THE FRONT ROW with Jason Elliott Oct. 10, 2015
It’s been a strange week in sports.
What else might you expect in a month that ends with adults dressing up as cartoon characters or superheros, right?
IT IS bound to happen a few times, but travel will be easier for the fans of 5A Inland Empire League soccer teams as they open the Region 1 tournament this afternoon, ironically enough, in Coeur d’Alene.
In both boys and girls, each team finished in the same position — with top-seeded Lake City hosting Post Falls, and second-seed Coeur d’Alene entertaining third-seeded Lewiston.
“Every now and then it will happen like that,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Lake said. “It will happen with only four teams in the league for sure. But it makes it nice for the athletic directors and some of the fans that are pretty happy that it’s like this.”
Not that they planned it that way.
And you can’t control it when you’re playing a league game at the end of the season that won’t affect the standings either, as was the case when the Lake City boys beat Coeur d’Alene 3-1 on Thursday at Coeur d’Alene High.
“It was kind of a weird game,” Lake said. “Both of us play in two days in regional openers, and we’re both trying to keep everyone sharp and work on what we’ve got to get better at moving toward regionals.”
After losing its first two league matches of the year, Coeur d’Alene bounced back to win three straight before Thursday’s loss to Lake City. Four of five matches lost by Post Falls have been by a single goal, with its largest loss in league coming by a 3-1 decision against Lake City on Sept. 3 in Post Falls.
Of the three losses for the Coeur d’Alene girls, two have been at the hands of the Lake City Timberwolves, with a 3-1 on Sept. 12 at Coeur d’Alene High and 2-0 on Wednesday under the lights at the Lake City High football field.
MEANWHILE ACROSS the region, a mental lapse at the end of Monday’s Seahawks-Lions game has taken away from might have been a play that has saved Seattle’s season.
In case you’ve been on an ESPN hiatus as of late, with Detroit driving deep into Seahawks territory, free safety Kam Chancellor stopped a late drive, punching the ball out of Calvin Johnson’s hands at the 1-yard line.
As the ball rolled into the end zone, Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright — instead of recovering the ball as he should have — batted the ball out of the end zone. According to NFL rules, that is a penalty on Wright, and the ball should have been given back to Detroit with a chance to take the lead.
What didn’t happen was the official — who had the best look of anyone of the play — actually calling what has been a rule for 20 years.
Had Wright just fallen on the ball, there’s no controversy.
Now, that play is in the top three of wacky plays in that particular end of the field, joining the “Fail Mary” against the Green Bay Packers in 2012 and Tony Romo’s fumbled snap of a field goal try in the playoffs in 2007.
A few memories that still leave me a little puzzled for sure.
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 jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.