THE FRONT ROW with Bruce Bourquin, Oct. 18, 2013

Since both boys and girls soccer teams from Lake City and Post Falls have already qualified for the state 5A high school tournaments, an interesting question has come up for Saturday's Region 1 finals.

How much does winning really matter, since all four teams have already made it to the big dance?

For most coaches and players, the answers are to try to win Saturday's games, both of which will be played at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex at Lake City. The boys final will be at noon; the girls final is set for 2 p.m.

THERE IS plenty of incentive to win, of course. The winners will earn the No. 1 seed from Region 1 and will play next Thursday in the first round of the state tournament, against the No. 3 seed from District 3 (Boise area). For the boys, the District 3's third seed is Timberline, while the girls' third seed is Boise.

The losing teams would have to face the No. 1 seed from District 3 (Boise for the boys, Rocky Mountain for the girls) and therefore could have a tougher road to the state championship game, which is set for 4:30 p.m. next Saturday for the girls and 7 p.m. next Saturday for the boys, both at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian.

Post Falls' boys beat Boise in the state title game last year.

Since the mid-1990s, no 5A District 3 girls soccer champion has gone on to win a state title in the same season, according to the Idaho Statesman newspaper in Boise.

Lake City boys coach Chad Beadell said since Saturday's not a do-or-die matchup, since both No. 1 seed Lake City and No. 2 seed Post Falls are going to state, he'll be careful with making sure his players stay healthy.

"It's just for placement now," said Beadell, whose Timberwolves beat Lewiston 3-0 on Tuesday. "Our main outlook is yeah, we want to win, everyone wants to win a district title. It's a good year if you win the league title and the district title."

"But at the same time, you want to be healthy going in to state," Beadell said. "You don't want to take any knocks or any injuries that you don't need to, or we won't be healthy or be at our best for the state tournament," Beadell said.

From Post Falls' point of view, the Trojans will give it everything it's got to try and get that No. 1 seed from Region 1, going into the state tournament. Post Falls won a tough 2-1 game over Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday.

"It's very important to go into that match strong and do well in that match," Post Falls coach Gabe Lawson said. "We've lost twice to Lake City, so we know it's going to be a tough, tough day for us. We're going to come in and give them a game for sure."

THE REGION 1 girls final is a rematch of last year's regional final - and last year's state final.

"For us, it's let's stay healthy and let's keep Lake City healthy and hopefully the North can represent the same way we did last year, so that (hopefully) puts us both deep in the state tournament," said Post Falls coach Briggs Anderson, whose team beat Lewiston 2-0 on Wednesday to advance.

It's not like losing the Region 1 final is necessarily a death sentence - just look at last season. Post Falls beat Lake City 3-0 in the Region 1 girls final, but both teams reached the state championship. The Timberwolves won the state title, beating the Trojans in a shootout at Coeur d'Alene High.

As for the Lake City girls, who qualified for state with a 1-0 win over Coeur d'Alene, it's focusing on one possession, one shot, one game at a time.

"We don't talk about goal setting in the form of championships," Timberwolves coach Matt Ruchti said. "We try to talk about playing our best soccer, and if we do that, we can achieve those things. We're at home and get another great matchup. We've learned, that the little moments can determine seasons."

SO WHILE winning a region championship would be nice, it's not like any team is facing a do-or-die scenario, like they did earlier this week. After all, as long as you reach the state tournament, it's how you play once you get there that matters.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, via email at [email protected] or via Twitter @bourq25.