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THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Getting the train back on the track at Kootenai

| November 26, 2020 1:30 AM

They took the field for three games this season — and didn't win a single one.

Got outscored 123-34, in fact.

Four other games they had scheduled couldn't be played, because they didn't have enough players.

Two of those were league games, so they were technically forfeits.

And one game wasn't played because of a freak October snowstorm that dropped roughly half a foot of snow in the region.

The other two were nonleague games, so they could be considered no contests.

But after all that, the eight-man football season this fall at Kootenai High had to be termed a success.

AFTER ALL, Kootenai couldn't even field a team last year, determining during preseason practices that it wasn't going to have enough bodies to field a team for the season.

This from a program that was the best in the North Star League for a stretch not too long ago.

From 2006-13, Kootenai advanced to the 1A Division II playoffs each of those eight years. The Warriors reached the state title game in 2008, falling to Carey at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow. All told, Kootenai made it to the semifinals four times.

This from a program that, prior to that, had made the state playoffs just once, in 1987.

Even this year didn't start out so encouraging for Kootenai.

The Warriors had a bye in Week 1, then had to call off games for four straight weeks — vs. Clark Fork, at Wallace, vs. Lakeside and vs. Mullan-St. Regis (at Mullan).

"I was frustrated as heck, after going a year without playing," said Doug Napierala, Kootenai's football coach and athletic director — and, in recent years, the girls basketball coach ... and the track and field coach ... and, just recently, the boys basketball coach. "I had some boys say they were going to come out, and they didn't."

Finally, after another bye, Kootenai, with nine players on its roster, had enough players to take on Wallace at home on Oct. 9. And, in its first game since the 2018 season, the Warriors nearly notched their first victory since that year, falling 12-6 to the Miners.

A 43-8 loss at Clark Fork followed the next week.

One week later, Kootenai's home game with Mullan-St. Regis was canceled when the snowstorm made road conditions treacherous.

On Oct. 30, Kootenai wrapped up its brief, but beneficial season with a 68-20 loss to Lewis County in nonleague play.

"It was extremely important for us to put a team on the field — to play those three games and get a spirit back into the high school, and into the junior high," Napierala said. "It was important for the morale."

FOR YEARS, Kootenai was one of the bigger schools in the league; numbers were never a problem.

Now, maybe there's some hope.

"I think we're going to see an influx of students," said Napierala, who has been at Kootenai for more than two decades. "We lose just one senior this year, and we'll get five freshmen (now eighth-graders) in next year. I think we'll see a little bit of a rebound.

"Hopefully it's coming," he added. "As long as we keep this train moving ... "

LAKESIDE ALSO made a big step this season, advancing to the state playoffs in football for the first time since 2001. The Knights lost 78-6 in the first round to Oakley, which went on to win the state title.

"I thought we had a pretty good year, but then you run into a team like that and you see how far you have to go," Knights football coach Chris Dohrman said. "Oakley had 50 or 60 kids (Lakeside's roster lists 22 players), and they ran a no-huddle. They were running things that you don't see in our division."

The three area teams that made it to the semifinals all lost to the eventual state champion — Rocky Mountain of Meridian beat Coeur d'Alene in 5A, Skyline of Idaho Falls beat Sandpoint in 4A, and Dietrich beat Mullan-St. Regis in 1A Division II.

Homedale, which beat Timberlake in the 3A quarterfinals, lost to Sugar-Salem in overtime in the title game. In the semis Sugar-Salem beat Kimberly, which defeated Kellogg in the first round.

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.