THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Keeping up with a soggy Saturday, here and afar

“Go, Seahawks!” came the greeting from the neighbor lady on Saturday morning, as she was on her way to her mailbox, and I was fetching the morning paper from my driveway.

“Oh, yeah … “ she continued, looking at the 49ers T-shirt I was wearing.

So it goes in the Pacific Northwest, where there are plenty of fans of the Cowboys, Packers, Raiders, Steelers, Broncos, Bears, Rams, etc.

And yes, the 49ers.

But there’s also more than a few who root for the Seahawks, it appears.

Such was the buildup to Saturday, where the 49ers and Seahawks — division “rivals” since 2002 — were to hook up for only the second time in the playoffs.

The Niners had swept the Seahawks in their two NFC West matchups, and were on a 10-game roll.

But the forecast was for the game to be played in something resembling a monsoon, which could be a great equalizer for the Seahawks.

Also, that thing about how hard it is to beat a team three times in a season.

In addition, for certain working fans of the 49ers and Seahawks, the game came right smack dab in the middle of an already busy day in local/regional sports.

Idaho and Eastern Washington were playing a women’s/men’s basketball doubleheader in the afternoon in Cheney — right during the time the 49ers/Seahawks game was going on.

The annual River City Duals wrestling tournament was going on at Post Falls High, and there was the usual assortment of high school basketball games slated as well.

North Idaho College’s basketball and wrestling teams were in action.

And, of course, the Zags were playing later that night.

So we try to keep an eye on everything ...

IN THE Idaho-EWU women’s game, the visiting team is wearing the home whites, and the home team is wearing the road blacks.

Because of course.

EWU’s women, improving after being down in recent years, looks impressive in knocking off the Vandals.

Meanwhile, the monsoon is holding off — so far — in Santa Clara, and the Seahawks, who scored one offensive touchdown in two earlier meetings with S.F., tally two TDs (saythatfivetimesrealfast) and lead the Niners 17-16 at halftime.

In the men’s Idaho-Eastern game, the teams are wearing the correct colors of uniforms, but the result is the same — EWU winning big.

NIC’s women put up the good fight before falling to East Region-leading Walla Walla by six points at home.

Then NIC’s men, ranked No. 1 in the Northwest Athletic Conference coaches poll, came out and handled Walla Walla..

AS IT turned out, there was no need for Noah’s Ark, and the Seahawks threatened the upset until a strip-sack in 49ers territory stymied a Seattle drive, and San Francisco was able to put the game away late.

Still, the Geno Smith Revival Tour will likely continue into next season, and Genius Coach Pete Carroll proved once again why he was right in fending off all those overtures to join the AARP.

While all the sheep thought the old codger was tanking, he fooled them all by actually upgrading at quarterback.

Optimism over the future of Pete’s Rebuilt Seahawks will keep growing into the offseason — buoyed by all those players and draft picks courtesy of the Broncos, thanks to the quite timely unloading of The (Formerly) Great Russell Wilson.

Meanwhile, the 49ers’ annual hopes (at least, these days) of winning a Super Bowl continue for at least another week.

And soon, the lovable Zags will take the court against Portland, where they’ll either pound the Pilots into the ground just because they can, or fall behind and stage another “miracle” comeback against another WCC foe that dreams of upsetting the Zags, but just isn’t quite good enough to do so.

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.