The Front Row with MARK NELKE Nov. 20, 2011

That's the thing about success. It brings greater expectations.

After the Coeur d'Alene High football team won the state title last year for the first time since 1985, the talk was whether the Vikings could do it all over in 2011, especially with many of its starters returning.

Unlike the movie business, the sequel turned out to be more impressive than the original.

This year's Vikings were even more dominant than the 2010 Coeur d'Alene High squad - which was a pretty impressive squad as well.

And so it was fitting the Vikings were celebrating on the blue turf at Boise State's Bronco Stadium on Friday night, after beating Eagle 49-28 to successfully defend their state 5A championship.

"Back to back is one of those things, in your wildest dreams, you don't really prepare yourself mentally for something like that," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said. "This group of kids, from the start, was focused, prepared the same way, played the same way every game. It's a great group of football players, a great group of coaches."

Coeur d'Alene extended its winning streak to 21 games, with its last loss coming early in the 2010 season at Skyview of Vancouver, Wash. Coeur d'Alene became the first 5A team to repeat as state champions since Highland won in 1997 and '98. It was the Vikings' fourth state title since state playoffs began in Idaho in the late 1970s. Coeur d'Alene's 1982 state champs also were undefeated.

"At the beginning of the year, people were wondering how good we were going to be with our line, and if we were going to compare to last year," senior linebacker/wide receiver Joe Roletto said. "And honestly, we stepped up, undefeated, state champs again. It was fun."

So what about a three-peat? Well, the Vikings will have a new starting quarterback next year, and new starters at nearly every position.

But the junior varsity and freshman teams, which feed the varsity program, were similarly dominant this year. So counting out the Vikings just because they will have so much turnover at the varsity level might be unwise.

SOME FACEBOOK friends asked me recently, which team did I think was better, the 2011 Vikings or the 2006 Lake City Timberwolves, who also went 12-0 en route to a state 5A title?

I don’t think there’s a wrong answer to that one.

This year’s Vikings put up almost arena football-type numbers, averaging 52.2 points and 492 yards per game, and allowing 15.2 points per game. They whipped teams with their speed on both sides of the ball. They ran around and past you and made you look silly.

No team came within 13 points of Coeur d’Alene this season.

The ’06 Timberwolves, which included future Division I players Carson York, Brandon Hanna and Byron Hout and a number of others who went on to play in college, were more of a power team. Though they could score, too (they averaged 41.2 points per game, and allowed 14.6), I remember how much bigger they were than their opponents. They dominated their foes on both sides of the ball. They could run the same play up the middle if they wanted to, and good luck trying to stop it.

Lake City’s closest game in 2006? A 21-18 victory over Coeur d’Alene.

Not sure if you could plug some data into a computer and see how a game between the two teams would play out.

In any event, it would be interesting to watch the ’06 T-Wolves try to slow down this year’s Vikings, and the current Coeur d’Alene squad try to do the same to the ’06 Lake City club.

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