The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Aug. 31, 2011
With a little luck, you could see something that hasn't happened in a long time later this fall.
If the top two teams in the 5A Inland Empire League can win a couple of playoff games, they could meet for a state championship in football - that is, if both teams make it that far.
WHETHER THAT happens can't be determined by how things played out on Friday with three of the four teams in the league winning in season openers.
The only team that lost, Lewiston, had to faceoff with Post Falls at Trojan Stadium, another team looking to find its way into a playoff game.
To say that it is a good thing that the two league opponents are on opposite sides of the state 5A football playoff bracket is an understatement.
It's a great thing.
Parity in sports is a good thing, no matter what level you're competing at.
After a few years of high school football teams having to face league opponents battle in the opening round of the 5A playoffs, they'll take separate paths once the regular season finale concludes in late October.
Other divisions only receive one bid outside the 3A level, which receives two bids on opposite sides of the bracket.
By not playing those 5A Southern Idaho Conference schools this fall (the 10-team SIC opted to play all nine of its games within its 5A SIC), area schools like Post Falls and Lake City High were left to scramble to fill a nine-game schedule.
At some point, as many as two of the four qualifiers out of that conference will have to get on a bus and see how football is played in the northern part of the state come the playoffs.
LOOKING AT the schedule for a few of the IEL teams, it is almost like watching the kid on the playground take his ball and go home.
Because that is exactly what those Boise schools have done after breaking a deal in the midst of a two-year cycle to play home and home games.
Due to that, Post Falls, Lake City and Lewiston will get an extra 48 minutes against each other, with the next go-round in the nonleague schedule on Friday when Post Falls travels to Lake City.
And while I get that Boise schools have a logjam of conference games, I'd guess they aren't pleased with having to stay around their neck of the woods, either.
PARITY IS a great thing in sports, and while the high school playoff system determines a true champion on the field, it had to be changed.
Fans already pay their money to watch league rivals square off, sometimes in the final week of the regular season.
It is nice to finally see those players get rewarded by seeing someone other than the kids from their own league.
That is, until the state championship game.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected].