The Front Row with MARK NELKE Oct. 27, 2011

It's still a rivalry - always has been, always will be.

But Coeur d'Alene High football coach Shawn Amos isn't thinking about that as the Vikings (8-0, 2-0 5A Inland Empire League), ranked No. 1 in 5A in Idaho, prepare to travel to Lake City (5-3, 1-1) tonight at 7 in the regular-season finale for both teams.

"Lake City or not, it's for a league championship and a chance to host the first round of the playoffs," Amos said. "That's what our focus is. We want to win the league, and we want to be at home the first round of the playoffs ... we haven't worried about who we're playing all year, and we're not going to start now."

The game is tonight so as to avoid conflict with the state volleyball tournaments which begin Friday, as Coeur d'Alene is hosting the 5A tournament, Lake City the 3A tourney.

Coeur d'Alene has won the last three matchups with Lake City - including both games last year - after the Timberwolves had won seven in a row and 18 of 20. Two years ago, Coeur d'Alene won at Lake City for the first time in 14 years.

Coeur d'Alene would clinch a state playoff berth with a victory, and Lake City would have to root for Lewiston (4-4, 0-2) to beat visiting Post Falls (6-2, 1-1) on Friday, which would create a three-team tiebreaker for the second playoff spot.

A Lake City upset wouldn't necessarily secure a playoff spot, as Post Falls could then force a three-team playoff for two playoff berths with a win at Lewiston.

Lake City lost a pair of close games to Post Falls, which, I thought, played pretty well at Coeur d'Alene last week - and still lost 63-35 to the explosive Vikings.

Lakeland's boys soccer team trekked off to Caldwell last week looking for the first trophy in the program's history - and the Hawks wound up coming home with two of them.

Lakeland was trailing 2-0 early in its consolation (fourth-place) championship game vs. Preston on Saturday when a tournament worker came up to coach Nick Haynes and asked for his team to stick around for a while after the game.

They wanted to present the Hawks with the sportsmanship award in the 4A boys division.

At first, Haynes thought he was being jinxed.

"I don't want THAT trophy," he thought to himself.

But later, after Lakeland rallied to beat Preston 4-3 and claim the consolation trophy, he was happy to bring both trophies home.

“We didn’t have any cards throughout the whole tournament,” Haynes said. “It was just a great experience for all of us.”

Lakeland finished 13-5-3 this year. It was the Hawks’ first winning season since the program started in the spring of 1996.

Lakeland has battled 4A powers Sandpoint and Moscow, albeit unsuccessfully, for a berth to state for years. This year, Lakeland won a regional tournament game for the first time under Haynes, in his 12th season as Hawks coach. Lakeland won at Moscow, then at Sandpoint, to qualify for state for the first time in school history.

Lakeland will lose seven seniors, but with four all-league players returning next year, the Hawks could enter the season tabbed as — dare we say — favorites?

Haynes thought about that for a minute.

“High expectations — I’ve never had that before,” he said. “More pressure now ... gosh. But that’s fine.”

Lake City’s boys were unable to bring home a trophy from the state 5A soccer tournament, but Timberwolves coach Chad Beadell came home impressed with the setup for the 5A event.

The 5A boys played at Eagle High and at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian; the 5A girls played at Rocky Mountain and Meridian High.

All games were at football stadiums, on artificial turf used by the football and soccer teams.

And the championship games were played under the lights for the first time.

“It brought it back to when I played in college,” said Beadell, who after playing at Lake City, played at Clark Community College in Vancouver, Wash., then Community Colleges of Spokane and then Gonzaga. “It was a great atmosphere.”

Beadell said with no jumping pits, drains, etc., in the way, the fields down there were a true 70 yards wide.

A few years ago, Coeur d’Alene and Lake City had talked about fundraising for artificial turf on their football fields. Then the economy changed those plans.

The 5A tournaments are tentatively scheduled for Coeur d’Alene and Lake City next year. And while there likely won’t be turf on those fields by then, Beadell said there will be one advantage for the North Idaho teams next year, after playing in comfortable temperatures in the Boise area this year.

“I’d like to see the Boise schools come up and freeze their tails off,” he said.

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