THE FRONT ROW with Mark Nelke Oct. 10, 2013

Jerel Hight said Lakeside High in Plummer was only doing what was best for its school, and its current enrollment - which is slowly dropping.

Dave Rounds said he completely understands why Lakeside did what it did - though his school, Wallace High, will likely suffer because of it.

Lakeside successfully petitioned the Idaho High School Activities Association to drop from 1A Division I (100-159 students in grades 9-12) to 1A Division II (99 students and below).

Lakeside got the go-ahead from the North Star League last month to petition down, and got the OK from the IHSAA last week. The move is effective the next school year, 2014-2015, for the state's next two-year classification cycle, which runs through the 2015-16 school year.

THE IHSAA uses two enrollment figures from the previous school year, then averages them, to determine future classification. In Lakeside's case, its numbers were 115 on Nov. 1, 2012, and 116 (though no one seems to know where that number came from) on April 1, 2013, plus 3 "other" students (out of state, alternative or home-schooled students) for an average of 118.5 students.

But at the end of the last school year, Hight said Lakeside was down to 102 students, and began this year with 92.

"We lost some kids because of the levy issue; we had a few kids transfer out because they didn't know if we were going to have sports," said Hight, Lakeside's athletic director. "It has been a trend; it (enrollment) has been going down a few years."

Voters rejected Lakeside's school levy last spring, but approved it in August. Had it failed again, athletics at Lakeside would have been at the mercy of private funding.

Three years ago when Hight, a 2005 Lakeside High grad, took over as AD, he said Lakeside was at 125 students.

Last summer, Hight met with Lakeside principal John Brumley - the former Lake City High principal - looked over enrollment numbers and determined they would be going down even more in future years.

"We have more juniors and seniors than we do seventh- and eighth-graders," Hight said.

Since the 1A classification was split into Division I and II for volleyball and basketball beginning with the 2008-09 season - and in football beginning in 2004 - the North Star League has essentially been two leagues within a league, with Kootenai, Clark Fork and Mullan in Division II, Lakeside and Wallace in Division I. They all played each other and crowned a league champion, but after that, the Division II teams had their own state qualifier, and the Division I teams had a different one.

The three Division II teams now have their own state qualifying tournament, but previously had to compete in a district tournament with District 2 teams.

Lakeside and Wallace, meanwhile, had no tournament. They just played each other, and the winner either advanced to state, or to a play-in to get to state.

Rah, rah, rah.

Since the 1As split into Division I and Division II for football in 2004, Lakeside has never made it to the state playoffs. It's been Wallace every year. Lakeside last made the playoffs in 2001, when Wallace was still in 2A.

So the benefit for Lakeside dropping down is obvious.

"It gives us a league again," said Hight, whose Knights will now be able to compete in a district tournament, beginning next year, with Kootenai, Clark Fork and Mullan. "When we did the split, it took the feeling away from the district tournaments."

AS FOR Wallace?

"It kind of puts us in a hole," said Rounds, the Miners' football coach and athletic director. "We'll still be part of the league, but when it comes to district tournaments we won't be a part of it."

More than likely, in volleyball and basketball in particular, Wallace will play its regular season, then sit and wait for District 2 to finish its district tournament, then play a team from that district for a berth to state.

"We have no intentions of going down to District 2 and participating in their tournament," Rounds said.

Wallace had to do that years ago, when the Miners were in 2A, and "when we did that we'd go down to Lewiston four out of five nights," he said. "It's a real killer" travel-wise.

Rounds has been around long enough to remember when Wallace was big enough to play teams like Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint, Lewiston and Clarkston. Now, they're the only big school in their league - though he stresses that he's happy being in the North Star League, and said Wallace has no intention of petitioning up to the 2A classification, mostly for travel reasons.

Wallace's enrollment average from the last school year was 158.0 - behind only Valley at 158.5 in 1A Division I. Valley is in 2A this year. Kamiah (162.5 students) successfully petitioned down from 2A to 1A Division I.

Kootenai is at 92.5 students, Clark Fork 72, Mullan 33. With those numbers, Mullan is the seventh-smallest school in the state.

"They're a whole Clark Fork ahead of us," Hight said of Wallace. "They're two Mullans ahead of us."

Two years ago, with average enrollment numbers used for the current (2012-14) classification, Wallace was at 152.5, Lakeside 116.8, Clark Fork 103.3, Kootenai 91.5 and Mullan 35.3. While Kootenai and Mullan remained the same from two years ago, Clark Fork lost more than 30 students, and Lakeside has lost students.

"I totally understand why Lakeside did it; if I were them, I would have done the same thing," Rounds said of petitioning down. "It doesn't mean I like it. I'm not mad at them; I'm not happy that it happened."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached by phone at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.