White Star League: Old North Star League teams still trying to keep up

The old North Star League football teams won’t be a match for the old Whitepine League teams in the second year of the combination league.

Deary and Kendrick rode roughshod in the first year of the White Star League, and that should happen again this fall.

Mullan had to drop out this year because the ever-shrinking school had only five players willing to play.

And Clark Fork coach Brian Arthun didn’t know until the second week of practice whether the Wampus Cats would have enough to field a team. He’s scraped enough bodies together for a team.

The teams with the best chance of finishing in the middle of the pack are Lakeside and Kootenai.

Lakeside returns five starters.

“We are a young team,” Lakeside coach Chris Dohrman said. “We should be competitive in league. We have a great bunch of kids who are young but very willing to step up and learn. If we have a few of them do that, we will have a very successful season.”

Kootenai brings back six starters. Leading the Warriors are the Whipple brothers – Hunter, a junior QB/linebacker, and Jesse, a senior running back/defensive end.

“The turnout is good,” Kootenai coach Doug Napierala said. “It helps only graduating one senior. Things have been going pretty good.”

Still, Napierala said Kootenai, which went 1-7 last year, has much work to do.

“It’s going to be another growing year still,” Napierala said. “We have to improve our technique. A lot of improvement is still to be made. We don’t have the greatest team speed, but they’re energetic and working hard. We’ll have a better season than last year.”

Clark Fork returns five starters, led by senior quarterback Wade Stevens.

“We should have good size on the line,” Arthun said. “We also have a pretty good stable of receivers. I see us being around the middle of the pack.”