THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Sometimes, you just need something to go right in order to break out of a funk.

An interception in football.

A great outing from a pitching staff on back-to-back days to keep dwindling playoff hopes alive.

Or when the chips are down, and others are counting you out, getting up and doing something about it.

FOR THE Coeur d'Alene High football team, that moment came late in Friday's nonleague game at Central Valley in Spokane.

Trailing for most of the game, the Vikings were held scoreless for its first five quarters of the season before finally getting into the end zone with 5:50 remaining in the first half.

Coeur d'Alene didn't take its first lead until a 66-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds remaining in the game.

"Central Valley is a good team," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said. "And you've got to get lucky sometimes."

Joey Naccarato sealed the win on a quarterback sack late, recovering a fumble to give the Vikings a 37-30 win.

"It was a battle," Amos said. "It just shows the resilience of these guys. I don't think we really had that in our first game (a 22-0 loss to Skyline) and we kind of puckered up in that game. These guys answered it and stayed resilient and battled with a really good football team. We've got a long way to go, but we've got a chance to be a really good football team."

Trailing 23-8 at halftime, there wasn't an emotional rah-rah speech either in the Coeur d'Alene locker room to get the team back on track.

"At halftime, it's just coaching," Amos said. "It's not like we give a big Knute Rockne speech. We just kept telling them to keep listening to your coaches. It was a two-possession game at the time and we were getting the ball (to start the second half), and if that's the case, then you've got a shot."

Coeur d'Alene returns home for the first time all season - the Vikings moved their opener to Moscow due to poor air quality - to face Ferris High of Spokane on Friday.

It is the second year that the teams from the Inland Empire League have been able to face schools from the Greater Spokane League since the Spokane league opened its football schedule for a few nonleague games.

"(Central Valley head coach Rick) Giampietri is like the godfather of coaching over there," Amos said. "So it's always great to play against a guy like that."

MAYBE THE biggest surprise of the weekend might have came during the pregame show during the Seattle Mariners-Texas Rangers game on Monday.

When showing the American League wild card standings were shown, if the playoffs started Monday, the Rangers will advance to the playoffs as the second wild card.

The shock - meanwhile - was that the Mariners were only six games out with the final 24 games still to be played.

Yes, those same Mariners that have fired a general manager, hitting coach and on Tuesday, added former catcher Dan Wilson to the major leagues to be a consultant to the catchers after his tenure in the minor leagues ended on Sunday.

What's next, Randy Johnson taking over as pitching coach?

Norm Charlton as the bullpen coach?

Needing a fresh arm in the postseason, adding Jamie Moyer to pitch one final game at Safeco Field?

Maybe the Mariners will actually pull it off and find a way into the postseason.

Or, they won't and changes will be made.

Either way, at least they haven't given up, when they should have.

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.