The Front Row with MARK NELKE Nov. 18, 2012

A telling moment in Coeur d’Alene High’s football season took place in the fourth game, when the Vikings were waxed by 51 points in the Kibbie Dome by a highly touted Skyline High team from Sammamish, Wash.

It happened again a week later, when Highland of Pocatello kicked the Vikings a little more when they were down, winning easily on Coeur d’Alene’s home field.

The first loss ended a 24-game winning streak by the Vikings, stretching back to early in the 2010 season, so it was suggested the losses might have taken the pressure off the current squad, which was loaded with juniors who, for the most part, weren’t part of the state title teams of 2010 and ’11.

But in reality, the opposite was true.

“I think it put heat on them,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said early last week, as his team was preparing to face Madison of Pocatello in the state title game. “The players and coaches decided we were going to have to do things at a higher level.”

That’s why the tears flowed and the disbelief showed Friday night at Holt Arena in Pocatello, when the Vikings fought back, but came up short in a 37-30 loss to the Bobcats of Rexburg, who completed an undefeated season.

At Coeur d’Alene High these days, there are no rebuilding seasons. 

No excuses.

FOR MADISON, this was their year. Talented, senior laden … who knows when the Bobcats will be back in the state title hunt again. This year was Madison’s first state playoff appearance since 2005, and the state title was the Bobcats’ first since 1995.

For Coeur d’Alene, playing for a state title has become the norm. The Vikings have played in the last three state title games, winning in 2010 and ’11. 

When Shawn Amos, a Moscow High grad, took over the Coeur d’Alene High job in 1997, the Vikings had just finished a stretch of nine seasons with a combined record of 43-46. Coeur d’Alene missed the playoffs the previous two seasons before Amos’ arrival.

Amos started out with back-to-back 1-8 seasons in Viking-land, but had Coeur d’Alene back in the playoffs by 2000, and in their first state title game in 17 years in 2004, when the Vikings lost to Twin Falls, also at Holt Arena.

Coeur d’Alene has now made the playoffs in seven of the last nine seasons, including the last four. Over that span the Vikings have gone 68-29, with four state title game appearances and one other season that ended in the state semifinals.

Over the past four seasons Coeur d’Alene went 39-8.

NEXT YEAR, though getting to the playoffs may be a little harder — the Vikings, who started mostly juniors this season, should be right back in the state title hunt again.

There’s talk that just one team from the 5A Inland Empire League will make the state playoffs, rather than the usual two, though there is also talk of “expanding” the playoffs so the league runner-up at least has a chance to play its way into the playoffs.

And it might not get any easier in the future, with more schools moving up to 5A in the Boise area and in eastern Idaho.

“Basically we bring back 11 starters on offense, with the guys who have been out (with injuries),” Coeur d’Alene junior quarterback Gunnar Amos said in the locker room at Holt Arena on Friday night after the tough loss. “Defensively we bring guys back too. You’ve got to remember this feeling that you have right now in the offseason and keep working, and I know we will.”

Senior Reece Mahaffy, a standout two-way starter, agreed.

“I think they have a really good shot,” he said. “They didn’t have much experience this year, but now that they have another season under their belt, I think they’ll be back up there.”

After Friday night’s game, standing on the new Holt Arena turf which had been installed in the summer 2011, Shawn Amos chose to respect the present, but also acknowledged the future.

“The experience of playing in a title game is irreplaceable,” said Amos, who is 99-61 in 16 seasons at Coeur d’Alene. “But we try not to move on too fast. We try to celebrate our seniors, and worry about next year in a little while. They’ve never been in a season when they didn’t bring home a trophy, so it’s a pretty good four years.”

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.