Two Big Time Showdowns

The Eagle Mustangs responded to their first loss of the season perfectly on their way to beating an overmatched Lake City squad 58-7.  It was a perfect tune-up game for what is to come later tonight.  Head Coach Geno Mariani and his undefeated Highland Rams will invade Thunder Stadium looking to spoil the dream season that Eagle has had to date.  The Rams were tested last weekend, but eventually prevailed against a stingy Meridian team that would never go away.  This week, Highland has to do a complete 180 when it comes to preparing for a completely different style of offense in how Eagle spreads out the field.  These two teams are evenly matched and despite Eagle Head Coach Paul Peterson saying that his team is the underdog, I see home field advantage being the difference as Eagle will march on to the State Championship.

The other game will take place in Coeur D'Alene where the top ranked Vikings will host the Capital Eagles.  Capital Head Coach Todd Simis elected to wait until today to make the long bus trip and we will see if his team is ready to go out of the gate.  If you had to describe Capital's offense in one word, it would be balanced.  They have a steady rushing attack behind TJ Clarke and Denis Popudnik, but QB Makena Simis has been just as effective through the air as he only had one incompletion last weekend against Skyline.  Couer D'Alene struggled to figure out Mountain View's defense last weekend before they emerged in the 2nd half in route to winning 27-14.  I am going to go out on a limb here, but I think Capital will limit what Vikings QB Chad Chalich can do on offense and the Eagles will use a heavy dose of TJ Clarke to pull off the upset setting up a classic SIC showdown next Friday at Bronco Stadium between Capital and Eagle.

630 The Fan is your source for High School Sports and you can hear both 5A games tonight on our two stations.

Capital vs. Coeur D'Alene will be available on 630 The Fan at 8:00 and you can listen to Highland vs. Eagle at 7:00 on 580 KIDO.