THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016

Another state high school soccer tournament begins today without the St. Maries Lumberjacks boys team and coach Chris Renaldo and, well, that’s just a darn shame.

Few coaches have poured their heart and soul into a program, building it from the ground up, like Renaldo has with the St. Maries boys soccer program, without the ultimate reward of a state tournament berth.

The latest oh-so-close moment came last Saturday, when the Lumberjacks lost to Wendell 1-0 in a state 3A play-in game despite outshooting the Trojans 20-6.

It marked the second straight season, and the fourth time in the last seven years, that St. Maries lost in a state play-in game.

“You have no idea how frustrating it is, especially when kids try to do what’s right,” said Renaldo, who started the St. Maries program in the fall of 2001. “The first 40 times it was encouraging, but now it’s getting frustrating.”

NOT THAT the Lumberjacks haven’t come close. Boy, have they come excruciatingly close.

Last Thursday, St. Maries lost to Bonners Ferry in overtime in the district championship game, where the winner automatically qualifies for state.

Renaldo read in The Press the Badgers have now won 12 straight district titles and noted a couple days later, “I think we have been second 12 years in a row.”

He’s not far off.

St. Maries has finished second at districts 10 times in its 16-year history — all to Bonners Ferry, including eight times in the last nine years. In six of those 10 seasons, only the district champion advanced to state. In the other four seasons, the ‘Jacks got a second chance in a state play-in, but fell to Weiser (twice) and Emmett (last season) before losing to Wendell this year.

St. Maries is 97-170-18 under Renaldo, with four winning seasons.

But the numbers, obviously, only tell part of the story. St. Maries is a 2A school, and in Idaho, 2As play in the 3A division; there is no division for schools smaller than 3A. Also, to make his team better, Renaldo schedules “up,” playing nonleague games against some of the top smaller schools in the Spokane area, as well as against junior varsity teams from the local 5A schools.

Todd Gilkey is in his second stint as athletic director at St. Maries. He was in his first stint when Renaldo was hired to start the program, and recalled his passion for soccer, and his wealth of knowledge.

“He just keeps grinding away, keeps pushing to make the kids the best he can,” Gilkey said. “The kids love and respect him. They’ll run through the wall for him.”

ST. MARIES has produced its share of great athletes, but most of them gravitate toward football, or basketball, or baseball — or a combination of the three. Soccer is an August-to-October sport down by the St. Joe River.

Renaldo, 55, has coached soccer for 37 years. He played high school soccer in central New York, then played goalkeeper at Paul Smith’s (junior) College in upstate New York, near Lake Placid. He worked the 1980 Winter Olympics, and was in Lake Placid the night the USA men’s hockey team beat the Russians. He bounced around after that, eventually settling in Idaho in 1991.

He coached in the Coeur d’Alene Sting program before moving his surveying business to St. Maries and starting the Lumberjacks’ boys soccer program. In the summer, Renaldo and Curtis Clark take a team of local soccer players to Italy.

Years ago, before the season started at St. Maries, Renaldo asked his players how many of them had ever seen a soccer game — in person, or on TV.

The answer — less than half.

Renaldo was shocked — his players were trying to learn a game that many of them had never seen played.

Another time, in preseason practice, one of the first drills he showed his players was how to “cut” the ball with the outside of their right foot.

After practice, one of his players approached him with a question.

“Are we going to learn more tricks tomorrow?”, he was asked.

Still, the Lumberjacks have put themselves in a position to go to state nearly every season.

“Any success we’ve had has been a miracle,” Renaldo said.

Perhaps great coaching has had something to do with it, it was suggested to him.

“No,” he replied. “It’s a miracle.”

RENALDO KIDS about his kids because, as the saying goes, he cares.

He believes the better story in St. Maries is “about how a community with limited exposure to soccer has come to ‘embrace’ the sport.”

“It is a uphill struggle at times to start a new 11-man sport in a little community, with limited students,” he said. “I have forever wished the St. Maries football program would have the season that they are currently enjoying. There was a tremendous concern by this football-basketball-baseball community that soccer was going to destroy the football team. I never believed that would happen. Anyone involved with soccer knows that a different type of athlete plays soccer — just as I realized in high school that I would not be able to play much if I stayed with football; not all student-athletes are made for football.”

Renaldo notes there is no history of soccer in St. Maries.

“In the 21 years that I have been here, I can only think of four other people that played competitive soccer living in this town,” he said. “Yet the parents and students have supported this ‘foreign invasion.’ Go to any St. Maries away soccer game and see how many fans travel to support the kids. It is not unusual to have the St. Maries fans outnumber the home fans. One of my joys in coaching soccer in St. Maries is that the parents that have never played, don’t believe themselves to be experts. I can’t imagine coaching baseball, where every parent has played and is an expert. St. Maries parents are learning along with their boys, and therefore are very supportive. They will be the first to tell me that they will never understand offsides.”

IN RECENT years, the answer to Renaldo’s preseason question has dipped from less than half — now, only three-to-four players a year say they’ve never seen a soccer game. St. Maries has a parks and rec soccer program for the younger kids. The past four years, the older kids have played in a Post Falls parks and rec league.

“It’s getting better,” Renaldo said.

It’s hoped that with the addition of Grangeville boosting the boys’ IML to six teams in soccer, the league may get two full berths to state in the future — rather than 1 or 1 1/2 berths as it has been. That way, a second-place finish would be good enough to punch a ticket to state.

UNDERSTAND, RENALDO is known to have a dry sense of humor. He jokes, but also speaks of the love he has for his players, noting “they’re a joy to work with; they’re sponges.”

No one wants to see the Lumberjack boys — and the St. Maries community — finally rewarded with a trip to state more than Renaldo.

Unless, of course, it’s Gilkey.

“Hopefully someday,” Gilkey said. “I would really be happy for him, if he could get there.”

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.