The work still under construction

You can understand it a little bit when some coaches put their athletes through some pretty tough tests early in the season.

They just want to see them succeed.

Even when the alarm clock rings at 4:30 in the morning to catch the bus for the long ride to southern Idaho.

THE JOURNEY to Nampa might mean a little bit more for the Timberlake High wrestling team this year.

Timberlake took on Weiser and Fruitland in a pair of duals on Thursday, the night before the start of this weekend’s Rollie Lane Invitational in Nampa. It’s one of only a few chances to have true head-to-head opponents from the southern part of the state when it comes to seeding for the state tournament Feb. 22-23 at Holt Arena in Pocatello.

“We had several seeding matches that will help our chances come state,” Timberlake coach Kelly Amos said. “We did really well in those to see where we’re at.”

Caleb Miller, the Tigers’ 152-pound wrestler, went 2-0 on Thursday. Isaiah Evans also went 2-0 at 126, as did Joey Follini at 182.

“Caleb wrestled the No. 1 kid from the state (Diego Carbajal of Fruitland) and beat him. Isaiah, ranked third in the state, ended up with a major decision (against Weiser’s Kooper vonBrethorst). Joey beat the No. 2 kid in the state (Fruitland’s Greg Gissel) as well. Those were big matches for us and where we stand.”

Even with those they lost, Amos knows his team can still make a little bit of a jump in the coming weeks.

“These two duals are important to see where we rank,” Amos said. “Even those matches we lost, we wrestled well. It gives us a barometer of where we’re at.”

WHEN THE Seahawks played the Cowboys in mid September, it didn’t seem as if that was a potential playoff matchup.

But yet, here we are.

Seattle wasn’t playing its best football going into that game, but found a way to win. One that some credit for the team finding an identity in which the Seahawks finished the season with a 10-6 record after starting 0-2.

Who knew?

Sure, the Seahawks had a big wins over Kansas City a few weeks back, but didn’t look all that great in Sunday’s win over Arizona.

Dallas isn’t the same team either, with the emergence of Leighton Vander Esch, who will be well aware of where Russell Wilson is as he’s scrambling around the field a little later today.

Win or lose, whatever happens from here is a bonus for the Seahawks.

Many believed they couldn’t get to the playoffs, but once they figured out how to run the ball again, it seemed destined to happen.

All from a little work early in the year.

These coaches must know something.

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.