THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, February 18, 2016
None of them are headed as far away as California, as the Coeur d’Alene Vikings are this coming football season.
But the other three biggest high schools in the area have completed their football schedules for this fall in relatively painless fashion — as opposed to a few years ago, when Greater Spokane League schools were unable to play them, and local teams had to hunt and dig and scrounge all over the Pacific Northwest in order to find nine regular-season games.
LAKE CITY will open at home Aug. 26 (zero week) vs. Madison of Rexburg, host Lewis and Clark of the GSL the following week, then play three straight road games — at Central Valley, at Hillcrest of Idaho Falls and at East Valley.
Sandpoint visits the next week, followed by the 5A Inland Empire League opener at home vs. Post Falls. The Timberwolves wrap up the regular season with road games at Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston.
All are two-year, home-and-home deals, meaning Lake City will make another trip to southeast Idaho next year to play Madison.
Madison replaces Rocky Mountain, whom the T-Wolves opened with the past two years. Hillcrest takes the place of Shadle Park of the GSL, and East Valley fills the spot occupied by Tumwater (Wash.) the past two years.
“Wasn’t really looking for a trip,” Lake City athletic director Jim Winger said. “Just was looking around and the east (Idaho) teams fit into the schedule.”
Winger said finalists for the Timberwolves’ vacant head coaching position will be interviewed on Feb. 26 (applications for the position close Friday), and the school hopes to name the successor to Van Troxel, who started the Lake City program in 1994, that day.
POST FALLS will open Aug. 26 at Sandpoint, the first of two straight home games the Bulldogs will play before hitting the road the rest of the season while the grandstands at Barlow Stadium are torn down and rebuilt.
The Trojans then play host to Mead and University, then travel to Cheney and Lakeland before hosting Wenatchee in their final nonleague game.
Post Falls opens 5A IEL play Oct. 7 at Lake City, then is home vs. Lewiston and Coeur d’Alene to wrap up the regular season.
“The scheduling went well. It helps that we are able to get two games with GSL schools,” Post Falls AD Craig Christensen said.
All games are two-year, home-and-home deals. Even landing the Wenatchee games was a quick process of putting the word out that a game was needed, and rapidly finding a suitor.
LAKELAND HADN’T planned to play during zero week — in part because starting one week later allows families more of a summer vacation, and allows players to work an extra week in the summer, athletic director Trent Derrick said.
However, when Bonners Ferry needed a zero week game, the Hawks obliged, giving them a nine-game schedule instead of the intended eight.
Lakeland will host Bonners on Aug. 26, travel to Colville and host East Valley, before playing Rogers on a Thursday (Sept. 15) at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane.
Next up is a home game with Post Falls and a road game at Timberlake. 4A IEL play begins Oct. 7 with a game at Moscow, followed by a nonleague home tilt with Clarkston to wrap up the regular season.
Rogers was a replacement for Freeman, which had to back out because its league schedule changed.
All games are two-year, home-and-home arrangements, and Bonners, Rogers, Colville and Clarkston are newcomers to the schedule, replacing Lewiston, West Valley, Cheney and Pullman.
“We are excited to play some different teams this next cycle,” Derrick said.
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.