THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Rigby part of another challenging Cd'A football schedule

When Coeur d’Alene and Rigby met in football three times over the course of two seasons (2018 and ’19), coaches from both schools talked of continuing to play each other.

Well, scheduling in Idaho being what it is, that didn’t work out.

Until now.

Coeur d’Alene and Rigby have agreed to play in each of the next two seasons — both at neutral sites in kinda of a meet-you-halfway sort of deal.

This year’s game is set for Washington-Grizzly Stadium at the University of Montana in Missoula during what schools call “Zero Week” — the week before most teams generally open their football seasons.

“(Rigby) Coach (Armando) Gonzales and I keep in touch,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “So we thought it would be a great experience to get our programs together and play in Griz Stadium.”

In 2023, Amos said the two teams plan to play again in Missoula, or perhaps at Montana Tech in Butte.

In 2018, Coeur d’Alene won at Rigby in the season opener. Coeur d’Alene beat Rigby at home in the 2019 opener, then the two teams met that November in the state 5A championship game, Rigby winning 57-56 in two overtimes at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

Rigby has played in the last three state title games, also winning last year.

THE VIKINGS recently completed their football schedule, with some other interesting foes on the slate.

After playing Rigby, Coeur d’Alene is scheduled to travel to Rocky Mountain of Meridian the following week, then play host to Sandpoint before a bye week.

After that, it’s a game at Lakeland, followed by home games vs. Woodinville (Wash.) and Union of Vancouver, Wash.

Then it’s the three Inland Empire League games.

The Rocky, Woodinville and Union games are all two-year, home-and-home agreements.

Coeur d’Alene lost at Rocky Mountain in the state semifinals in 2020. Rocky then beat Rigby the following week for the state title.

“Rocky actually reached out to us,” Amos said. “The Boise-area teams usually do not have to travel anywhere, so we were surprised they were looking for a game. They are obviously one of the top programs in the state and those are the type of teams we are looking to play.”

Until Woodinville agreed to come to Coeur d’Alene this year, the Vikings had just three home games on its schedule.

Last year Woodinville won 16-14 over North Creek of Bothell, Wash., a team Coeur d’Alene beat 43-42 on the road three weeks earlier.

Coeur d’Alene was scheduled to play Union in 2020, but that game was canceled when COVID-19 hit and Washington pushed its 2020 football season to the following spring.

“So when we saw they were looking for a game we made contact,” Amos said.

Union finished 6-3 last year, losing 37-7 to a Skyview (Vancouver) team that the Vikings beat 27-17 at Roos Field in Cheney.

And Sandpoint, coming off an appearance in the state 4A title game last year, is said to be even better this year.

Coeur d’Alene escaped with a 24-22 win at Sandpoint last year.

“For us our pre-league record means nothing,” said Amos, whose squad lost to Eagle last year in the state quarterfinals at home in a bit of a surprise, finishing 6-3 after another challenging nonleague schedule. “We want our players to experience memorable games and compete against great teams to prepare ourselves for our league games. I think our league will be as balanced as it has been in years, so we know we need to be prepared.”

SOUNDING LIKE a combination of proud coach and proud dad, Amos also noted Coeur d’Alene High will have 19 former Vikings on college rosters this fall.

They are: Colson Yankoff (UCLA), Jackson Kohal (Air Force), Colbey Nosworthy and Trent Elstad (Idaho), Kale Edwards (Montana), Ty Pottenger (Montana State), Seth Harrison (Eastern Washington), Cameren Cope (Weber State), Luke McLaughlin (Furman), Jack Prka, Jake Brown, Gunner Giulio, Jaxson Washington and Wyatt Sandford (Carroll); Pat O'Dell and Isaiah Griffin (College of Idaho), Gabe Zanetti (Montana Tech), Carter Wiebusch (University of Mary) and Ethan Garitone (Santa Barbara City College).

Those guys might make for a heckuva alumni game in a few years.

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.