THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT June 18, 2016
You never know when that moment is going to hit you.
It could be making a familiar walk up the tunnel at the Idaho Center in Nampa, trying to grab an interview with a winning coach.
Or it could be standing in the middle of what you thought was going to be a quick interview with another coach after pulling off an upset to end the high school football season.
Whether it has hit you or not, the 2015-16 season was definitely one to remember in the prep ranks in this area.
SURE, THERE were a handful of Cinderella stories to come out of the area this year.
Did anyone other than those guys with the Lake City baseball shirts see them winning a state championship in coach Paul Manzardo’s first year this spring?
Probably not.
But that’s the fun thing about sports sometimes. Lake City started playing its best baseball at the right time this year and found a way to get the job done at Memorial Stadium in Boise.
Not too shabby at all.
While at the school and observing the team practice in April, I noticed Manzardo wasn’t satisfied with the way his team was handling batting practice that particular day. After reminding them of the task at hand by telling them “Let’s go, we’ve got some big games coming up,” the team responded.
Meanwhile, a few months prior to that, the Timberlake girls basketball program continued what it had been doing all season, winning and having a lot of fun doing it.
Granted, Timberlake had appeared in the state title game in four of the previous five seasons, finishing second in each appearance in different ways.
Sometimes, they couldn’t hit shots when they needed them.
Other times, they just got outplayed in a game against a team that had just a little bit more depth and size.
The only thing missing was a pep band — though some parents were jokingly trying to borrow another area one for a couple hours — but as it turned out, they didn’t even need that to keep going.
This year, only 5A Lewiston — in the first game of the season — was able to match Timberlake on the basketball court. Everybody else was either done in by the pressing defense, the quick offense or the quick rotation of players thanks to a boatload of depth this season.
They lost a little bit of that depth due to graduation, but should be right back in the mix in next year’s tournament.
Besides, at this point, can you expect anything less than a run to the state 3A championship game?
IN THE past two years of high school football, if someone was rolling a camera on games between the Post Falls Trojans and Coeur d’Alene Vikings, ESPN Classic might have some good games for their archives.
Two years ago, with a state berth on the line, Post Falls beat Coeur d’Alene 37-36 to advance to the state playoffs for the first time in over 10 years. This year, with the playoffs not an option, the Trojans found a way yet again to upset the Vikings, this time on Nathan Gregory’s 35-yard field goal with 29.9 seconds remaining in a 24-21 win at Viking Stadium.
As sports writers do following the game, I looked for Post Falls coach Jeff Hinz along the sideline to get some thoughts on the big win. As I started to interview him, one by one, his players began to surround him — then joined by the cheerleaders — and anyone else that was a part of the team that night awaiting his postgame talk following the win.
Hinz was definitely speechless following the game, appreciating the fight and determination that his team put forth to get the job done on that night.
Something that won’t be forgotten.
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 [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.