Where do they go from here?

It’s rare that a team might invite its rival into its home gymnasium to open the season.

But North Idaho College’s wrestling team does it.

And welcome it.

So do its rivals it seems.

AFTER HANDING the Cardinals a 34-3 loss, Clackamas Community College of Oregon City, Ore., went on to win the Spokane Collegiate Open on Sunday at the Spokane Convention Center, outlasting the University of Providence in Great Falls, Mont., by four points for the team title.

“It’s early in the season, but NIC is a fun place to wrestle though,” Clackamas coach Josh Rhoden said following Friday’s dual. “You get battle tested in places like this.”

Rhoden credits a dual Nov. 1 at Western Wyoming of Rock Springs, Wyo., ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA, for getting his squad ready for NIC.

“They packed the gym out for us too,” said Rhoden, whose team is ranked fourth. “Thankfully, we got to see that before we saw this because this match (against NIC) is usually a shock to the freshmen coming in that haven’t seen it yet. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a knowledgeable crowd. It’s fun to come here, and we did a good job of keeping them quiet tonight.”

As far as NIC goes, the Cardinals will see Clackamas again on Jan. 19 at Oregon City, then compete in the Clackamas Open the following day. Clackamas returns to NIC for the West District Championships, a qualifier for nationals, on Sunday, Feb. 10.

“We’ll get a chance to see them again in short order,” Rhoden said. “We’ll be out here for regionals again in a few months, so it will be a hostile environment once again. But it will be fun. We’re usually pretty familiar with each other by the end of the season. We try to avoid each other a little bit because we don’t want to get too familiar with each other. NIC is always a good team to face. (NIC coach) Pat (Whitcomb) and his guys are going to get better by the end of the season. They’re always better at the end of the season, and there’s no question about that.”

IF SOMEBODY told me at the start of the season that the Seattle Seahawks’ record at Thanksgiving will be 5-5, that might have seemed a little far fetched.

Seattle started the season with some ugly losses at Denver and Chicago, then bounced back at home against Dallas and again at Arizona.

Being swept by the Los Angeles Rams, in games the Seahawks could have won, might end up costing the Seahawks another trip to the playoffs.

What remains to be seen is how they’ll do against Carolina and San Francisco, which Seattle has yet to play this year.

To get back to the postseason, Seattle can’t afford any more losses.

Beating Green Bay at home last Thursday was a big win for the team going forward.

Seattle has some momentum going for itself right now.

How much, and where it goes, is up to them.

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 jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.