THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Nov. 13, 2014

| November 13, 2014 8:00 PM

And then there was one.

And there nearly was none.

Five District 1 high school football teams took the field last weekend in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs, and one by one, they fell.

Coeur d'Alene, the defending 5A champion, was unable to keep up with Rocky Mountain of Meridian in a 43-21 loss on the road.

Lakeland, the 4A Inland Empire League champion, let a 28-0 first half lead slip away at home in a stunning 29-28 loss to Rigby.

Timberlake, the Intermountain League champion, had a 28-14 halftime lead before faltering in the second half at home, losing again to playoff nemesis Fruitland, this time in excruciating fashion, 42-28.

St. Maries, the No. 3 seed from the 2A Central Idaho League, put up the good fight against Orofino, the CIL champions, a team that escaped with a one-point win at St. Maries two weeks ago. This time around, St. Maries scored first before Orofino took over and prevailed, 23-6.

THE ONE team still standing, Lake City, almost wasn't.

The Timberwolves led Capital of Boise by 10 points with 8 minutes left, only to see the visitors score 10 points in the final minute of the game to force overtime.

After Lake City scored, the T-Wolves held Capital out of the end zone three straight times from the 1 for a 41-34 victory, and a trip to Mountain View of Meridian on Friday in the semifinals.

Ask the 5A and 4A schools if they like their expanded 12-team playoffs now, and the teams that had first-round byes, in particular, would say they like it.

All four 5A teams with byes, including Lake City, won, while three of the four 4A teams with byes, advanced - the lone exception being Lakeland.

Aside from Lake City's overtime game, the other 5A quarterfinals were won by an average of 21.7 points. In 4A, aside from Lakeland's game, the other three quarterfinals were won by an average of 18.7 points.

THE REMATCH between Highland and Coeur d'Alene - the Rams won the regular season meeting on the Vikings' home field - never materialized, after Coeur d'Alene slipped from the No. 2 seed to the wild card, then was ousted by Rocky Mountain. Rocky travels to Highland on Friday in the other semifinal.

One of these days, you figure Timberlake will break through in the playoffs, all the way to the state title game, a game the Tigers haven't played in since the school opened in 1998.

St. Maries probably had the toughest playoff road of all the locals, but considering the Lumberjacks this season won a playoff game for the first time since 1987, and had its first winning season since 1999, there's a lot to be happy with there.

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