Panhandle Picks With Greg Lee

I put the brakes on my miserable slide. And I’ve never been more pleased with a tie, either.

Yours truly and my guest, Wallace athletic director Dick Lilienkamp, each picked 8 of 10 games correctly. I was especially pleased that Lakeside came through in my “Upset Special,” knocking off Wallace 18-6 to earn a playoff against the Central Idaho League runner-up in two weeks to get into the state playoffs.

Congratulations to Lakeside coach Ron Miller and his 14-player squad - 11 of whom start and 10 of whom play both ways.

For those keeping score at home, the scribe’s season total now stands at 47-19 (.712). The guests are 45-21 (.681).

My guest this week is Priest River athletic director and head baseball coach Lou Musso.

Musso, 67, spent 36 years as a teacher, coach and principal at Newport High School. He un-retired five years ago to coach baseball at Priest River. He’s in his second year as the school’s A.D. and assistant principal.

Cheney at Coeur d’Alene: There have been a handful of good ballgames this season. Like Sandpoint at LC, Cheney at Sandpoint and LC at CdA.

This could be another entertaining game. The bottom line is the much more talented Vikings should handle the Blackhawks, who gave LC all it could handle and upset Sandpoint on the banks of Lake Pend Oreille.

It will be close for a while. But Cheney will have its hands full with Ziegler and Company. CdA 35, Cheney 14.

Guest: Two evenly matched teams, but the edge goes to Cheney on the strength of its field-goal kicker (Peter Gresham). Cheney 18, CdA 14.

Lake City at Clarkston: The Timberwolves have improved each week, and Friday should be no different.

That’s encouraging to T-Wolves coach Van Troxel. Also encouraging is the fact that LC has plenty of room for more improvement.

If you want to roll out comparative scores it would be easy to say that LC should roll over the Bantams. After all, Sandpoint, which was sputtering offensively at the time, beat Clarkston 26-7 and Coeur d’Alene put a 47-14 spanking on the roosters last week.

Troxel won’t be picky. He’d take a victory by one point on the road and look forward to taking on struggling Post Falls next week with the opportunity to lock up a playoff berth. LC 28, Clarkston 13.

Guest: Clarkston is coming off a big win two weeks ago over rival Lewiston. So emotion will be high, but there’s too much depth and skill at Lake City. LC 21, Clarkston 13.

Post Falls at Sandpoint: This could be ugly. It could be a blowout with a capital B. The Bulldogs need a tuneup before taking on CdA next week in a winner-to-state-loser-out game.

Here’s hoping Sandpoint gets its tuneup and Post Falls plays its best ball of the season. Sandpoint 42, PF 13.

Guest: Post Falls is not as strong as past years. And it’s homecoming at Sandpoint. Sandpoint 32, PF 6.

Other games

Lee Musso

Lakeland 36, St. Maries 7 Lakeland 39, St. Maries 12

Timberlake 28, B. Ferry 20 Timberlake 16, B. Ferry 12

Priest River 34, Kellogg 6 Priest River 36, Kellogg 6

Moscow 28, Colville 27 Moscow 21, Colville 20

Lewiston 28, Borah 21 Lewiston 14, Borah 7

Mullan 42, F. Christian 26 Mullan 35, F. Christian 32

Kootenai 36, C. Fork 34 Kootenai 38, C. Fork 16

Lakeside 24, C. Valley 13 Lakeside 28, C. Valley 6

Prairie 20, Wallace 16 Wallace 21, Prairie 7