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Gutsy play leads to LC win
A gutsy fourth-down call in the waning seconds of another stirring edition of Lewis and Clark-Central Valley football led to a Tigers score with just 5 seconds remaining and 27-21 victory that provided 3,560 Greater Spokane League fans with a rousing start to the 2007 season.
Let the games begin
The pre-season reports are done and predictions have been made. Now it's time to play the games and determine what really transpires.
The Greater Spokane League begins tonight with two Joe Albi games (LC-CV, G-Prep-Mt. Spokane) and a non-leaguer at University.
Tomorrow most everyone else gets into the action including Rogers under new coach Matt Miethe who's coming off a little personal setback.
Good luck and great seasons to all!
Here's a look at Great Northern FB
The Great Northern League starts the first of three non-league games this weekend and then it's on to what promises to be a war. At least five teams have legitimate title claims.
So my predictions are for conversational purposes only. Coaches are giving the edge to former GSL teams West Valley, Cheney and Clarkston. I can't help thinking last year's state qualifiers, Pullman and Colville will have a say. It should be a fun league.
GSL football preview
The season begins tomorrow and complete team capsules are on the blog. But first,take a gander at the preview stories in The Spokesman Review here and here, and then learn about your individual teams.
GSL football, volleyball on TV
Selected Greater Spokane League football games will be available on Comcast Digital Cable’s On Demand schedule.
Northeast A League team capsules
Click the "read full entry" button below for a complete team-by-team breakdown in the Northeast A League.
More GSL observations
Sorry this is late, but at the end of last week I was able to catch up with Shadle Park and watched a bit of Gonzaga Prep’s scrimmage. Still haven't seen Mt. Spokane, I'll do so today.
Day two around the GSL
Day two of the football circuit took me to Mead, East Valley and Ferris. The former two schools will field fairly new lineups, the Saxons return nearly everybody and have added depth.
Info from Tacoma area
Lakes High is loaded this year, considered the best of Dave Miller's crew in eight years of success. The reason is not only the return of D-I athletes, but also transfers.
Here's a blog item from the Tacoma News-Tribune that touches on that and might be of interest.
Speaking of transfers, there has been movement in the Metro League in basketball. A great quote by Chief Sealth coach Colin Slingsby, who said of the Seattle transfer scene: "It's turning into NBA-like free agency where kids jump and leave when they think the grass is a little bit greener."
Here's the whole story.
Titans athlete back
In case you didn't see it in The Spokesman-Review, Tyler Olson is back at University High. He played for a local select baseball team in a recent tournament and listed the Titans as his school.
Olson was a varsity basketball player as a freshman and sophomore and started at first bace and pitched his sophomore season in baseball, finishing sixth in the GSL in RBIs.
But last November the family moved to California where he attended St. Francis High. His return to U-Hi baseball will bolster an already loaded team that returns nine from last year's state qualifying team.
Makin' the rounds
Made my initial circuit of Greater Spokane League football practices, beginning at North Central and up to Lewis and Clark.
Tried to find Ferris, but no one was home. The schedule must have changed, so headed out to Central Valley and finished up with University.
Some layman observations today:
King football returns
Football season began with a flash when new Rogers football coach Matt Miethe lit a fire under his charges during a huge gathering at a “Midnight Madness” early on Wednesday.
Teams began practice in earnest in the morning. The first three days are non-contact.
Mike Warchol dies
Not sure how many of our bloggers follow Washington Preps and Rivals.com, but Washington Preps poster Mike Warchol died unexpectedly last week leaving things for athletes in the Washington area up in the air.
Down time? What down time?
There used to be a window of respite for high school athletes between the end of summer activities and start of high school sports.
Not so, anymore.
American Legion baseball (and other affiliations for that matter) runs well into August. Football practices this year begin Aug. 15 with the first games beginning Aug. 30.
That's tough on the multi-sport athlete and family vacations.
Softball doing well as well
Allie Burger, who will be a junior, has become the latest Shadle Park softball player to verbally commit to a Division I softball program.
Burger, entering her junior year, has chosen the University of Oregon her oral choice. Highlanders teammate Sam Skillingstad earlier verbally elected to play for the Ducks.
“It’s like a dream to play with one of your teammates,” Burger said. “It’s like a comfort zone to know someone there.”
Shadle teammates China Frost (Wright State) and Danielle Lynn (Portland State) have also previously announced their choices.
Burger played centerfield at Shadle last year after transferring from East Valley. She was one of the Greater Spokane League’s leading hitters and a defensive star for the state champs.
She said she chose Oregon because of its proximity for family and because of its sports marketing major.
“It’s a great school and in the Pac-10,” said Burger. “It’s always a girls’ dream to go big. It’s where I want to be.”
Plenty of baseball to go around
Over the years there have been laments about the lack of success Spokane has had in developing top-level baseball players (and teams) for Division I colleges and the pros. Various reasons have been put forth, but judging from what has gone on the past several years – including this one - lack of opportunity isn’t one of them.
Mead is Tacoma News Tribune winner
A couple weeks ago we ran a story on the results of the WIAA/Wells Fargo Bank Scholastic Cup in which Odessa was the 1B winner for a combined scholastic/athletic/sportsmanship point system.
This week the Tacoma News Tribune ran its state all-sports winners and there were several local schools that fared well, including winners Mead in 4A and Curlew in 1B, and second-place finishers Lakeside in 1A and Reardan in 2B.
Congrats to all
Brown verbals to Cougs
Shadle Park junior-to-be Anthony Brown has made an oral commitment to play basketball at Washington State University.
Brown had been offered by the Cougars in February, but waited until now to make his decision.
Brown does have a Cougar connection. His mother Angela is employed by the university as Assistant Development Director in the Office of the Vice President for Equity and Diversity.
But that had little to do with him choosing WSU is his alone, she said.“The decision came completely on his own, but I’m pretty excited.”
Obviously, with the Cougs going 26-8 and into the NCAA tournament, Pullman is an attraction.
“Without a doubt they are a really good defensive team and that is one of the reasons I did commit there,” said Brown of his choice. “I really liked the coaches and just like the overall way they play as a team.”
Brown has a big upside as a 6-foot-5 wing.
He already has two years on the Highlanders varsity, scoring as many as 21 points in a game as a freshman and averaging 14.2 points in 27 games last season when they were a win away from qualifying for state.
He could become the first Greater Spokane League Cougar basketball signee since 1990. The last? Another Shadle Park player graduate Rob Corkrum who took the Highlanders to a state title.
(LC's Paul Mencke, recruited there for football, did play basketball a bit in 2000)
First you say you do, then you don't.....
What is it they say about changing your mind being a woman's perogative?
The Seattle Times has reported that Katelan Redmon will be be a Washington Husky after all.
Redmon had committed to Washington, then sought to opt out of her scholarship, but apparantly has changed her mind.
Pettersen verbals
Lexie Pettersen, completing her junior year at Shadle Park, has verbally committed to play basketball at Washington State.
The 6-foot Highlanders post was sixth in scoring in the Greater Spokane League last year with a 15.8 average and if she continues apace would finish third all-time among league scorers.
Her recruitment, by new coach June Daugherty, came around the time that Daugherty suffered sudden cardiac arrest.
But husband and assistant coach, Mike, got in contact with Pettersen, she took a visit to the campus and made her decision, which was a lifelong dream.
As her step-father, Keith Humphrey said, they didn't know if Lexie had Pac-10 ability, but she's always wanted to go to Washington State and major in education. The offer sealed the deal.
"I've always wanted to go to WSU. My family is big Cougar fans and I've always been a Cougar fan," Lexie said. "I'm very excited."
Pettersen has already spent a busy basketball summer which will get even crazier, she said, when the Spokane Stars summer season kicks off.
"I've just got to keep working on shooting the 3-pointer and keep playing a ton," said one more GSL women's basketball player joining the Division I ranks.
Closing out the high school year
Too much stuff went on to mention about the recently completed 2006-07 high school sports season. I tried with my column and a quick look at all the accomplishments in The Spokesman-Review newspaper.
I didn't get them all, unfortunately. The most egregious omission was Colfax's fourth straight 1A girls basketball championship, and the remarkable Bulldogs athletes who played for all four basketball titlists and three volleyball champs. One of them, Lauren Mellor won a couple of individual state track titles as well.
As an advocate for their baskeball team last February through my involvement with the Youth Awards Luncheon, I should have known better.
Along with 21 team champions and a horde of individual state winners, were a number of second-place teams that didn't get mentioned, including Mead gymnastics and Ferris boys golf, led by the second place finish of Ryan Jones.
Suffice it to say it was a remarkable year involving a lot of remarkable athletes.
Beau knows baseball
Caught up with Beau Brett following the announcement that he had made a verbal commitment to USC. Pepperdine, he said, came in a close second.
"It wasn't an easy decision, but USC has the whole package," Beau said.
He was referring to the education, social setting (and chance to root for a national championship contending football program), as well as baseball at the Southern California school.
Casto gone
It's official. Or is it? This Seattle Times story by Craig Smith confirmed , or at least led some credence to speculation that DeAngelo Casto is moving to Seattle and will play at Franklin High. There's always the possibility that things could change between now and this fall.
Is DeAngelo leaving?
The rumors circulating throughtout the state that the 6-foot-8 component of Ferris' unbeaten state championship basketball team is moving to Seattle seems to have legs.
He's apparantly playing for a team in Seattle in a tournament this weekend.
Veteran sports reporter Mike Vlahovich