THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016

Last weekend, ESPN televised several high school football games from around the country, showcasing many of the nation’s top players and teams.

Dear World Wide Leader, here’s a suggestion for next year at this time — consider trucking your television cameras to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, or Moscow, or Folsom, Calif.

You likely won’t be disappointed.

The Coeur d’Alene Vikings gave a good account of themselves — and probably a better account than anyone outside of North Idaho would have thought — in last Saturday’s 55-36 loss to Folsom (Calif.), one of the top schools in California’s largest school division.

“You never like to lose a football game,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “There’s a risk you take when you schedule a team like that, but ... I wouldn’t have scheduled it unless I thought we could compete with them.”

AND COMPETE they did.

Coeur d’Alene answered a quick score by Folsom to start the game with one of its own, and took an 8-7 lead after the two-point conversion. The Vikings led 20-16 before the Bulldogs pulled away for a 41-20 halftime lead.

Coeur d’Alene pulled within 48-36 in the fourth quarter before Folsom recovered an onside kick and tacked on a touchdown for the final score.

“We certainly represented ourselves real well,” said Amos, adding the trip was also important for the three days the players and coaches spent on the road together, building relationships. The Vikings left Friday on charter buses for the two-day trip to the Sacramento area, then flew home on Sunday. “We felt pretty good walking off the field. I thought our kids battled, and matched up with them physically.”

The difference between the two teams, Amos said, was Folsom’s speed. The Vikings gave up six touchdown passes and 386 passing yards in the first half (Amos said blown coverages were also to blame). For the game, Folsom quarterback Joe Curry, in his first varsity start, was 33 of 45 for 551 yards.

“They have a lot of speed — a lot of speed,” Amos said. “It takes a while to adjust to that speed. They have three Division I guys running 4.4 (40s); we don’t see a lot of 4.4 guys up here. You try to tell (your players) how fast they are, but until you see it live ... ”

Coeur d’Alene displayed a bit of speed as well, in junior quarterback Colson Yankoff. The Oregon commit passed for 301 yards and three touchdowns, all to Kyler Prendergast, and also rushed for 81 yards and a score.

Folsom coaches praised the Vikings for their physical play, Amos said, and Coeur d’Alene’s fast-paced offense had the Bulldogs on their heels at times as well. Folsom, which annually sends a handful of players on to D-I schools, is used to dominating. The Bulldogs have lost just three games since 2012 — two of those to national power De La Salle of Concord, Calif., and has won a pair of state large-division championships (2010 and 2014).

“It was one of those games where I don’t think they (Folsom) felt totally comfortable with the lead,” Amos said.

AFTER THE game, the two teams agreed to play again in 2017.

The only question is, where?

Coeur d’Alene is putting together a financial proposal to bring Folsom up to North Idaho. The Vikings would prefer to play them at Coeur d’Alene High, but the Kibbie Dome in Moscow is another option as well.

Or they could play again in Folsom. Amos said he would be OK with that as well, if playing up here doesn’t work out.

Folsom paid Coeur d’Alene $5,000 to help cover transportation costs (Amos said the Vikings also got a lot of help from parents and boosters), and also fed the Vikings and paid for a few other incidentals on the trip.

Amos said Coeur d’Alene might have to come up with a reciprocal offer to get Folsom to come up here.

Wherever they end up playing, hopefully a TV network will take notice.

“Idaho has good football, and I think we represented Idaho real well,” Amos said.

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.