THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Dec. 10, 2014

More times than not, when we ask coaches for season outlooks at the start of the season, often times they'll say they think they've got a chance to contend for a state trophy.

Or championship.

Not too often do they say they're a work in progress.

IT IS a long, long way from state tournaments in both basketball and wrestling, but in order for some to compete there, they'll have to put in a lot of work here.

The Coeur d'Alene High wrestling team, which won back-to-back state 5A titles in 2010 and 2011, is one of those squads.

Coeur d'Alene finished 4-2 in the Buck's Bags duals tournament over the weekend, and including a narrow loss to Borah the day before the tourney, the Vikings might be closing the gap.

"I was glad to see us improve," Coeur d'Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. "To finish 4-2 in that tournament wasn't bad."

Lakeside's boys basketball team returned three players from last year's varsity team that came close to advancing to state, and the Knights are 1-1 following a victory over Cusick (Wash.) on Saturday in the Wellpinit (Wash.) tournament.

"We're going to keep grinding away," Lakeside coach Stacey Sonder said. "We're heading in the right direction."

And while early on, they might receive their lumps from other teams, they'll in a better position to give a few back later in the season.

At this point in the season, most, if not all, teams are still figuring out what will and won't work.

ANYONE REMEMBER a few weeks ago, when the Seattle Seahawks had lost their minds for trading Percy Harvin to the New York Jets?

Some experts had the Seahawks on the downward slide, missing the playoffs and wondering just what coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider were thinking.

Now healthy again, the team has won three straight games.

It hasn't been by running up and down the field on offense, but by playing defense about as well as they did the entire season a year ago.

For as much as the high-power Philadelphia offense was expected to challenge the Seattle defense, those 18-second 3-and-outs and 18 minutes of possessing the ball didn't help either.

Some even thought after Boise State got ran over by Mississippi in the season opener, the Broncos might have a tough season.

Winning 11 of their next 12 games, including a 28-14 victory over Fresno State in Saturday's Mountain West Conference championship game put the Broncos into the Fiesta Bowl against Arizona, which finished as the Pac-12 Conference runner-up.

In sports, it's not how you start, it's how you finish.

No matter how young or old you are.

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 [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.