THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Dec. 4, 2014

You couldn't have been surprised if Coeur d'Alene High girls basketball coach Dale Poffenroth had decided to call it a career after last season.

After all, he had coached high school girls basketball the past 27 seasons. He won two state titles in 17 seasons at Central Valley High in Spokane Valley, then came over and rebuilt the Coeur d'Alene program, winning five state titles in 10 seasons.

During that span, the Vikings played in eight state title games, and have spent so much time at the Idaho Center in Nampa over the past decade that they should have their own locker room by now.

Last year's team won a state title with five senior starters. This year's team has three players with varsity experience, and two of them were injured most of last year.

He wouldn't have been the first coach to go out a winner like that.

But Poffenroth, 65 and eight years removed from open heart surgery, came back for an 11th season at Coeur d'Alene this year because, well, that's what coaches do. They coach.

"It beats sitting home when it's 15 degrees outside, wondering what's next on TV," Poffenroth said recently.

And perhaps part of it was facing a challenge he's likely never faced before in his nearly three decades on the sideline - taking essentially a brand-new team, and seeing what he can do with them.

So far, with a roster devoid of seniors, the Vikings are off to a 2-1 start, with victories over Lakeland and St. Maries, and a loss at Sandpoint.

"It's therapy for me," Poffenroth said of coaching. "It gives me a place to go."

NORTH STAR League football teams got exposure to a little different brand of football this fall, combining with Whitepine League schools to form a hybrid White Star League this fall in football.

Lakeside and Clark Fork finished in a three-way tie for third in the eight-team league with 4-3 records.

Kootenai was seventh at 1-6, Mullan last at 0-7.

"I think it benefits us - the North Star League - to change the way we've been playing," Kootenai football coach and athletic director Doug Napierala said. "We need to solidify things up if we're going to compete with them."

Deary (7-0 in league) and Kendrick (6-1) advanced to the state 1A Division II playoffs, both losing in the quarterfinals.

Scheduling wise, combining leagues was an advantage to North Star League teams. In the past, nonleague foes were hard to find, so league teams often had to play each other twice - some years counting both games in the league standings, other years just counting the second game.

"Playing everybody twice gets a little old," Napierala said.

The North Star and Whitepine do not combine leagues in volleyball and basketball.

One difference in playing District 2 teams like Deary, Kendrick, Timberline and Lewis County in football?

"Up here, we play straight man in the passing game," Napierala said. "Deary mixed up zone and man in the passing game, and Kendrick played some zone. And there was just some exposure to different offenses."

The plan is for the two leagues to combine again in football next year, the second year of the current two-year classification cycle.

"And after that, we'll revisit it," Napierala said.

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@CdAPressSports.