THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, June 23, 2016
Not sure if it’s necessary, but the Idaho High School Activities Association has given preliminary approval to a 40-point mercy rule in football for the 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A classifications.
There is already a 45-point mercy rule in place in 1A Division I and 1A Division II.
The rule still needs final approval at the next IHSAA board meeting. Once it does, once the winning team leads by 40 points, the game goes to a running clock, stopped only for timeouts and scoring plays.
I can see it in 1A, where mismatches happen often, and many times the losing teams would be risking injury to younger, less-developed players if play were to continue.
In 5A, among local teams, Coeur d’Alene had one 40-point win last year, 40-0 over Ferris.
In 4A, a young, rebuilding Lakeland team lost four times by 40-plus points, including once in the playoffs. Two were to 5A schools (Lewiston, Post Falls).
In 3A, Timberlake won two of its Intermountain League games last year by 56 and 54 points, and the third by 37.
2A St. Maries won three games last year by 40 points or more, two of them coming over 3A squads (Kellogg by 49, Priest River by 42).
For years, Kootenai (1A Division II) has been on the winning side of many of these mercy-rule games. But last fall, in a rebuilding year, five of the Warriors’s seven losses in a winless season were by more than 45 points. Lakeside, which finished 1-8, lost twice by more than 45.
CONGRATS TO former Post Falls High basketball star Marcus Colbert, who has signed his first professional basketball contract, with Liege Basket in Liege, Belgium. Liege plays in the Scooore League.
Liege is one of 11 teams in the Division I Basketball League Belgium.
Colbert played the last four years at Montana State, where as a senior he averaged 16.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists and was a second-team All-Big Sky selection.
FOLLOWING HIS third-place finish at the Nashville Golf Open in Nashville, Tenn., Joel Dahmen of Clarkston is in 18th place on the Web.com Tour money list with earnings of $105,309. Dahmen shot a 15-under 273 and finished four strokes behind the winner.
The top 25 money winners on the Web.com Tour at the end of the season automatically earn a PGA Tour card. There are 13 events left, capped by the Web.com Tour Championship in October. The Albertsons Boise Open is Sept. 15-18 at Hillcrest Country Club in Boise.
Dahmen, you may remember, played at The Coeur d’Alene Resort Course last summer as part of The Showcase, a nine-hole exhibition to benefit Community Cancer Fund.
Dahmen’s caddie, Geno Bonnalie of Lewiston, is the son-in-law of Post Falls Mayor Ron Jacobson.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.