THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Before we spring forward, some final winter sports thoughts

The marshmallows finally made it to state this year.

The Wallace High girls basketball team ended a long drought in February by qualifying for the state tournament for the first time since 2008.

That meant Miners coach Nichole Farkas’ bag of marshmallows made their first trip south as well.

As the story goes, a few years ago at practice, Farkas was eating marshmallows at practice.

“And she was in a really good mood,” senior Jaden House recalled, “So we said, ‘We have to bring her marshmallows.”

“The girls thought I seemed to be more calm when I was eating them,” said Farkas, now in her fifth season as Wallace’s head coach.

Fast-forward to this season.

Miners senior Grace Hunter brought her coach a bag of marshmallows before Wallace’s first game in the 1A Division I District 1 tournament. The Miners beat Genesis Prep, then defeated Lakeside for the district title, earning them a spot in a state play-in game.

“So I’ve been bringing them to each game and they’ve been sitting under my chair on the bench,” Farkas said after the Miners beat Clearwater Valley of Kooskia in a state play-in game.

By then, the bag of marshmallows was less than full, evidence the contents were equal parts tasty and symbolic.

Wallace went 0-2 at state, but perhaps a new tradition in the Silver Valley was born.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE of life being WAY more important than sports.

Lakeside boys basketball coach James Twoteeth was understandably down after his Knights lost to Logos of Moscow in a state 1A Division I play-in game in late February.

Lakeside was hoping to qualify for state for the third straight season, and led Logos by 20 points in the first half, only to succumb to a second-half comeback, culminated by a game-winning 3-pointer with five seconds left.

But that wasn’t the only reason he was feeling down. And not even the biggest one.

“One of my good friends is in the hospital, so it’s hard,” Twoteeth said quietly after the game. “I’ve had a heckuva time coaching this week.”

Ken Staggs, a Lakeside assistant coach the past two seasons, was in the hospital.

“He was a part of this team, too,” Twoteeth said.

Two years ago, with Staggs helping out, Lakeside won its first state title since 1997. Last year, after moving up from 1A Division II, the Knights brought home a third-place trophy from state.

“It’s a tough thing,” Twoteeth said. “I got a lot of advice from him, and something’s been missing this week. It’s hard. … I’ve probably been off my game (coaching), even Thursday’s game (a win over Genesis Prep in the district title game, which earned the Knights a spot in the state play-in game two days later) I was off. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

Ken Staggs passed away at age 73 on Feb. 26 — the day of Lakeside’s state play-in game.

One of his sons, Duke Staggs, played at Coeur d’Alene High.

Another son, Dalton Staggs, was a senior on Lake City High’s state title-winning baseball team in 2007.

IDAHO FOOTBALL's Twitter account, @VandalFootball, asks two questions of first-year coach Jason Eck after each spring practice.

Thursday, Eck was asked about the team's cohesiveness.

"We spent a lot of time building relationships, and becoming a closer team during the winter," he said. "You don't get any championship rings for spring ball, man. We're competing every day; we're working together toward the finished product. We're going to compete, but we're all together. We're going to protect our team, and take care of each other. And I think we're doing a good job building those relationships and being a connected offense, defense and special teams. That's what it takes; we need to all be together to win."

MORE ON MEL.

Gonzaga senior Melody Kempton, the former Post Falls High star, recently told The Press she was leaning toward moving on with her life, and not returning for a fifth, COVID-19 season with the Zags basketball team.

But she also said she could change her mind.

After Gonzaga lost to Louisville in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Zags coach Lisa Fortier was asked for an update on Mel's decision.

"I told her she had to leave the door open," Fortier said. "But she's engaged, and she's had a great career; she's definitely leaning toward moving on. And unless (assistant) coach Craig (Fortier, Lisa's husband) has some heroics up his sleeve, or her mom (Teresa) can convince her, I think she's probably leaving. But we haven't had that final, final, final conversation."

Added junior guard Kaylynne Truong:

"Mel, I know her shot, when we first came in, I don't know if she'll hate me for this, it was like a catapult, when we first arrived on practice. Sorry, Mel. But she made major improvements to her jump shot, and look at her now — hitting middies like nothing."

A COMBINATION of a mild winter and artificial turf made for a rare sighting earlier this week — a baseball game in March at Memorial Field in Sandpoint.

Sandpoint High athletic director Kris Knowles posted a cool photo on social media — a baseball game ready to be played under sunny skies, with snow-peaked mountains in the background.

Installing artificial turf at the legendary field last year has made games early in the spring on that field a much more realistic scene, this year and last.

Of course, the mild winter helped.

After many snowy winters, Sandpoint teams were lucky to get on Memorial shortly after they got back from spring break, in early April — only weeks before the postseason was to begin.

Only a dome would have gotten the Bulldogs on the field sooner.

WAS THINKING about Coeur d’Alene’s second-place finish at the state 5A wrestling tournament in late February.

The Vikings had several “studs” expected to challenge for state titles — and for the most part, those guys came through.

So did the others, earning team points for winning matches, and placing.

But that wasn’t enough points to topple defending champion Meridian, which repeated with 290 points. Coeur d’Alene had 281.

The Warriors benefitted from a generous allocation of state berths in District III (the top nine in each weight qualified for state), getting 24 to state. The Vikings, in a region where only the top two in each weight and some wild cards qualified, advanced 16 to state.

Sometimes you just do the best you can do, and live with the results.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.