 3A berth in the playoffs with Thursday's 35-17 victory over Mt. Spokane. EV will be making its third straight state trip.

All eyes were on Friday's first-place Greater Spokane League football showdown between Gonzaga Prep and Ferris. But, at the same time, the league's two 3A teams, East Valley (3-2) and Mt. Spokane (2-3) were winning to set up a showdown game on Thursday that will in all likelihood determine the GSL's post-season qualifier.

Thursday's high school football game between East Valley and Mt. Spokane looms large for both teams. Depending on the outcome of Friday's game against Central Valley, the Knights could be scrambling for their 3A playoff existence.

The value of no-cut athletics (Sept. 21): There was a time long ago when I was critical of the middle school sports policy of no-cuts. Along with others, I thought it detrimental to the futures of "better" athletes who were supposed to be prepared for the eventuality of high school sports. But then my kids, with varying degrees of success, played. As I watched the system work – and concurrently went through the club sports thing – my philosophy changed. Universal participation, including basketball teams with 30 or 40 kids, isn't a bad thing; indeed it should be encouraged. The best will play varsity, the rest, divided into as many teams as necessary for junior varsity games, play for their own rewards. Some mature athletes who were varsity in junior high never improve or play in high school. Other kids who are physically less mature, blossom. Still others who would never play in high school profit from the experience and fellowship.

In case you missed it – Gonzaga Prep has toyed with four football teams so far during the 2006 football season. The Bullpups find out Friday if they are that much superior to the rest of Greater Spokane League.

Great Northern League football teams Pullman and West Valley had put up fancy preseason offensive numbers prior to their Great Northern League get-together. But it was special teams and defense that decided the Pullman Greyhounds' 34-13 triumph in the league's showcase league opener.

Great Northern League football teams Pullman and West Valley had put up fancy preseason offensive numbers prior to their league get-together at WV. But it was special teams and defense that decided the Pullman Greyhounds' 34-13 triumph in the league's showcase league opener Friday night.

West Valley's volleyball team finds itself in good company after improving to 3-0 in the Frontier League. The Eagles share first-place with defending state champion Pullman and postseason perennial Colville. They needed four games to hand Deer Park (3-1) its first league loss on Tuesday.

It was "Game On!" in the rain at Audubon Park where three Greater Spokane League unbeaten boys cross country teams put on a show on Wednesday. Ferris (5-0) survived a spirited effort by short-handed Mead, winning 27-29 in the race between schools of national repute.

You watch game film until your eyeballs become props in a Ben Stein eye drop commercial. You find yourself planning and practicing for hours, sacrificing family and self. What do you get for it? Another heartbreak.

Quarterback job-sharing isn't necessarily a bad thing, as Ferris' 17-14 victory over Lewis and Clark on Friday showed. When Shawn Stockton broke his clavicle on the first series of the game, Jeff Minnerly carried the load for the remainder and engineered two second-half scoring drives. He completed 10 of 17 passes for 91 yards and carried the ball 14 times, scoring the Saxons go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.

East Valley's football team was electric, scoring three touchdowns in the game's first eight minutes against North Central Thursday night during an easy 45-7 Greater Spokane League victory. Skyler Schiller opened the game with an 80-yard kickoff return touchdown, and right afterward, quarterback Russell Woodworth connected with receiver Sam Hale for a 90-yard scoring pass.

Lightning struck twice in the first quarter when Ferris and Lewis and Clark squared off in a first-place showdown at Joe Albi Stadium on Friday night. Then the South Hill rivals slugged it out in an old-fashioned football brawl.

Greater Spokane League football standings were thrown into a cocked hat just two weeks into the season when Lewis and Clark and Ferris won minor surprises to remain undefeated and move atop the standings with 2-0 records, one-half game ahead of Gonzaga Prep and University (both at 1-0). That made an already important game between the South Hill rivals, Friday 8:30 p.m. at Joe Albi Stadium, loom much larger.

Johnny (or Janie) goes to sleep dreaming of collegiate athletic glory. Their parents dream the scholarship dream with them. They pump enough iron to become the answer to a Black Sabbath song title trivia question. Money that could help finance the cost of a college education is spent on club sports to feed the dream.

Hope springs eternal before the first games of a football season. After the first weekend, reality sets in. Gonzaga Prep, Mead and East Valley did nothing to dispel the notion that they are again the Greater Spokane League favorites.

Lewis and Clark defeated the host Central Valley Bears 13-11 in their Greater Spokane League opener, its third triumph in the last four trips to CV. But it took a harrowing final 2 minutes to secure the outcome. CV quarterback Connor Janhunen had gone to the sidelines with cramps and sophomore Blake Bledsoe hit fellow soph Brad Whitley with a 20-yard touchdown pass, then added the two-point conversion with 4:08 left to pare LC's lead to two points.

When Lewis and Clark travels to Central Valley, what would its football game be without a seat-of-the-pants finish? LC defeated the Bears 13-11 in its Greater Spokane League opener, its third triumph in the last four trips to CV. But it took a harrowing final 2 minutes to secure the outcome.