The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Oct. 5, 2011

If Saturday's Scenic West Athletic Conference volleyball match between the 11th-ranked North Idaho Cardinals and third-ranked Southern Idaho Golden Eagles was any indication of just what fans have in store for them in the coming weeks, you might want to do yourself a favor and find your way to a gymnasium or field near you.

FOR AS good of a start that the visiting CSI squad had that day, the finish by NIC was just as amazing.

During the second game, it appeared that the match was destined to be over in a hurry, with the Golden Eagles finding ways to attack and score points to build what seemed as an insurmountable advantage with a 20-8 lead.

After the 10-minute intermission between the second and third game, that all changed.

It was like one team took their momentum into the locker room and forgot to bring it back out.

Granted, the NIC team had to take it back, and did so in the third game facing a 24-23 deficit, the Cardinals scored the final three points of the game to keep the match going.

And then they jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the fourth game to send the match to a deciding fifth game.

Once the final point was scored, even though it was the home opener, and just the first of seven straight home matches, it was like the team had won another Region 18 title.

And who knows, with the league champion earning the right to host the tournament - anything could happen between now and the first week in November.

SPEAKING OF the postseason, area prep teams will be winding down the regular season later this week and beginning regionals and districts next week.

Soccer teams will be at the front of the pack with the boys 5A and 4A races getting interesting over the past week.

Post Falls locked up the top seed to the boys 5A regional, but will face tough competition from Lake City, Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston for the two bids to the state tournament starting on Oct. 20.

The Trojans needed a late goal in Lewiston over the weekend, and with the Vikings and Timberwolves each winning on their home field, anything is possible.

And if anyone needed a reason to wonder why the 4A tournament could be wide open — look at what happened at Corbit Field on Saturday in Rathdrum.

Lakeland, which is in the midst of one of its best seasons in school history, beat Sandpoint 1-0 in the Inland Empire League finale, the first time the Hawks have beaten the Bulldogs in their 15-year soccer history.

Sandpoint will be the top seed in the boys tournament, and will face whoever gets out of the match between Moscow and Lakeland for the lone berth to the 4A tournament.

Soon after, cross country, volleyball and football will follow, leaving me with one thought.

“Who’s going to turn the heat on now?”

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 jelliott@cdapress.com.