Spartans starting to refill depleted football schedule

PRIEST RIVER — Things are changing by the minute, but Priest River Athletic Director Matt George has started to fill in holes in the Spartans’ football schedule.

Priest River lost its first four football games this season when the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced they were moving football from the fall to the spring. Gone were games against Newport, Medical Lake, Oroville and Manson.

After that decision was made, George and AD’s around North Idaho began scrambling to find replacement games and slowly but surely the Spartans have started to glue back together a football schedule.

George currently has six games set in stone. The Spartans will now host Bonners Ferry in their season opener on Sept. 4. The team will play a home-and-away against Orofino and the other three matchups are league games against Bonners Ferry, Kellogg and Timberlake.

George had also worked out a game for the second week of the season against St. Maries but that was recently erased from the schedule. On Monday, the St. Maries School District decided to delay the start of fall sports until Sept. 10, making it impossible for the Spartans to play the Lumberjacks on Sept. 11.

The boys and girls soccer teams also have games scheduled for later this season against St. Maries. It’s currently unknown how this decision impacts those matches.

George will continue to search for more games and he has even talked to a few schools about playing their junior varsity teams.