The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Oct. 24, 2012

In Kootenai County for the first time in five years, the state 5A boys and girls soccer tournaments were filled with a ton of ups and downs.

But enough about the wind and weather on Friday and Saturday.

For the first time in a long time, two teams from North Idaho won state titles.

To borrow a line from one of the winning coaches - "Why not us? Why not now?"

WITH THE Post Falls boys beating Boise 3-0 in the boys final, it was the first time since 2003 when Idaho Falls won that a team not located in the Boise or Meridian area had won the title. It was the first A-1 (now 5A) title for the north since the Lake City boys won it all in 1998.

Thanks to a pair of goals by Post Falls junior Timmy Mueller and another by senior Brady Ulen, that trend changed.

Mueller finished the season with 30 goals and now has 72 for his career.

"I'm not sure about anything for next year quite yet," Mueller said. "Right now, I just want to live in this moment."

Meanwhile in the all-North Idaho girls final between Post Falls and Lake City, neither team was able to score until the final round, where the Timberwolves outscored the Trojans 5-4 on penalty kicks to claim the school's first girls championship.

Entering the tournament, Lake City took a different approach to their matches.

They took time off.

"We hardly trained in the week coming into the state tournament and just spent 45 minutes to an hour knocking the ball around the field," Lake City coach Matt Ruchti said. "They knew the message they were talking about. We never talk about winning and qualifying - just how do we play our best soccer at the right time."

It also helped in the long run as the Timberwolves played into double overtime in two games, and all the way to penalty kicks in the semifinals and finals - so a little rest didn't hurt.

TRAVELING FOR the first time in five years to state, Boise girls coach Chris Siegenthaler looked forward to hitting the road to Coeur d’Alene.

“People up here think we don’t want to travel up here,” Siegenthaler said. “But we can get bad weather and bad referees down there (Boise) too. We like to travel and be with our team — that’s the fun part. It’s the unknown.”

Boise bounced back from losing 1-0 in penalty kicks to Post Falls on Thursday to defeat Mountain View in the consolation championship game.

“The girls didn’t start as well as we could have,” Siegenthaler said. “And it gave hope to our opponent, but I wouldn’t call it a home field advantage.”

What could be a key to the success of both boys and girls soccer is the growth of club soccer, including the Idaho Thunder and Coeur d’Alene Sting programs.

“The north is getting better and better each and every year,” Post Falls girls coach and Idaho Thunder director of coaching Briggs Anderson said. “It really goes to those programs and a lot to the girls that play year-round and play in multiple clubs. The best teams will do that.”

They’ve got a few years to catch up to the rest of the state as far as championships, but for at least the next 360 days, both the Post Falls boys and Lake City girls can call themselves champions.

Why not them, right?

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.