THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, July 21, 2016
High school football practice is already underway.
In Utah, anyway.
Montana schools will start practicing soon, and Idaho schools can begin practicing Aug. 8.
With the first Idaho high school football games a mere five weeks away, here’s a look at the potential best game — or games — in each of the first nine weeks of the season:
WEEK 1 — There’s a couple of intriguing games on Friday, Aug. 26, with Madison of Rexburg at Lake City in Bryce Erickson’s debut as Timberwolves coach, and Post Falls at Sandpoint. But it’s hard to look past Coeur d’Alene’s trip to California to play Folsom High on a Saturday night. Folsom finished 14-1 last year, losing to Bellarmine College Prep in the Division I-AA semifinals.
WEEK 2 — The Greater Spokane League/5A Inland Empire League challenge begins, with Central Valley at Coeur d’Alene, Lewis and Clark at Lake City and Post Falls vs. Mead at Roos Field in Cheney.
WEEK 3 — Lake City travels to Central Valley, where Travis Harmon, a former Lake City player, assistant coach and finalist for the T-Wolves’ head coaching position, is an assistant coach.
WEEK 4 — Coeur d’Alene travels to perennially tough Moses Lake. On a Thursday night game, Lakeland gets to play at Albi Stadium in Spokane, facing Rogers. In a Saturday tilt, Lake City makes the long trek to eastern Idaho to face Hillcrest of Idaho Falls.
WEEK 5 — Post Falls makes the 6-mile trip up Highway 41 to face Lakeland in the Battle of the Prairie. Timberlake, which has dominated the 3A Intermountain League for years, travels to 2A St. Maries, which is coming off its best season (8-2) in 20 years.
WEEK 6 — Lakeland travels to in-district rival Timberlake. The only league games are in the White Star League — Lakeside at Mullan, and Clark Fork at Kootenai.
WEEK 7 — The start of three straight weeks of league games in the 5A IEL. Lewiston, which ended a long playoff drought last fall and might be the league favorite in part because the Bengals play two of their three league games at home, plays host to Coeur d’Alene.
Then again, the Vikings might be the favorite because, well, they’re Coeur d’Alene. In the other league game, Post Falls visits Lake City. In the 4A IEL, Lakeland visits Moscow. In the Central Idaho League, St. Maries visits Grangeville.
WEEK 8 — Lake City visits Coeur d’Alene, and Post Falls entertains Lewiston. In the 4A IEL, Lakeland hosts Sandpoint in a matchup of the two teams to make the playoffs out of that league.
WEEK 9 — In the final week of the regular season, Coeur d’Alene travels to Post Falls, which has been a thorn in the Vikings’ side in recent years, and Lake City travels to Lewiston. Following a bye week, St. Maries hosts Orofino with playoff seeding on the line.
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.