THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016

October’s record rainfall turned most area playing fields into muddy, mucky messes.

But Coeur d’Alene High’s football field was in suprisingly good shape for last Friday’s state 5A playoff first-round game vs. Borah of Boise.

That’s due to some help from the Viking baseball and softball teams ... and a helicopter.

Last Tuesday, school officials borrowed the tarps the Viking baseball and softball teams use to cover their infields in case of inclement weather.

With a baseball tarp of roughly 50x50 yards, and a softball tarp of roughly 35x35 yards, officials were able to cover most of the football field as rain continued to pour in the days leading up to the game.

On Friday, a helicopter flew over the exposed part of the field in an attempt to dry out that part.

“The helicopter idea is from some parents who also are involved in baseball,” said Chris Costa, co-president of the Viking booster club. “They actually had two families with helicopters offering to do it but one was stuck in Moses Lake due to weather. They offered to do it before anyone asked.”

TIMBERLAKE’s FOOTBALL team got a glimpse of St. Maries at a preseason jamboree at Timberlake in August, so the Tigers had an idea what they would be getting into when they met during the regular season.

“We knew they were good,” Timberlake coach Roy Albertson said.

In their regular season meeting, 2A St. Maries walloped 3A Timberlake 47-7, the Lumberjacks’ first victory over the Tigers since 2000, in the first game between the two teams since 2011, when both were in the Intermountain League.

“They got after us early throwing the football, but they’re good, Albertson said.

So it wasn’t a surprise to see the Lumberjacks have the season they’ve had so far — a 9-0 record and a state 2A quarterfinal matchup vs. North Fremont on Saturday at the Kibbie Dome.

“They’re as good a team as we’ve seen all year,” Albertson said.

LAST YEAR, Sugar-Salem crushed Timberlake in a first-round match of the state 3A volleyball tournament at Lake City High. The Tigers lost their next match later that day and made a quick two-and-out exit.

Fast-forward to this year, the scene shifting to Madison High in Rexburg last weekend.

Timberlake won its first two matches at state, advancing to the semifinals for the first time in program history.

And who should await the Tigers but Sugar-Salem. This time, the matches were more competitive, but the Diggers beat Timberlake in the semis, then when the Tigers won a loser-out match to advance to the finals, Sugar-Salem prevailed again.

“As we watched Timberlake play on the first day of the state tournament, we noticed how incredible their defense was and how they refused to let a ball drop,” Sugar-Salem coach Cami Dodson said. “As we continued to watch them, they also had a great attack from the service line and knew that we would have to be on our toes on serve-receive to not let that take us out of system. They attacked confidently and did a great job running the ball to different hitters.”

Timberlake’s second-place finish was its best in program history, and a marked improvement from its 2015 showing at state.

“This year compared to last year, Timberlake seemed more well-rounded from offense to defense and definitely more confident,” Dodson said. “They seemed like they were confident and ready to play anyone they came against.”

THE NEWS of Post Falls High junior Melody Kempton verbally committing to play basketball at Gonzaga came one day after the Hull twins from Central Valley, Lacie and Lexie, verbally committed to Stanford. The Hulls were also being recruited by Gonzaga.

But Kempton said their decision didn’t influence hers. In fact, Kempton also verbally committed to Gonzaga on a Sunday night, not knowing what Lacie and Lexie were doing. It was only after she got off the phone with Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier that she got onto social media and learned the Hulls had opted for Stanford.

A handful of other local athletes have verbally committed to four-year schools, including Coeur d’Alene High senior Joey Naccarato, who recently gave a verbal commitment to play basketball at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, an NCAA Division I school.

However, that hasn’t stopped schools in our area from recruiting him in football. Eastern Washington has offered Naccarato, a tight end/defensive end for the Vikings, and other schools are also stepping up their interest.

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.