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Finally, we're getting around to Intermountain League football.

Here's a feature on the Powers that be for Timberlake football - Levi Powers and Nick Puckett.

Here's one newspaper's opinion on who the top 12 football players are in the IML. Click here.

Click below to see our team-by-team breakdown of the IML football teams.

REST OF THE PREP PAGE

GREG LEE COLUMN: Lake City football may be better than I first thought. Click here.

PANHANDLE PICKS: We return for a 14th season and new Post Falls boys hoops coach Mike McLean is our first guest. Click here.

MEDIA GRID RANKINGS: Here is the first regular-season polls. Click here.

PROFILE: Our first profile is John Coyle of Lake City. Click here.

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Here's our soccer package.

The Coeur d'Alene boys hope to make a run at a state title. Click here to read.

Here's our preview box with the predicted order of finish among the boys and girls.

Click the full entry below to check out our team-by-team capsules for the boys and girls.

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I had the pleasure of being interviewed at halftime of the Lake City/Timberline season-opening football game by Idahosports.com/North editor Ryan Collingwood, who launched Panhandlepreps.com last year.

Ryan has merged with Paul Kingsbury and Idahosports.com, and Ryan will be doing live podcasts from area football games this fall.

Click here to listen to the interview. Ryan will be broadcasting the Moscow at Timberlake game on Friday.

Here is our North Star League football preview package. Coming Wednesday is our soccer package followed by the Intermountain League football package on Thursday.

Kootenai could go deep into the state playoffs is the theme of our preseason advance. Link to it here.

See who we tab as the top eight players in the eight-man conference. Link to the story here.

Here are capsules of all the NSL teams. Click the full entry tab below.

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For some teams it will be the second week of the season. For most of the others it will be their first game.

Nonetheless, here's the schedule for next week.

Sandpoint at Post Falls
Coeur d'Alene at University (on Thursday)
Lake City at Kennewick
Lakeland at Riverside
Moscow at Timberlake
Lethbridge, B.C. at Bonners Ferry
Lewiston at Pendleton (Ore.)
Orofino at St. Maries
Priest River at Potlatch
Wallace at Kellogg
Sprague-Harrington at Clark Fork
Kootenai at Lacrosse-Washtucna
Mullan at St. Regis (Mont.)
Lakeside at Deary
NOTE: We thank Will Dole of Lakeside for reporting that the Lakeside game was moved from Sept. 14 to this Friday. It's doubtful that a school official would have called us.

Here are the area scores football scores:

At Lake City, the defending 5A state champs rolled past Timberline of Boise 40-0. I'll attach my game story in the extended entry below.

At Sandpoint, Coeur d'Alene held off the Bulldogs 17-10.

At Wallace, the Miners topped visiting St. Maries 14-7.

At Bonners Ferry, visiting Lakeland cruised 49-16 over the Badgers.

At Harrison, defending North Star League champ Kootenai topped Lakeside 54-36 in a non-league game.

CLICK THE extended entry below to read the Lake City/Timberline story. Here's a link to the Coeur d'Alene/Sandpoint story.

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First up on the fall sports preview menu is a look at Inland Empire League football.

Here's a link to a feature about Lake City standout Byron Hout.

Here's our list of the top 12 players in the IEL in our preview notebook. Got a call from a Lake City parent who says Christian Hanna wasn't a linebacker last year, but rather a safety. He started the year playing LB but switched positions following an injury. Thank God for those eagle-eye parents who don't want their little Johnnys overlooked!

Click the full tab entry below to see a team-by-team breakdown in the league. Attached to the bottom is the media preseason rankings along with a note about a change at Panhandlepreps.com.

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I'm planning on launching the 14th season of Panhandle Picks next week when all of the area teams play.

Click the full entry tab below to check out my predictions for the six games Friday.

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Fall prep sports, believe it or not, are right around the corner.

I slipped out to Lake City High's first football practice Tuesday morning. The Timberwolves are coming off a 12-0 season and 5A state title. Here's the story.

I know it's early, but hazard a guess or two on how area football, soccer, volleyball and cross country teams might fare this fall.

The best high school football player in Idaho in 2006, Byron Hout of Lake City, has given an oral commitment to Boise State University.

Click here to read the story.

Here's the story in The Idaho Statesman today detailing Hout's commitment.

A group representing Coeur d'Alene and Lake City high schools is trying to raise funds to install artificial turf at both school's football fields.

Click the full entry tab below to see a story I wrote for Wednesday's newspaper.

What are your thoughts about this project? Personally, I think it's a wonderful idea that could have wide ranging impact throughout the community.

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Our Athletes of the Year were no-brain picks: Jenna DeLong of Coeur d'Alene and Frank Lagrimanta of Timberlake. Here's the story.

And here's one more shout for the Panhandle athletes and teams in general for the 2006-07 year. Read Greg Lee's final column here.

ALSO, here's a story about Katie Baker and what the Lake City hoop standout has been up to. She will play in tonight's Jack Blair Memorial All-Star game at Lake City.

Well, tomorrow is the final Prep Page of the year. I'll have a feature story on Jenna DeLong of Coeur d'Alene and Frank Lagrimanta of Timberlake, my female and male athletes of the year.

And I'll have a final column looking back at the year.

This will conclude my first full year of blogging. At times it was entertaining. At other times it was a royal pain in a region just south of the waist.

I want to take a moment to thank the frequent bloggers for their contributions. From Sleepless to Mario to John Duh to that kid over at Panhandlepreps.com. I say kid because I'm old enough to be his father. But he's in his early 20s.

I'll be back in the fall to begin my 24th year with The Spokesman-Review. Hope you'll return, too. I'll post the Prep Page stories Thursday.

Best regards,
Greg Lee

OK, here's your chance friends. In 25 words or less, tell us/me what you think were the top athletic stories this year.

On Thursday, the final Prep Page of the year, I will feature my male and female athletes of the year along with my annual year-ending column.

OK, I spent most of Thursday digesting garbage that was posted on a particular thread. Several comments crossed the line. I'm not going to point out which ones, but those who were following the thread know what I'm talking about.

Upon further review, I decided to kill the entire thread. If anybody wants to push the line of good taste you will do so at the risk of being banned.

St. Maries' loss is Coeur d'Alene's gain as Todd Gilkey will take over for Larry Schwenke as the Vikings' athletic director. Schwenke is retiring.

Included in the story is confirmation that Dave Stockwell has resigned as head boys hoops coach at Post Falls High. It was a messy departure - not on Stockwell's part but by the administrators who botched, in my opinion, his evaluation. I'm not saying that Stockwell was perfect. I'm saying that the whole thing should have been handled better - from the athletic director down. Stockwell was asked to resign or he would be fired. For a school official to deny this is a lie. Look for Post Falls graduate and Coeur d'Alene assistant Mike McLean to be the next Post Falls coach.

You can read the story here.

Also, the all-Inland Empire League baseball and softball teams were announced. You can see those here. Lake City softball player Amanda Krier was a first-team pick and left off the list we published today. My apology. I need to make a point about the all-league selections. Certainly many deserving athletes get overlooked in the process, and it's never a perfect science especially when coaches are lobbying for their athletes. Remember, league champions should always have a fair share of selections. These, after all, are based on how teams fare during league, not postseason.

IT WAS A DAY OF CHAMPIONS.
Let us count the ways:

The Coeur d'Alene softball team pulled off the repeat, claiming the 5A state title. Read the story here.

The Lake City baseball team pulled off a first - the first state championship by a Coeur d'Alene team. Read the story here.

There was nothing anticlimatic about the Timberlake boys track team repeating. Read the story here.

Bailey Hewitt of Clark Fork and Mark Weller of Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy represented the North Star League well at the State 1A track meet Saturday. Read the story here.

Other things: The Timberlake softball team finished second in the State 3A tourney; a roundup of state tennis here; the 4A state softball tourney here; and the Sandpoint baseball team concludes with a win.

The Coeur d'Alene softball team defended its state title, the Lake City baseball team upended defending champ Lewiston and the Timberlake boys track team repeated.

It was a golden day for the North.

Lake City junior John Coyle captured his first state track title in the 5A 800 meters Friday. Here's a look at the 5A and 4A area athletes and teams including the Sandpoint's girls taking third.

The Timberlake boys track team is on track for a repeat. Here's our small-schools story.

The Coeur d'Alene girls softball team is a win away from repeating as 5A state champ. Read here.

It will be an all-North Idaho final when Lake City and defending 5A state champ Lewiston meet tonight in Boise. Here's our story.

Moscow is still alive in 4A state softball. Read here.

Bonners Ferry stayed alive in 3A state baseball, as did Sandpoint in 4A state baseball, as did Timberlake in 3A state softball. Read here.

You want stories from state? We've got stories and more!

The Coeur d'Alene girls softball opened defense of their 2006 state championship in impressive fashion; a handful of North Idaho athletes captured state titles in the first of three days in the 89th annual track and field championships; the Lake City baseball team had to go extra innings before stopping Caldwell 3-2; Jerome knocked off the defending 4A state baseball champ Sandpoint; Priest River and Bonners Ferry had rough starts in State 3A baseball; and the Moscow softball team rallied to down Jerome, while Timberlake won and St. Maries lost in State 3A action.

It's that time of the week. I'm in Boise to cover the state track and baseball. Jim Meehan and Mike Saunders will staff the state softball in the Coeur d'Alene area.

Here's your menu.

MAIN FEATURE: Coeur d'Alene High softball standout Kylie Chandler plays with flair and passion. But, now, she may not be able to play in her final state tournament after back spasms reared following the Region I tournament. Read about Chandler here.

PREP PROFILE: Bonners Ferry senior long-distance runner Casey Hampton is the subject of our profile. Read about her here.

STATE BASEBALL: From Little League state titles to a high school state title? That's what the Lake City Timberwolves will be seeking this weekend in Boise. Read about the T-Wolves and the rest of the state tournaments here.

STATE TRACK: Are the Timberlake boys all but a lock to capture a second straight state title? We'll find out starting today. Here's a look at the Tigers and the rest of the state track.

HONOR ROLL: Here's the final track and field honor roll of the season.

The Coeur d'Alene boys golf team finished second in the State 5A tournament at the Lewiston Country Club.

CdA junior Tyler Johnson finished second overall. Here's our story.

Here is a list of stories published in the Sunday newspaper.

The Timberlake boys track team rolled at district; the Bonners Ferry baseball team prevailed in a marathon district final; Timberlake's softball team does it again at district; and the Lewiston baseball team captured a state berth in a play-in game while the Post Falls softball team fell. And here's a preview of the state golf tournaments.

Here are the first-round matchups for the state 5A, 4A and 3A softball and baseball matchups.

Click the full entry tab below to check them out.

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