STATE HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TOURNAMENTS: On their turf

On a Saturday afternoon in 2012, the Post Falls High boys and Lake City girls celebrated with state 5A soccer championships at Coeur d'Alene High.

But this year, it's not just about the big schools up north.

For the first time, the state 3A tournament will take place on the artificial turf at The Fields at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, with the Coeur d'Alene Charter girls chasing a fifth straight championship.

Due to social distancing, tickets are not being sold at the gate. To order tickets online at https://gofan.co/app/school/IDHSAA

5A GIRLS

Lake City (11-3-0) hosts Timberline (8-3-0) of Boise in a first-round game at Coeur d'Alene High on Thursday at 11:30 a.m.

Lake City, which went 0-2 at state in 2019, won titles in 2016 and 2012 at Coeur d'Alene High — the last two times the tournament was held up north.

Lake City won its seventh straight regional title to advance. Coeur d'Alene, winners of the 5A Inland Empire League, was beaten in a play-in match against Mountain View (9-5-1) of Meridian, which opens with Boise (11-0-0) today at Lake City High.

Due to social distancing limitations, crowds are limited to 300 fans — 150 per school — and no tickets will be sold at the gates.

"Every day is a different day," said Lake City coach Matt Ruchti of the protocols. "Each morning, we've got to tell our players the same thing and make sure we're abiding by the safety guidelines. Our group has been really good at that. We're just trying to navigate through the season."

Rocky Mountain (12-1-0) of Meridian, winners of the last two state championships, opens against Madison High (11-4-1) of Rexburg at Lake City today at 2 p.m.

5A BOYS

In its past trips to state, the Post Falls boys could always count on a bonafide goal scorer to stuff the stat sheet.

After an ankle injury to senior forward Logan Koller — who led the team in goals with 12 before being injured on Sept. 24 against Lake City — the Trojans have had to rely on scoring from different places.

So far, it's worked well for 17th-year Post Falls coach Gabe Lawson, who has his team back at state for the first time since 2017.

"We've had to do things a different way," said Lawson, who is hopeful Koller will be back for state. "It didn't start that way, but we lost our first two matches of the season, but haven't lost since."

Post Falls finished runner-up in its last trip to state in 2017.

"My son (Ethan) played with these boys from the time he was a kid, but graduated last year," Lawson said. "I've coached a large percentage of these kids and they've grown up playing for me. They understand the expectations and how I want to play the game."

Post Falls (8-2-2) opens against Boise (8-2-0) today at 11:30 a.m. at Post Falls High. Post Falls beat Boise 3-0 in the 2012 championship match.

"We're just happy that we don't have to travel this year," Lawson said.

Lake City, winners of the 5A Inland Empire League, failed to advance after losing 2-1 to Centennial of Boise in a play-in match on Oct. 17 in Middleton.

Defending champion Eagle (9-2-2) opens against Madison High (7-5-2) of Rexburg at Post Falls High today at 2 p.m.

3A BOYS

After playing its three district tournament matches at The Fields, including Saturday's 1-0 win over Coeur d'Alene Charter in that championship match, first-year Timberlake coach Justin Mooney hopes that familiarity will help in this week's tournament.

"These guys should definitely be used to it," Mooney said. "It's a different field than the one we've got back home, but having this many games on it should be a good thing for us."

Timberlake, which entered the District 1-2 tournament as the fourth seed, won its second district title in three years and will open at state against Gooding (10-1-1) today at 10 a.m.

"The second time we played Bonners Ferry, we knew we had the potential to play with anyone," Mooney said. "Knowing we could compete, we started to come together a little bit."

Coeur d'Alene Charter (5-4-3), in its second season as a program, opens with McCall-Donnelly (6-1-0) in today's final game at The Fields starting at 4 p.m.

"I think playing here gives us a good advantage," said Nitti of The Fields, where Charter plays its home games. "It's a wide field for us. It's unique."

Sun Valley Community School (6-3-0) opens at state against American Falls (6-2-0) today at 2 p.m.

3A GIRLS

While Coeur d'Alene Charter chases a fifth straight title, a little bad weather might not be enough to slow things down at The Fields.

"The turf fields can make the wet ball even faster," fifth-year Charter coach Stacy Smith said. "But that's OK to us. For us, making it this far into the season and thinking that COVID could shut us down at any moment, I think we're in the 'Sam I Am' moment and we'll do this wherever you want because we actually get to do this."

Coeur d'Alene Charter (13-1-1) opens with Kimberly (13-1-0) today at 9 a.m.

"Kimberly's had a great season," Smith said. "Their only loss is to Sun Valley, and Sun Valley, you can't compare because they haven't had a full season. Kimberly's a young team and they might not realize what they're playing for and just go out and play. Marsh Valley is always a tough team and Sugar-Salem is good, but both of those teams are on the other side of the bracket. I'm just excited because it's going to be some good, competitive games all-around."

Timberlake (8-5-2) opens with Marsh Valley (11-2-1) today at 3 p.m.

Timberlake won twice at The Fields to advance to the district championship match and qualify for state for the first time since 2018.

"The more we play on the turf, the better we get with it," said Timberlake coach Steve Michael, who started the girls program in 2008. "This year, state is going to be an unknown. There's only so much you can do to prepare for the teams coming up. The biggest thing for us is taking care of what we can and getting ready for that."

4A BOYS

Sandpoint (5-4-3), winners of the Region 1 tournament, open at state against Vallivue (9-3-0) of Caldwell today at Bonneville High in Idaho Falls.

Caldwell (8-3-1), winners of the previous two state championships, open with Blackfoot (14-1-0).

4A GIRLS

Sandpoint, winners of the 2019 title, failed to qualify for state after being upset in the regional championship by Moscow. The Bears (5-2-1) open against Middleton (9-3-0) at Hillcrest High in Ammon.