The Front Row with MARK NELKE Nov. 3, 2011

| November 3, 2011 9:00 PM

We were about to pay homage to the end of a remarkable streak when, wouldn't you know it, the darn thing didn't end.

Thanks to Post Falls losing at Lewiston last Friday to force a Kansas tiebreaker, and Lake City winning the tiebreaker, the Timberwolves are headed to the state playoffs for the 15th straight season when they play at Eagle on Friday in the first round.

The streak started in 1997, on a muddy Memorial Field in Sandpoint. It was Lake City's fourth year as a school, and the Timberwolves lost 32-12 to Sandpoint, which went on to win its first state title two weeks later.

Lake City's first playoff win came in 1998 over Caldwell, which was quarterbacked by Cody Pickett. The Timberwolves made it to the title game in 1999 and 2001, before breaking through with a state 4A title in 2002 and a 5A crown in 2006.

Even with losses in its last four playoff games, Lake City is still 14-12 in the playoffs over the years, including 11-2 at home.

Other than Coeur d'Alene, which they've played five times, the Timberwolves have played Sandpoint, Eagle, Vallivue, Bishop Kelly, Capital, Meridian and Highland twice each.

SO I wondered if anybody else in this area had a playoff streak like that.

Lakeland didn't have a streak as long as Lake City's, but between 1987 and 2002, the Hawks made the playoffs 14 times in 16 years.

Coeur d'Alene is in its third straight playoffs, and has made it six of the last eight years. The Vikings went five straight years from 1990-94.

Timberlake, which opened in 1998 has the second-longest current streak among local teams. The Tigers are in the state 3A playoffs for the ninth straight year, starting with their first playoff appearance in 2003 (I'm not counting those play-in games with the Snake River Valley conference that they had before that).

Kootenai is in the playoffs this year for the sixth straight season. Before that, the Warriors had made it to the playoffs just once (1987) in school history.

In case you were wondering, according to Idaho High School Activities Association records, Highland of Pocatello has made the playoffs every year since 1995.

Someday Lake City’s remarkable playoff streak will end.

Just not this year.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at [email protected].