THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016

So, just like that, in less than 24 hours, we went from four local teams in the state high school football playoffs to just one — St. Maries.

Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland bowed out Friday night, and Timberlake did the same Saturday afternoon.

Coeur d’Alene and quarterback Colson Yankoff put up some impressive numbers, playing perhaps the toughest schedule in school history.

Yankoff, a junior who verbally committed to Oregon last summer, passed for 3,129 yards and 27 touchdowns with six interceptions, completing 271 of 400 passes (67.8 percent). He also rushed for 968 yards and 26 touchdowns, averaging 8.6 yards per carry.

And it’s not like he padded his stats against the lesser teams. He was close to unstoppable against the best teams as well.

Against Folsom, Yankoff was 30 of 43 for 309 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed 15 times for 96 yards and two scores in a 55-36 loss.

Against Camas, he was 36 of 49 for 470 yards and four TDs, and ran 8 times for 55 yards in a 49-30 loss.

Versus Lewiston, Yankoff was 23 of 36 for 299 yards and three touchdowns (with one interception), and ran 11 times for 78 yards and a score in a 55-51 loss.

Against Eagle in the state 5A quarterfinals, he was 41 of 50 for 415 yards and a TD, and ran 18 times for 86 yards and five scores in a 48-39 loss.

Coeur d’Alene, which finished 6-4, was close to unstoppable as well, totaling 3,198 passing yards and 2,374 rushing yards for a total of 5,572 yards, or an average of 557.2 yards per game.

Really. An average.

TIM KIEFER stood in the darkness outside Lakeland’s locker room the other night, following the Hawks’ 35-14 loss to visiting Blackfoot in the quarterfinals of the state 4A playoffs at Corbit Field.

It was Lakeland’s fourth straight trip to the playoffs, and fifth in the last six years, which is a good thing.

But the bad thing was, the loss continued a disturbing trend in the postseason.

In each of those five playoff trips, Lakeland played its playoff opener and home — and lost each one.

Middleton, 42-20 in 2011 ... Skyview, 34-23 in 2013 ... Rigby, 29-28 in 2014 after leading 28-0 ... Middledon, 56-6 in 2015.

We’ve got to figure out a way to compete with the teams down south,” Kiefer said. “I don’t know what the answer is, and I think that’s what the offseason is ... something we’re going to have to dig into, and really take a close look at. Because we’ve been in this position now ... we’ve just got to figure it out. And I think it just means that we’ve got to get our kids bigger, faster, stronger, and we’ve got to look at scheme, we’ve got to look at offseason stuff, we’ve got to look at everything, and figure out what it is that we need to do to get to that next level.”

Lakeland’s only playoff win since moving up to 4A was a 20-10 victory over visiting Kuna in the 2007 quarterfinals. Lakeland then lost 21-14 at home the following week to Nampa in the semifinals.

RYAN POTE was the starting quarterback for Lakeland in the season opener. The senior was injured the following week at Colville, and missed five weeks.

In the meantime, Kiefer developed two other quarterbacks — juniors Logan Siegford and Dylan Vahey.

“The end result was we had some depth at quarterback,” Kiefer said. “So when Vahey got hurt (in the regular season finale vs. Clarkston), it gave Ryan an opportunity to come back, and I think Ryan played outstanding. I think he did a great job for us.”

Against Blackfoot, Lakeland used three quarterbacks — senior Owen Dickens opened in the wildcat, and Pote and Siegford also played.

“It just kind of evolved that way, because Logan was the guy that ran a more traditional wing-T approach, whereas Pote and Vahey were better out of a more spread or pistol. Pote and Vahey, athletically, are very similar players, skill-set wise, and Siegford is a little more traditional. So when Vahey went down, Pote stepped in and did those duties.”

NATHAN COLVIN, who played for Lake City in the season opener in 2015 before transfering to Blackfoot, returned to North Idaho and made his presence felt in the Broncos’ win over Lakeland.

Colvin carried the ball twice for 11 yards, but he made his mark mostly at linebacker, chasing down a few Hawk runners for losses.

“He’s a great kid to have on your team, and he’s given us a lot of leadership, and he’s fit right in with our team,” Blackfoot coach Stan Buck 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.