5A/4A Preview Football

What to do about all-league?

With seven teams split into two classifications, it’s difficult to make a league work. Especially so in football. Numbers – as in turnouts and enrollment – provide an insurmountable hurdle between the 5A and 4A teams it seems.

So technically there isn’t a league in football like there is in all other male and female sports. And it became less of a so-called conference when Moscow and Lakeland started dropping the 5A schools in recent years to schedule more competitive games against schools their size.

It’s time for the football coaches to quit pretending it’s a league and cease with naming an all-league team. Our suggestion to this problem is for the 5A coaches to name an all-league team and the 4A coaches to name an all-league team. It seems to be the only alternative.

Athletic directors and coaches will soon decide what to do. But continuing to name an all-league team that includes players from all seven schools is down right silly.

Offense

There should be plenty of offense in the league this fall.

At this point, there doesn’t appear to be a standout running back of the recent ability of a Kevin Ah-Hi or Gabe Le of Coeur d’Alene or an Isao Pauiloa of Sandpoint.

At Lake City, junior B.J. Palmer will be the featured running back, and he no doubt could gain 1,000 yards. But so will senior quarterback Garren Hammons, who also will easily throw for more than 1,000 yards.

At Coeur d’Alene, coach Shawn Amos says it will be running back and wide receiver by committee. The Viks figure as many as five different players will run the ball a game and as many as five different receivers will catch the ball.

“We’re not going to have any star plays like we’ve had the last three years,” Amos said. “A lot of kids are going to contribute. We’re going to spread the ball around the field.”

At Sandpoint, senior Kurt Stoll, who gained more than 1,800 yards last season, returns and he could have another season similar to last year. Unless the passing game develops, though, Stoll could become the focal point of opposing defenses real quick.

Defense

Even before Lake City’s defense shut out defending state champion Meridian last Friday, it was obvious the Timberwolves were going to be much, much improved defensively.

The problem at LC in recent years is the offense had to win a lot of shootouts because of a porous defense. The T-Wolves defensive line and linebackers aren’t going to allow many yards this season.

The following names will become household names for opponents: junior defensive end Byron Hout, senior defensive tackles Brandon Lopez and Cory Tanner, and senior linebackers Brandon Hanna, Chris Bobbitt and Matt Widmyer.

It’s hard to tell which other team will be stingy defensively. CdA should in time, despite allowing 34 points to Sandpoint last week. Lewiston, which allowed points as quickly as it did yards a year ago, will be much improved. But for Post Falls to step up to the challenge of being the new kid on the 5A block, it must play sound defense.

Special teams

Again, one must start with LC.

The T-Wolves will have the capability of scoring punts on kickoff and punt returns, field goals and punt defense. Remember Hout blocked four punts last year.

“We had some of our biggest plays on special teams last year,” LC coach Van Troxel said.

The countdown

Parents of LC football players bought a clock that counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to its next opponent.

Troxel posted the clock in the locker room. Last week, when a reporter stopped by for a preseason interview, the clock was ticking down to the season opener against Meridian.

When a reporter went by the school Monday, sure enough the name “Kennewick” was posted near the clock as it counted down to LC’s second opponent and the T-Wolves’ home opener Friday.

“I think it’ll help us have immediate focus each week – about what’s next and not who’s down the road,” Troxel said.