IEL Preview Football

Summer camp

Post Falls was the talk of the Border League camp, which features several IEL and Greater Spokane League schools.

“They’re going to be real good,” Central Valley coach Rick Giampietri said.

“They had the best camp of any team,” Lake City coach Van Troxel said. “They’re the best team going into the season. Coeur d’Alene is probably the best fundamentally sound team of anybody. We’re chasing both of them.”

Said PF coach Jeff Hinz: “We had a good summer. We didn’t have the best conditioning after camp, but they’ve come in and had a great work ethic since the start of fall camp.”

Some argument could be made that the best football in the region, including the GSL, could be among the 5A IEL teams.

Creative scheduling

Since the GSL decided to play all league games and discontinue nonleague games, that left the IEL teams scrambling to fill some holes in their schedules.

Post Falls, for example, is traveling to Ellensburg, Wash., to play a Canadian team. In fact, the Trojans play five of their first six games on the road.

LC will travel to Snohomish, Wash., to meet Glacier Peak, a 4A school.

CdA treks to Vancouver, Wash., to face Skyview.

Each school has home-and-away games with Boise-area schools.

Players to watch

In 5A, that can be a long, long list.

For CdA, it starts with senior running back Zach Keiser, the league’s most valuable player last year. Others include senior wide receivers Jake Matheson and Deon Watson. Up front, linemen Drew Moreno, Thomas Tucker and Sean Duffy provide a big, athletic wall for Keiser to run behind.

At LC, senior quarterback Mark Smyly starts his second season in Troxel’s multidimensional offense that will include several new wrinkles this season. Troxel’s playbook has expanded so much over the years that it’s seemingly as big as “War and Peace.”

Other Timberwolves to watch are senior running backs Jacob Bowman and Allen Carmichael, senior tight end Scott Turner, senior linebacker Brian Griswold, senior cornerback Beau Martz and junior defensive end Danny Brum.

“Carmichael and Bowman are the two fastest kids in North Idaho,” Troxel said. “With those two and Smyly, who are you going to stop?”

At PF, senior quarterback Matt Lickfold is back for a second season. His accuracy is pinpoint at short and long distances. He’ll hand the ball off to juniors Marcus Colbert and Tyson Johnson.

A target outside will be senior wide receiver Jordan Pastras, who moves from running back. Blocking up front will be seniors Matt Wardell, Derek Kolar, Shane Tatom and Jake Abey.

• In 4A, Sandpoint junior running back Anthony Gold will be asked to carry a big load. Brandon Hawkins steps up at quarterback.

At Lakeland, junior quarterback Eric Cooper will have a couple of tall targets to pass to.

Moscow will be led by senior quarterback Jake Helbling.