THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Rocky battles, spotlights and seating arrangements

Lake City and Post Falls boys basketball teams have often battled with teams from Rocky Mountain High in Meridian over the years.

Especially since 2013, when Rocky began a run of nine straight appearances at state under coach Dane Roy.

Lake City's 65-57 win over Rocky on Thursday, in the first round of the state 5A tournament, was the Timberwolves' second win over the Grizzlies in three matchups.

Post Falls has also played Rocky three times during that span, also going 2-1.

LET'S REVIEW ...

In 2013, Rocky Mountain beat Lake City 61-33 in the first round. The Grizzlies ended up second at state; Lake City went two-and-out.

In 2014, Rocky Mountain beat Post Falls 74-43 in the first round. Post Falls went two-and-out. Lake City beat Rocky 66-50 in the third-place game for the Timberwolves' last trophy from state ... until Saturday night.

In 2019, Post Falls beat Rocky Mountain 54-50 in the first round. Post Falls finished third; Rocky won the consolation title.

In 2020, Post Falls downed Rocky Mountain 73-66 in the semifinals. Post Falls lost in the state title game; Rocky finished third.

After losing to Lake City on Thursday, Rocky lost 70-50 to Rigby on Friday to end its season, as well as the Roy's career at Rocky.

Roy, in his 10th season with the Grizzlies, earlier accepted the job of athletic director at Owyhee High, a new (5A) school in Meridian slated to open this fall.

Owyhee will draw students mainly from Rocky and Eagle high schools, as well as some from Meridian.

Roy said "for sure" he'll miss battling against teams from the North at state.

"I love the North … great coaches that are always fun to go against," he said Thursday after the Lake City game. "Especially with Lake City and Post Falls, you always expect to see one of them in the state tournament, and we’ve seen them quite a bit. It’s been a lot of fun battling against the North."

He didn't get to go up against Post Falls at state this year, as the Trojans missed qualifying for state for only the third time in the 14-year career of coach Mike McLean.

"Yeah, and I called him after the season, told him congrats," Roy said. "I know that’s hard, because he’s used to being here, but he’s a great guy and I wish him the best. And I wish coach Winger the best — he’s got a really good team."

Dane Roy's father, Emery, has been his assistant at Rocky Mountain in recent years. Emery Roy won nine state titles as a girls basketball coach — four at Meridian, and five more at Centennial.

I remember Emery Roy bringing his Meridian teams to Sandpoint to face Bulldog coach Bob Hamilton's squads back in the early 1980s. Meridian beat Sandpoint in the state title game in 1982 and '83, before the Bulldogs ended a long Meridian winning streak with a victory over the Warriors in the 1984 state tourney at Coeur d'Alene High.

And in Sandpoint's last visit to a state title game in girls basketball, the Bulldogs fell to Centennial, coached by — you guessed it — Emery Roy.

Roy's last state title, in 2006 at Centennial, came over a Coeur d'Alene team in Dale Poffenroth's first title game as Viking coach.

"Poff" would go on to lead Coeur d'Alene to four state titles in the next eight years.

"We’ll still be around the game," Dane Roy said of father and son. "We won’t be too far away. I’ll always be there, but just won’t be probably in the chair."

LAKESIDE WAS in the spotlight at state this week, in more ways than one.

The Knights were trying for an impressive double — back up last year's state title in 1A Division II by winning another this year after moving up to 1A Division I.

However, Lakeside lost in the semifinals this year, but came back to win the third-place game and bring home another trophy.

The other spotlight took place prior to the 1A Division I games at Vallivue High in Caldwell — they turned down the house lights in the gym, and shone spotlights on the players during the introductions — kinda like what you see at some NBA games.

"If you ask me, that’s pretty cool," Lakeside sophomore guard Vander Brown said.

He said he's seen that kind of intro on TV, but never live. Did he know what to do?

"Come out, and be grateful," he said. "Definitely a good experience."

His thoughts when the lights went out?

"Oh, it’s game time," Brown said.

OVERALL, WINGER would probably admit he enjoyed coaching at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa this year — because by coaching three games in the arena, that meant his team was playing for a state championship.

It was the way the benches were set up that bugged him.

Because of COVID-19, officials spread out the chairs one each team's bench, and had three rows of spread-out chairs — much like you've probably seen on TV in college and NBA games.

In high school games in North Idaho, there was some social distancing between players in the gym, but mostly it looked like games pre-pandemic.

So the setup at the Idaho Center was WAY different than teams from the North were used to, playing up here.

"I hate it," Winger said of the setup at the Idaho Center, after his team beat Rocky Mountain in the first round on Thursday. "You want the truth? I don’t like it at all. You can’t sit down on a timeout — full timeout, you’ve got to treat it like a 30 (with most everybody standing up, because the chairs are too far apart to have everyone sit during a timeout). I don’t know; it’s something they have to do (due to COVID). I have a hard time not being able to be here and watch the next game (because officials were trying to limit attendance at each game to just fans of the two competing schools). That’s a tough one."

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.