The Front Row with MARK NELKE October 3, 2010

In addition to a couple of gritty defenses trying to slow down a couple of powerful offenses, Friday night's instant classic of a high school football game featured a couple of standout senior quarterbacks in Matt Lickfold of Post Falls and Mark Smyly of Lake City.

"They were fun to watch, weren't they?" Lake City coach Van Troxel said after the 5A Inland Empire League opener for both schools. "Those two, going head to head ... one would go take his team, then the other one ... they just kinda went back and forth. I'm sure as a spectator, it was as exciting as it gets."

Both can throw, but both did most of their damage with their feet. Smyly (6-3, 189 pounds) rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, and ran (willed?) in the winning 2-point conversion with 39.3 seconds left in a 22-21 Lake City victory over Post Falls, ranked third in 5A in Idaho.

The numbers for Lickfold (6-4, 210) weren't quite as impressive on the ground (51 yards on 13 carries), but many of those yards came on a fourth-quarter drive that put the Trojans up 21-14, as the Timberwolves had a hard time bringing him down.

"And the thing with him is, you can't simulate him," Troxel said, "because he's a horse."

One of the other Trojans who stood out was senior defensive end Tony Layson, who had a sack and two tackles-for-loss, and disrupted Lake City's offense early in the game.

"I feel for (Post Falls) coach (Jeff) Hinz and those kids, because they've worked hard, and they are a very good football team," Troxel said.

One good thing about the Ryder Cup being on this time of year - if you get tired of watching the Americans getting clobbered, as they were on Saturday morning, and grow weary of watching the European fans in Wales go crazy over every missed shot by the Americans - there are always plenty of college football games to choose from on TV.

And it might have made for a good excuse to go out and get some of that last-minute yardwork done.

I mean, how many times can you watch European players who crumble in the majors suddenly execute shots in an us-versus-them team format?

Yes, I know the American fans cheer wildly for their boys when the Ryder Cup is played in the U.S. - though somehow we are regarded as ungratious hosts when we do that - so I guess it's something we have to put up with every four years, when the event is played in Europe.

Plus, NBC decided to show its Saturday coverage on tape-delay, which might have been even more maddening than anything that happened on the golf course.

Here's some more things I thought I saw on the ESPN crawler ...

Boise State suspends other 10 defensive starters for second half, still beats New Mexico State ... 49ers name new offensive coordinator, still stuck with the same players and plays ... Felix Hernandez plans to come to ballpark disguised as Ryan Rowland-Smith, pitch Mariners season finale today despite club's objection ... TV exec watches North Idaho College wrestling coach Pat Whitcomb speak at school booster function, signs him as guest host on Letterman ...

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at mnelke@cdapress.com.