Players chosen for all-star football games in July

Players have been selected for the seventh annual Calam Shrine North/South All-Star Football Classic.

The event features two games – 11-man and 8-man contests – and will be played July 29 at the University of Idaho’s Kibbie Dome. The 8-man game will be at 2 p.m., followed by the 11-man game at 5.

The games will pit 2006 seniors from District I (the northernmost counties) and District II (schools from Potlatch to Riggins, plus Washington schools Clarkston, Colfax, Asotin and Pullman).

Players selected to the 11-man North team are: Sam Botkin, Matt Rice, Ben Turner, Wes Nieman, Kyle Behrens and Ryan Cox (alternate) of Bonners Ferry; Jake Hall, Kevin Ah-Hi, Jarrett Moss, Scott Lind and Trevor Leaf of Coeur d’Alene; Brenden Biggs, Tyler Beck (alternate) of Lakeland; Jacob Barker of Kellogg; Mike Vickhammer, Nolan Hout, Dave Bobbitt, Kyle Ferebee and Chris Delport of Lake City; Nick Mehalechko, Dusty Mullaley, Chris Wilhelm and Dan Fetterhoff of Post Falls; Eric Langlitz and Nick Jutila of Timberlake; Caleb Cox of St. Maries; Mike Brown, Erik Stoll, Andrew Meaux, Sheldon Cramer and Chad Hecker of Sandpoint.

Players selected to the 8-man North team are: Evan Martin, Bill Clayton, Kyle Ruen, Stu Berkley and Brian Young of Clark Fork; Brandon James, Jason Christensen, Danny Cress and Justin Geyer of Kootenai; Casey Moore and Keith Sperber of Lakeside; Matt Rouse, Brandon Messier and Ryan Halligan of Post Falls Christian; Jesse James, Cory Pehan, Matt Murray and Joe Ploharz of Mullan; Heath Peterson, Sam Branstetter, Justin Keener, Mitchell Thompson-Anderson, Michael Leeling, Ross Hartmann and Marty Gallinger of Wallace.

• It took Sandpoint High boosters just a day to raise more than enough money to restore the wooden bleachers at War Memorial Field/Barlow Stadium.

More than $50,000 was raised in the one-day event last week. The goal was $30,000 and the extra money will be used for other field improvements.

The bleachers were condemned last fall following the football and soccer seasons. It was feared that football and soccer games this fall would have to be scheduled elsewhere unless money was raised for repairs. Now the games will go on as scheduled.

• Another community north of Sandpoint rallied recently for one of its own.

Former Bonners Ferry standout football player Jake Greenslitt, 33, was recently diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. The rare form of leukemia is diagnosed in about 4,000 people each year, mostly in youth or senior citizens, according to statistics.

A spaghetti feed/auction was held in late April to help defray Greenslitt’s expenses while he undergoes a two-year treatment program. About $60,000 was raised.

Greenslitt’s brother, Ben, 21, has been identified as a perfect bone-marrow match. The procedure will take place in July.

Ben Greenslitt, a three-sport standout at BF, led Lower Columbia College in hitting this spring. A story about the Greenslitts appeared in the Longview, Wash., newspaper last week. The story can be found on the Web ( http://www.tdn.com/articles/2006 /05/26/sports/news10.txt).

• Lakeland boys basketball coach Trent Derrick is taking 10 of his players on an 11-day humanitarian trip to Mexico later this month.

Derrick and the players will be assisting an organization called “Community of Acts” in Puebla, Mexico, a city of 3 million about 60 miles southeast of Mexico City. The group will be digging trenches for pipes for a well to be drilled in a village near Puebla that has never had its own water supply.

The players also will play two games against a pair of high school club teams and put on camps for a group of children in an orphanage. They leave June 26 and return July 6. Anyone wishing to make a donation can call Derrick at 687-0518.