THE FRONT ROW with Mark Nelke Sept. 26, 2013

One offshoot of the Greater Spokane League refusing to play North Idaho teams in football in recent years is that teams like Coeur d'Alene, Lake City and Post Falls have found some really good nonleague foes elsewhere in the Northwest.

But the bad part of that is, many of those games have been played on the road, leaving a lean schedule of home games involving the bigger schools around here on Friday nights, particularly in the early portion of the season.

Coeur d'Alene's road games at West Linn (Ore.), vs. Bothell (in Seattle) and at Highland of Pocatello have been entertaining and/or exciting, though not exactly nearby.

Ditto Lake City, which traveled to Meridian to play Rocky Mountain, the Tri-Cities to play Kennewick and to suburban Seattle to play Eastside Catholic.

Post Falls had two faraway teams on the schedule early, but fortunately played both Capital of Boise and Graham-Kapowsin of Graham, Wash., at home.

THE FIRST Friday of the season, Post Falls was at home vs. Capital, but Coeur d'Alene (at West Linn) and Lake City (at Rocky Mountain) were both miles away, on the road. Lakeland didn't open until the following Friday.

The next Friday (Sept. 6), Lakeland was at home vs. Lewiston, but Lake City was in the Tri-Cities, and Coeur d'Alene was to play the following day in Seattle vs. Bothell.

Post Falls played at home, but on a Thursday.

On Sept. 13, there was almost too much going on close to home, by comparison. Coeur d'Alene was home vs. Skyline of Sammamish, Wash., and Lake City was at home vs. Hillcrest of Idaho Falls. Post Falls would have been at home, but played its game vs. Sandpoint at Eastern Washington University in Cheney. And Lakeland was home vs. East Valley.

Last week was almost the exact opposite.

Lake City was at Eastside Catholic, and Coeur d'Alene was to play Highland in Pocatello the following night. Lakeland was at Cheney. The closest game involving a local team was probably Post Falls at East Valley, some 23 miles from downtown Cd'A. A close second was Timberlake, at home vs. Colville.

What's a fan with a limited travel budget to do?

THE GOOD news is, starting this Friday, the home menu gets a little more juicy.

Coeur d'Alene is home vs. Minico of Rupert, Lake City is at Post Falls, and Lakeland is at home vs. Deer Park.

Coeur d'Alene, in fact, plays its final five regular season games in Coeur d'Alene. Its only "road trip" is a two-mile jaunt across U.S. 95 to play at Lake City.

Lake City is idle next week, then travels to Sandpoint before hosting Chiawana of Pasco, Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston to wrap up the regular season.

Post Falls has home games vs. Lakeland (Oct. 4) and Richland (Oct. 18), and one of its road trips is to Coeur d'Alene, on Halloween.

Oct. 11 will be another lean Friday in the county. Coeur d'Alene is idle, Lake City is at Sandpoint, Post Falls is at Hanford in Richland, Wash., and Lakeland is at Colville.

But other than that, there should be plenty of choices on Friday nights for local football games from here on out.

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