Still tough to fill football schedules

It has helped 5A Inland Empire League football teams in recent years that Greater Spokane League schools have had room on their schedules to play them.

Still, finding enough teams to fill a nine-game schedule has not been easy.

Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, in fact, only have eight games scheduled. They are both idle the same Friday, Sept. 28, the fifth week of the season. They briefly considered moving up their scheduled league game from Oct. 19, the final week of the regular season, to the September date, but they decided against it. One negative to playing the game earlier — if one of them won the league and earned a first-round bye in the 12-team state playoffs, they would have two weeks off, instead of one, between their regular season finale and their first playoff game.

A look at the football schedules of the three local 5A IEL teams (all matchups are home-and-homes, except where noted):

Coeur d’Alene: Two heavyweights dot the home schedule, with Gonzaga Prep visiting Coeur d’Alene on Aug. 31 and defending state 5A champion Highland of Pocatello coming to town Sept. 21.

“We have wanted to play Gonzaga Prep for a long time and it finally just worked out,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “We have great respect for their program and consider them one of the top programs in the area.”

Coeur d’Alene and Highland have met seven times since 2012, three times in the playoffs, two of those in the championship game.

“We are of course also very excited to add Highland back on our schedule with a home-and-home for all three levels starting next season,” Amos said.

Coeur d’Alene will play Mead again, this time on the red turf at Eastern Washington University on Sept. 7. Eisenhower of Yakima is new to the Viking schedule, Sept. 14 at home.

The Vikings open their season Aug. 24 at Rigby, a state quarterfinalist last season.

“Rigby, came about because we always like to take one long trip to a quality opponent so our players know how to travel,” Amos said. “Rigby is a program on the rise and is expected to be very good this season.”

The last two seasons, Coeur d’Alene opened at Folsom (Calif.), roughly 875 miles away. Rigby is only about 475 miles away, in eastern Idaho.

Coeur d’Alene’s 5A IEL games are Oct. 5 at Lewiston, Oct. 12 at home vs. Lake City, and Oct. 19 at Post Falls.

Lake City: The Timberwolves have a nine-game schedule. Even better, six of the games will be played at Lake City.

The Timberwolves were supposed to play Ferris at Albi Stadium, but the Saxons couldn’t work out a time there. So Ferris will travel to Lake City this year and next.

“We’ll split the gate with them both years,” Lake City athletic director Jim Winger said.

Lake City will play its six home games in the first seven weeks — opening with Madison of Rexburg on Aug. 24, followed by Lewis and Clark on Aug. 31, Ferris on Sept. 7, East Valley on Sept. 21, Sandpoint on Sept. 28 and Post Falls on Oct. 5 in the 5A IEL opener for both schools.

Lake City will travel to 4A Lakeland on Sept. 14. The two teams last met in 2011, and have only met twice since 2005.

Lake City’s other league games are Oct. 12 at Coeur d’Alene and Oct. 19 at Lewiston.

Post Falls: The Trojans lost Wenatchee and Cheney from last year’s schedule, but picked up a game at Moses Lake on Sept. 14.

That game evolved from a meeting earlier this year at West Valley between representatives of the bigger North Idaho schools and those from Eastern Washington leagues like the Big 9, Mid-Columbia and GSL.

They’ve been having this meeting the last few years, akin to the Idaho scheduling meeting in southern Idaho, to help North Idaho and Eastern Washington teams fill their schedules.

“We try to take care of each other,” Post Falls athletic director Craig Christensen said.

The rest of Post Falls’ schedule contains the usual suspects — the season opener at Sandpoint on Aug. 24, home vs. Mead and University the next two weeks.

Post Falls is at Lakeland on Sept. 21 and opens league play at Lake City on Oct. 5. The Trojans are home for their final two league games, Oct. 12 vs. Lewiston and Oct. 19 vs. Coeur d’Alene.

The Trojans had some possibilities for its open date, including a team from Colorado and another from the Seattle area, but neither seemed like a good fit, cost wise and/or competition wise, Christensen 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.