THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Impact of upcoming classification changes trickles down to all levels in North Idaho

The new 6A classification (boy, is that going to take some getting used to) in North Idaho was already going to take a bit of a hit beginning next fall, when the new classification structure for Idaho high school athletics takes place.

But the decision by Post Falls to drop its boys and girls soccer programs to the new 5A level for the next two years, and how it affects the two other 6A teams in North Idaho, Coeur d’Alene and Lake City, is turning into a swift kick in the …

“Within the rules, they have to do what they think is best for their program,” Lake City athletic director Troy Anderson said. “And we — Coeur d’Alene and Lake City — are not necessarily going to like it. But, it’s what we’re dealing with now.”

Even worse was the recent proposal to the Idaho High School Activities Association, which would give District 1-2 just a half-berth to next year’s state boys and girls soccer tournaments. That means the winner of the district “playoff” between Coeur d’Alene and Lake City would not advance directly to state — that winner would have to face a team from another district in a state play-in game, needing to win that to advance to state.

“It’s unfortunate, because the worst part of it is, Coeur d’Alene and Lake City have traditionally have such great soccer programs, that if we’re sitting there with a half-berth, or one berth total and no play-in, that doesn’t feel like it’s good for us. Soccer is probably feeling the most of that classification decision overall.”

State berths, in general, are determined mathematically — the more teams in your district, the more berths to state. How good the teams are in your district doesn’t matter, though adding half-berths and creating play-in games is a way for a strong district to get another team to state.

FOR POST Falls, the decision to petition down in girls soccer was easy. The Trojans were 0-26-1 over the past two seasons, and have just 22 wins over the past 10 seasons.

The boys have been competitive in general in the combined 5A/4A Inland Empire League (which next year will be a combined 6A/5A IEL in many sports), but not so much against the other teams in its own classification — namely, Coeur d’Alene and Lake City, with only one win combined in the past two seasons.

“To be honest with you, it (petitioning down) was a tough decision to make, because we’ve been pretty successful,” Post Falls athletic director Craig Christensen said. “I can still remember when we were in the state championship in both boys and girls soccer the same year (2012) … so we’ve had a pretty strong tradition for soccer here, so it was tough decision. But when it comes down to it, it’s what’s best for the kids, and the program.

“We made the decision to petition down, and give the team a couple of years to build their program back up. We haven’t had a JV girls team for five years, so we need to get the numbers up.”

Christensen said when the Post Falls High school teams had strong programs, there was a Post Falls-centric club program feeding into the high school (funny how that works).

When that went away, Post Falls athletes continued to play, though not as many of them, in the Coeur d’Alene-based Timbers-Thorns program. Or they play in Spokane.

“I know there’s talk of adding a club program in Post Falls,” Christensen said. “When we were pretty successful, we had a pretty strong club program in Post Falls, and that went away.”

As for leaving Coeur d’Alene and Lake City in somewhat of a bind in soccer …

“Yeah, it’s going to be tough for them,” Christensen said. “They’ll probably get a half berth … one of them not going to state is not a good deal, but we just have to get in the position where we breed success with our programs and our kids, that’s just what is the best for us.”

The 5A classification is for schools with 1,281 students or more. In the new 6A, it will be 1,400 and up.

In other sports in the 6A IEL, with Lewiston dropping to the “new” 5A next year, Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Post Falls will have the same “headache” that Lakeland, Sandpoint and Moscow have experienced for years — how to run a three-team district tournament. 

Worse, the “new” 6A IEL will likely end up with just one berth to state — rather than 1.5 in most other years, where the second-place team can make it to state by winning a play-in game.

The new 5A IEL will likely wind up with 1.5 berths to state now, rather than the one, cutthroat berth, they have now.

The football regular season will be a little different, too.

In the past, the “old” four-team 5A IEL played its league games the last three weeks of the season. In the “old” 4A IEL, with three teams, they did the same thing, but either Sandpoint, Lakeland or Moscow had a bye each week.

This coming year, with Moscow dropping down to the “new” 4A in football only (joining Timberlake and Bonners Ferry), both the 6A and 5A IELs will have the same dilemma. So there has been talk of “crossover” games between the two leagues, so each team has a game the final three weeks of the regular season.

Other than football, state tournaments in Idaho are eight-team affairs. There has been talk of expanding to 12-team tourneys, and the North has pushed for that in soccer specifically, but “there’s nothing solid now,” Anderson said.

IN 4A (the “new” 5A beginning next year), Lakeland athletic director Matt Neff said his school’s preference would have been to maintain the current classification model (640-1,280 students in grades 9-12). The new 5A classification will range from 700-1,399 students.

“Just selfishly, why would Lakeland, which is at the bottom of the 4As and has been for the last 17 years, want to extend that top number even longer?,” Neff said. “It just ensures that, even for a longer time, we’re at the bottom of our classification.

“Our argument was, we understand somebody’s going to be at the top, somebody’s going to be at the bottom, but within a state classification review, there has to be a cycle where teams at the bottom shouldn’t be at the bottom for 20 years. There has to be some balance. We always looked at it like, we’ve put in our time. So why would we vote for, or support, a classification model which extends the 4A number even higher?”

Neff said he voted for Moscow to be able to petition down to the new 4A in football only.

“Why would I stand in the way of them maybe doing what they need to do to improve their programs?” Neff said. “I can empathize a little bit. Moscow, they’re even smaller than us. If that’s what Moscow feels like they need to do to be competitive and build some culture in their school and try to rebuild that program, I’m going to support that.

“Football is so important for the start of climate and culture at your school,” Neff added. “If your football team is going 0-10, you’re probably going to see a trickle-down through all your athletic programs.”

All that aside, Neff said the Hawks “spend little to no thought” on all the classification changes.

“Is it going to impact what we’re doing?” Neff said. “No, we still have to get better at what we’re doing.”

At Sandpoint High, previous athletic director Kris Knowles embraced the challenge of playing the 5A schools, and that attitude appears to have continued.

“Adding Lewiston really causes us to ‘get better’ and I love that idea,” first-year Sandpoint AD TJ Clary said. “They have many great programs and Sandpoint will have to rise to the occasion.”

Clary said the IEL (all seven schools) is questioning the equity of berths statewide.

“There is a ton of discussion of the validity of MaxPreps and the influence it has on placing in brackets, which directly impacts our scheduling of games,” Clary said.

He also noted the talk of possibly expanding tournaments from 8 to 12 teams.

“Overall, I like the idea of getting more teams from the North to participate at state so for now, I am leaning toward any decision that supports that,” Clary said. “Regardless, I hope we get full representation in any decision and I hope the North can participate in the decision process.”  

The North, in general, is strong in wrestling, particularly among the larger schools. In 6A, the North will likely get less individual berths to state, making it tougher for, say, Post Falls to have the depth to compete for a team title.

The new 5A North should get more berths.

IN 3A (the “new” 4A), Moscow’s addition in football means three teams — the Bears, Timberlake and Bonners Ferry — will compete for the Intermountain League’s lone automatic berth to state. The other two teams will be in the mix for at-large berths to the state playoffs, which are determined by MaxPreps rankings.

What’s interesting is that, had the current classification boundaries continued, Kellogg and Priest River would have been in position to move back up to 3A (4A), after spending this year and last in 2A. Kellogg was five students over the limit to stay in 2A (3A), and Priest River was two. The current 3A division is for schools between 320-639 students; the new 4A division is for 350-699. The new 3A division is for 175-349 students.

Coeur d’Alene Charter, a 3A school for years, could have petitioned to “drop” to the new 3A division. But the Panthers opted to petition up again, in part because the travel to IML schools is shorter than travel to the 2A Central Idaho League schools. But also …

“Our student-athletes are competitive with TImberlake and Bonners in the events we have at Charter,” AD Aaron Lippy said.

THE WEIRD part here (and there are many) will be referring to the current 1A Division I schools as being in 2A, and a little strange mentioning current 1A Division II schools as being in 1A.

Last year, Lakeside and Wallace petitioned down in football, from Division I to Division II. That created one of the best league races in football in recent years. 

Yes, Mullan/St. Regis ended up winning for the fifth straight year, but Lakeside, Wallace and Clark Fork staged quite the battle for the second berth to the state playoffs. In the end, Clark Fork prevailed, meaning the two teams from the smaller division advanced to the playoffs.

This year, Lakeside will play in 2A (90-174 students) in all sports, and Wallace will play 2A in all but football. Clark Fork’s enrollment numbers — barely, by one-half of a student — put the Wampus Cats in 2A. Clark Fork could have petitioned to stay in 1A because the school was so close, numbers-wise, but opted not to.

“We did consider petitioning down, but due to Mullan and Kootenai's sizes and game cancellations — pretty rare, but sometimes happens due to lack of players — that we would leave it as is,” Clark Fork athletic director KC MacDonald said.

With Wallace petitioning down from 2A to 1A in football, that leaves just two North Idaho teams playing 2A football — Lakeside and Clark Fork. Genesis Prep does not offer football.

That would put Wallace and Kootenai, whose programs have been hit-or-miss in recent years, as the lone 1A teams in the North in football. Mullan and St. Regis (Mont.) plan to continue their co-op in football, but play in a league in Montana, instead of in Idaho.

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.