'Tis the season for wishes, to give thanks

A Christmas wish: That the Inland Empire League and Greater Spokane League continue to schedule each other in nonleague games.

The scheduling agreement between the nearby leagues has worked out well in recent years.

Truth be told, the IEL needs the GSL more than the other way around, as 5A IEL teams have to find six nonleague foes (out of nine games) for football, and 4A IEL teams have to find seven.

Double that — at least — in basketball, and you see the headache of being an IEL athletic director when it comes to scheduling.

For years, the GSL didn’t have to worry about finding nonleague foes, its league was so big. But in recent years, with the 4A and 3A GSL teams not necessarily having to play each other, that has opened up a few spots for nonleague foes.

Take this basketball season, for example.

Last week’s boys game pitting Gonzaga Prep at Post Falls created a buzz not often seen before early season tilts in North Idaho.

Ditto, to a lesser extent, Saturday’s girls game between Post Falls and Central Valley.

A peek at Coeur d’Alene’s football schedule for 2018 lists a visit from Gonzaga Prep on the second week of the season — and the season-opening weekend for Washington teams.

Prep has enough clout where it can play anybody it wants. Last year, the Bullpups opened the football season with games at Eastside Catholic of Sammamish, Wash., and at Bellarmine Prep of San Jose, Calif. So for Prep to play the Vikings in football for the first time since the 1980s is kind of a big deal.

(Add a visit from Highland of Pocatello on Week 5, in a rematch of last month’s state 5A title game, and there’s a reason to get excited for early season games this fall).

- Thankful for domes: Boise State fans like to make fun of the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. And, Holt Arena in Pocatello usually draws guffaws when mentioned statewide.

But ... the key is, they are indoor facilities. Emphasis on INDOOR.

And in November, when Idaho is trying to determine its state champions in football, not having to worry about weather conditions and field conditions for the most important games of the season is a good thing.

You could understand some Coeur d’Alene fans grumbling about the Vikings’ state semifinal game being moved from Viking Field to the Kibbie Dome. But, after all that, there was a pretty good turnout of Viking fans to watch their team handle Mountain View of Meridian.

And, since Highland won its semifinal game as well, the title game was going to be at Holt Arena, no matter how long a drive it was for Cd’A fans. It was eastern Idaho’s turn, since an eastern Idaho team (Highland) played in a state title game more recently than a team from the North, and it had to travel for that game.

Washington decides its state champions at the same place (Tacoma Dome) each year.

Idaho tried that a few decades ago, rotating the title games between the Kibbie Dome, Holt Arena and what is now Albertsons Stadium in Boise. But after a few years, Idaho switched it so the title game would be played at one of those sites, depending on which teams were playing. Which made sense, because if two Boise-area teams were in the title game, there was no reason for them to troop all the way to Moscow or to Pokey, when they could settle it in their own backyard.

Boise, of course, has many things, but a dome is not one of them.

In 2011, Coeur d’Alene and Eagle played in the snow at what was then Bronco Stadium to decide the state 5A title.

Way back in 1997, the artificial turf at BSU started to ice up near the end of Sandpoint’s win over Eagle in the state 4A championship game.

Not that the Vikings and Bulldogs minded in the end. But for the rest of us, be thankful for domes.

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.