The Front Row with MARK NELKE Jan. 19, 2012

Given the success of the Coeur d’Alene High football team in recent years, the Viking boys basketball team ought to be getting used to getting a late start on its season.

Not that that makes it any easier for the Coeur d’Alene hoopsters.

Coeur d’Alene has won the last two state 5A football titles, and a few of the key basketball players are also football players. And in 2009, the Vikings made it to the state semifinals. So they can miss as much as the first two weeks of basketball practice.

This year, Coeur d’Alene’s boys were 4-3 through their first seven games — though, to be fair, all three of the losses were to teams ranked in Washington’s state high school polls.

The Vikings have won their last six games, and are leading the 5A Inland Empire League at 3-0 after last Friday’s overtime victory over Post Falls.

“We just want to keep getting better,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Kent Leiss, whose Vikings placed third at state last year.

The Vikings (10-3) have played shorthanded all year. One starter moved out of the district during the Christmas break. Another, senior post Chad Chalich, who suffered a broken foot in the state football semifinals, saw his first game action in basketball Tuesday at Lakeland.

“If Chad’s healthy, he can definitely give us a lift,” Leiss said. “He’s a tough player, and it will help our depth. ... And don’t forget, starting 10 days late without your football players, you get no preparation time, you’re on the run.”

One of those football players, Joe Roletto, took an extra week after football season to decide whether he wanted to turn out for basketball.

“And I understand, their seasons are so long,” Leiss said. “We’re a couple weeks behind everybody else, and we’re trying to catch up. We’re starting to see progress in the last four games. We just hope to keep it going.”

The team Coeur d’Alene beat last Friday, Post Falls, dropped two straight last week after winning its first 11, also losing at Lake City last Tuesday. The Trojans rebounded with a victory at Lewiston on Tuesday night, and are 2-2 in league.

“It’s going to be a long season; people will see us again,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said after Friday’s loss. “We’ll see the Coeur d’Alene schools again. We’re not feeling sorry for ourselves, and nobody else will, so it is what it is. We’ll just step up, and we’ll play Trojan basketball.”

There’ll be a lot of pig squealing on Friday, when Lakeland hosts Post Falls in the annual Battle for the Prairie Pig spirit basketball games at Hawk Court in Rathdrum.

5A Post Falls won the Pig last year, but 4A Lakeland has won the spirit competition in nine of the 15 events.

Post Falls’ boys have won 14 of the 15 Pig games, with Lakeland’s lone win coming in 2001 at what is now Post Falls Middle School.

Post Falls’ girls have won the last six Pig games, and 12 of the 15 overall.

It will be less noisy, but no less intense, elsewhere on Friday when Lake City visits Coeur d’Alene in the annual TerHark Cup wrestling match.

Coeur d’Alene has won the last nine meetings, and leads the series 10 wins to 6.

“I see this dual as being very competitive,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “They have the advantage in a few weights, and we have the advantage in a few weights. Whatever team can get pins, and whatever team can stay off of their backs will probably win the dual. In a heated contest like this one, you really never know what a high school kid is thinking. Lake City is a much improved team, and they will battle you. Our mindset will be that we will try to outwork them in every match contested.”

Two potential swing matches the coaches pointed out include Anthony Price (Coeur d’Alene) vs. Killian Konda (Lake City) at 98 pounds, and Nate Partenfelder (Lake City) vs. Gabe Ross (Coeur d’Alene) at 160.

“This is going to be an incredibly tough dual for us,” fourth-year Lake City coach Corey Owen said. “Coeur d’ Alene is a very tough team. If we wrestle our best I think we can have a closer dual meet with them than we have had since I have been here. ... 132, 145, 152, and 182 are tough matchups but must-wins for us. We have five freshmen in our lineup and when you are that young it is tough to compete with teams as tough and seasoned as CHS. I am excited for the matchup and I hope my guys are ready to fight for every point in every match. That is the only way you beat a team as good as CHS.”

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