Area rivals take big step toward titles
No, they don’t hand out state trophies from a tournament in January, but if they did, a few teams from the area might have gone a long way toward earning a few down the road.
In case you’ve missed it, and those in the stands for the North Idaho Rumble last weekend at Coeur d’Alene High certainly didn’t, the teams at Post Falls High and Lakeland High in Rathdrum are some of the top teams in the state this year.
BOTH TEAM made statements at the Tri-State Invitational, with the Trojans winning for a third time in four years at North Idaho College in December. Lakeland finished fifth at Tri-State, then went on to finish second at Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno.
Last weekend, Post Falls ran away with the Rumble title, the program’s seventh straight title at the tournament, which is in its eighth year.
“I was thinking it was four or five in a row, but seven, that’s amazing,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “It seems weird to think that. It’s an amazing accomplishment for our team.”
Then again, they’ve had to beat some quality teams brought into town by the Coeur d’Alene High organizers who put on the event.
“It really says a lot about the competition up north,” Reardon said. “With teams like Lakeland and Coeur d’Alene, and the other teams they’ve brought in, it’s a cool accomplishment.”
Coeur d’Alene won the inaugural rumble in 2011.
Up until last weekend, Post Falls hadn’t wrestled since winning the River City Duals on Jan. 13.
“It was a great break,” Reardon said. “We had about a week and a half break and it was a nice change of pace. I was happy with how our kids reacted all this weekend. Even our kids that lost in the tournament competed hard. Each kid gave themselves a chance to win and we had 10 kids in the semifinals (four advanced to the finals). They wrestled hard and that’s the kind of matches we need late in the year.”
AND WHILE the Hawks didn’t win it this year, Lakeland took a significant jump, according to coach Rob Edelblute.
“It was good to see our kids step up and wrestle well,” Edelblute said. “We had a couple of JV kids step into the lineup and they did a great job. Going to state, we’re going to need that depth to pull off a trophy. It’s really good to see they’re all competing and battling at this time of the year.”
Once again, it will be a numbers game for the teams up North as far as qualifying for the tournament.
5A schools qualify the top three from regionals, with the top two — and a wild card — advancing in 4A. Area 3A and 2A schools get the top three from their district tournaments, as well as a wild card.
Things can happen along the road to the state tournament, but for a change, the numbers might add up for the teams up North in a few weeks in Pocatello.
Even better is if those two schools within 10 miles of each other bring home the big one together for the first time in a long time.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.