Preseason Coaches Poll:
T-1. Lakeside
T-1. Wallace
Written by: Collin Scheel
Due to a pair of failed petitions to remain in the 1A North Star League despite having 2A enrollment numbers, two football teams with vastly differing 2025 seasons will compete in the Scenic Idaho Conference in 2026.
Wallace, who qualified for the state 1A semifinals last season, finished 9-3. Lakeside, despite being granted the same status as Wallace in 2025 and being able to play in the 1A classification, won one game and finished 1-8.
The season finale between Wallace and Lakeside will crown a league champion and secure a state playoff berth for one school.
That fateful evening is slated for Oct. 23. Lakeside will play at its home field, on the turf at the Coeur Center in Worley, and with Wallace’s slew of returning players, home field advantage will be one of many things the Knights will likely need to upset the Miners.
In the lone meeting between the two schools last season, which also served as their season finale, Wallace won the contest 80-0.
Wallace was also the 1A North Star League’s most successful playoff team last year.
Despite finishing second in NSL standings to Coeur Du Christ, the Miners won their way through the qualifier round as an eight-seed and went on to defeat third-seeded Genesee in the quarterfinals before falling in the semifinals.
With the sting of that defeat combined with an all-state caliber linebacker anchoring its defense, Wallace will look to once again get the better of its Scenic Idaho Conference foes and jump back into the 2A playoff conversation.
Lakeside, meanwhile, will aim to turn a corner and get back into the win column in Coach Jerry Louie-McGee’s third season.
Louie-McGee led the Knights to a 6-2 record in 2024 before faltering last year.
Lakeside has three Washington schools on its schedule along with a meeting against Lapwai set during the middle of the season as it looks to bolster itself for what will be one of - if not the toughest - games of its season when it hosts Wallace in late October.
WALLACE
To say Wallace is loaded with talent this year would be an understatement.
And for a team that made the state 1A semifinals and will return the better part of its roster this fall, the Miners have every reason for optimism, even with the jump back to 2A.
Junior quarterback and 2025 North Star League MVP Cooper Miller will anchor Wallace’s offense. Miller was also a 2025 All-State selection, along with teammate Henry Larson, a senior receiver.
From there, Wallace’s roster only gets deeper with All-State and All-League options.
Senior Reece Williams earned All-State and All-League honors on both sides of the ball, taking the All-Idaho honor as a defensive lineman and the All-NSL spot as an offensive lineman.
Lennox Radford, a junior, made the North Star’s All-League first team on both defense and offense. The receiver will be one of Miller’s primary targets this fall and look to provide leadership in the Miners’ secondary.
Also among Miller’s options will be 2025 reception leader for the Miners, Henry Larson. Larson recorded team highs in catches (68), receiving yards (1,336) and touchdowns (19), while averaging more than 111 yards per reception.
Radford was not far behind. He racked up 62 catches, 1011 yards and 12 touchdowns, and averaged just over 84 yards per catch.
“Those two will be our two weapons,” coach Jared Young said. “We’ve got kids who can catch the ball, and with an all-senior offensive line, I’m excited about our ability to protect our quarterback. Just about everybody who’s going to be playing for us this year saw a lot of playing time last season.”
Finally - and we’ve buried the lede here - there is Marley Pearce, the defensive specialist.
Pearce, a senior linebacker, had 141 tackles, 25 tackles for loss, 14 hurries and six sacks last season. He was named to the All-State and All-NSL first teams.
“We’ve got eight or nine seniors this year, which is the most we’ve had in a long time,” Coach Young said. “I can’t even remember the last time we had that many seniors. The expectations for our team now are high, we want to be battling in the playoffs, but we need to take it one game at a time.”
As for the league finale with Lakeise, which will determine the Scenic Idaho League’s automatic playoff qualifier, Coach Young said that while that game will be important, his group needs to take care of the seven games leading up to that.
“That game is a big one, obviously, but we want to make noise in the playoffs and get a good seeding, so we aren’t looking at that until it gets here. We need to win games as they come, and get ourselves in a good position for the postseason.”
Wallace opens its season Aug. 21 at Potlatch.
LAKESIDE
The Lakeside Knights have a plethora of upperclassmen who will look to navigate their team through a turbulent nonleague schedule prior to a critical season finale against Scenic Idaho Conference foe, Wallace.
Returning for Coach Jerry Louie-McGee in his third year will be seniors Elijah Sifford, Furyus Louie, Eli Morris and Hoksila Iron Cloud.
Coach Louie-McGee also managed to pick up senior Jaydin Pluff, who will be a newcomer to the football team after helping Lakeside to its state basketball championship last winter.
In addition to its returning seniors, Lakeside’s junior group also boasts strong numbers, led by Braydon Greensky, Dominick Kager, Declan Vickery and Trenton Samuels.
Coach Louie-McGee said he looks for his team to be strong across the board, should everything go to plan this fall.
“I’m excited for this year,” Coach Louie-McGee said. “It feels like the same group as my first year coaching (when we finished 6-2).”
Entering his third season, Coach Louie-McGee is 7-10 overall, having gone 6-2 in 2024 and 1-8 in 2025.
In that time, Lakeside has gone from the four-team North Star League, made up of two 1A schools, Clark Fork and Coeur du Christ, and two 2A schools, Lakeside and Wallace, back to the 2A Scenic Idaho Conference that will consist of Wallace and Lakeside this season.
Lakeside’s schedule will follow its traditional North Star format in that its final three games will come against old NSL opponents, culminating with its contest against Wallace Oct. 23, which will determine the league champion.
The Knights averaged just under 20 points per game last season and were shut out twice.
Going into the new season, Coach Louie-McGee said he hopes to see more explosiveness out of his offensive group.
“Consistency on both sides of the ball,” he said of what he looks to see improvement upon over last year. “More explosive plays on offense and takeaways on defense.”
He added that for his group, the results may take time, but the capability is there.
With their meeting against SIC opponent Wallace being their last of the season, the Knights will have nearly two months to reach that potential.
“We’re going to have to play our best,” Coach Louie-McGee said. “It just depends who shows up to play each Friday night.”