Unbeatens Lewiston, Pf Battle

A pair of high school football league openers Friday could go far in deciding conference championships, if not state playoff berths.

Unbeatens will clash when Post Falls travels to Lewiston in an Inland Empire League opener. Both teams are 3-0, and the game most likely will decide the league championship even though both teams will play three more league games.

Kickoff at Lewiston, as well as most stops in the Panhandle, is at 7:30.

Four of the six Intermountain League teams, meanwhile, opened league play last week. The other two teams, Moscow (2-1) and Bonners Ferry (1-2), meet at Bonners Ferry.

Elsewhere Friday, visiting Lakeland (1-2) plays Coeur d’Alene (1-2) for the first time in at least 35 years, West Valley (0-2) goes to Sandpoint (3-0), Lake City (0-3) treks to Central Washington to take on Moses Lake (0-2), Priest River (0-1, 3-1) is at Kellogg (0-1, 1-2-1) in an IML game and Wallace (2-1-1) travels to St. Maries (4-0).

Other games involving area teams are listed in the Stat Sheet.

Post Falls at Lewiston

There’s probably nobody better than West Valley coach Steve Kent to offer an educated analysis of this game.

Kent’s team opened with a 28-0 loss to Lewiston two weeks ago then came up short last week when Post Falls rallied in the final 3 minutes to post a 14-11 decision.

Kent is familiar with Lewiston’s dominance over Post Falls - the Bengals are 16-0 against the Trojans since the series started in 1980.

So he’d obviously pick Lewiston over Post Falls particularly because the game is at Lewiston. Right?

Wrong.

“I’d go out on a limb and pick Post Falls,” Kent said. “The reason is I think our game last week did them a lot of good. I think they thought they were going to win by 30 (points). By all rights they could have lost. There’s probably a sense of urgency (at Post Falls). It’s just a hunch.”

Lewiston coach Nick Menegas doesn’t put any stock in the difference in the margins of victory against WV.

“Post Falls against West Valley went much like I expected, low scoring,” Menegas said. “West Valley is difficult to run against and that’s what Post Falls does best. We had a lot of trouble running against West Valley, but we passed the ball well and that’s our thing.”

Post Falls coach Jerry Lee suspects the Trojans’ problems at WV were as much mental as physical.

“I don’t know if the team was looking ahead to Lewiston, but I know this much - I was,” Lee said.

Lewiston quarterback Jeremy Frei will miss his third straight game after straining ligaments in the Bengals’ season opener.

But there’s been no appreciable difference in the play of Frei’s replacement, Brad Rice. “He (Rice) came of age last week,” Menegas said.

Menegas features a typically diverse offense in running backs Laki Ah’hi and Chris Kennedy and wide receiver Jim Farris.

Post Falls has its share of offensive weapons, too, in running back Josh Mort, wide receiver Brett Hollenbeck and tight end Austin Lee. But the Trojans can’t afford to get into a track meet with the strike-quick-and-often Bengals.

, DataTimes