Not Much Margin For Error Idaho Teams Have Special In-State Needs As Border League Football Race Begins

This is the first of five take-care-of-business weeks in the Border League for Sandpoint, Lake City and Coeur d’Alene.

With the trio battling for two state playoff berths, they can’t afford to stub their toes along the way. Lake City has the least room for error after falling 20-19 to Sandpoint.

All three teams are favored tonight with Sandpoint facing the easiest of the opponents. Lake City visits perennial Frontier power Cheney, Sandpoint goes to West Valley, winless last year, and Colville treks to Coeur d’Alene.

The games, like most in the region, kick off at 7 p.m.

In another Border League contest, Clarkston is at Post Falls (0-1).

In other games, Lethbridge, Alberta, goes to Lakeland (0-1), Newport is at Priest River (2-0), Moscow (1-0) crosses the border to play Pullman, Lewiston (0-1) travels south to Capital (1-0) in Boise, Wallace (1-1) visits Timberlake (0-1), St. Maries (0-1) travels to Riverside, Lakeside (1-1) is at Clark Fork, Falls Christian (0-1) visits Colton, Wash., and Kootenai (0-1) treks to Troy (0-2).

Lake City at Cheney: Blackhawks coach Tom Oswald attended the Timberwolves’ opener. He left impressed with Sandpoint and LC.

“We don’t have quite enough guys to line up against Lake City,” the veteran coach said. “We’re young. We’ll start three sophomores. We’d start five, but two aren’t eligible until next week.

“Lake City probably dominated (its opener) and by all rights should have won. But that’s why we play.”

Oswald was alluding to LC driving for a game-clinching score when Sandpoint returned a fumble 76 yards for the winning touchdown.

LC coach Van Troxel isn’t buying Oswald’s “woe are we” line. Troxel watched video of Cheney’s jamboree and he doesn’t see much change.

“They look like every other Cheney team we’ve seen,” Troxel said. “Over the seven years of our existence, Cheney is the best program we’ve seen, year in and year out. They’re going to be well-coached and disciplined.”

Beyond the differences in experience levels between the teams, Oswald is also concerned with the game being his team’s opener and LC’s second.

“Most people say that you make your most improvement from the first to second week,” Oswald said. “The thing that concerns you are making those first-game mistakes. I just hope we don’t get shellshocked.”

Troxel admitted his team probably has a slight advantage having played a game. But he thinks that evens out since the game is at Cheney. LC is 0-3 at Cheney.

LC junior quarterback Matt Stern missed two days of practice with a dislocated thumb injured on the fourth play last week.

“That showed me what he’s made of,” Troxel said. “It affected his passing. He came off the field a couple of times apologizing for a couple of passes. But he couldn’t even feel the ball.”

Colville at Coeur d’Alene: The Indians gave the Viks and LC two of their most difficult tests last year.

CdA held off Colville 21-14 and LC avoided an upset 21-20.

So CdA coach Shawn Amos reminded his team that it can’t take Colville lightly.

“Assuming the (playoff) race is going to be tight, a trip up against a Washington school could cost you a state playoff berth,” Amos said. “There’s nothing more important than Colville.”

So Amos wants no talk about the Vikings possibly being undefeated by Sept. 29 when they take on LC.

Clarkston at Post Falls: The Trojans take on a team given the nod to claim the lone state playoff berth among the Border’s four Washington teams.

“They’re every bit as good as last year,” Choate said. “Skill-wise, they’re better.”

Which doesn’t bode well for the Trojans, whose late rally last week fell short in a 34-32 setback to Moscow.

Border will use point system: Border League school officials reached a compromise Thursday on a formula to decide seeding to state playoffs.

Some coaches said that because the league isn’t balanced between Idaho (six schools) and Washington (four) that cross-Border games shouldn’t count as much as games against opponents in the same state.

“There had to be a compromise to keep the league viable,” Choate, Post Falls’ athletic director, said.

Teams that win games involving teams from the same state will get two points for victories. One point will be awarded to teams winning contests involving Idaho-Washington teams.

Choate said a league champion will be crowned based on overall league standings. The point system is strictly for deciding postseason seeding.