THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Sept. 11, 2014

After one week, the Inland Empire League is sure happy the Greater Spokane League found some room in its football schedules to play some nonleague games against their IEL counterparts.

The GSL? Well, they think they're getting some good out of it as well.

The IEL went 3-1 against the GSL last week, with Coeur d'Alene clobbering Central Valley 50-14, Lake City blanking Lewis and Clark 29-0, and Lewiston handling North Central 41-7.

The only game that went the GSL's way was University's 55-48 victory over Sandpoint.

To be fair, for the IEL teams it was their second game of the season, while it was the opener for the GSL teams. And, you may have heard a coach or two say, a team makes its greatest improvement between the first and second games, so that would explain the disparity, at least in part.

We'll get a better feel for this IEL/GSL challenge this week, when Coeur d'Alene plays Ferris at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane, Lake City visits Central Valley, and Post Falls plays host to University.

Despite his team getting manhandled by Coeur d'Alene last week, Central Valley coach Rick Giampietri said playing these games are beneficial later.

"It's great for us, gives us a chance to grow a little bit," Giampietri said. "And this year is going to be great because we'll grow a lot here in the next two weeks."

Plus, games against Coeur d'Alene, Lake City, etc., don't count in his team's league standings. In the past, when the GSL played all league games, a slow start could kill a team's playoff hopes. Now, those teams have a few games to get up to speed before they count for good.

Kinda like over here.

The IEL/GSL fun concludes next week when Lake City plays host to Boise State quarterback commit Brett Rypien and Shadle Park.

Whatever the results between the two leagues this year and (hopefully) in the future, it's better than IEL teams having to roll the dice on a game against a team far, far away will be competitive.

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.