THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Now that our hearing has mostly returned …

Some leftover notes on last Friday’s Fight for the Fish spirit games between Lake City and Coeur d’Alene high schools, the state of the 5As in the Inland Empire League, and other stuff.

FERRIS EAST: Kendall Omlin transferred from Ferris, on the South Hill in Spokane, to Coeur d’Alene for her senior year, where she starts for the Viking girls basketball team.

She’s not the only former Saxon going to school in Coeur d’Alene this year.

Nathan Hocking, a senior at Lake City, is in his second year as a Timberwolf after transferring from Ferris.

And Omlin’s cousins, Kruz and Kai Wheeler, transferred from Ferris to Coeur d’Alene this year.

“I’ve known Nathan since kindergarten, so it was fun when he transferred out here (to Lake City),” Omlin said. “He told me that he loved it, and so I was like, I’ll give it a try too, and see how it goes.”

Also, Omlin said she “just needed a change of culture.”

“And I played travel ball with (Viking teammates) Madi (Symons) and Teagan (Colvin) and I knew Teagan was transferring over here (from Liberty High in Spangle, just south of Spokane), and I just thought, it was a way for me to get better, and have a fun senior year.”

“OFFICIAL” RETURN OF THE FISH: Last Friday’s games were the first official Fight for the Fish games since 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

When last year’s Fish game was canceled, Coeur d’Alene and Lake City decided to play a Fish game of sorts last year when they played at Coeur d’Alene, with Viking fans on one side of the gym and T-Wolf fans on the other.

It was loud during the games — not quite as loud as during a Fish game, and the gym wasn’t as packed.

And there was no Fish.

The Fish — and full-blown spirit — was back last Friday at Viking Court.

“It’s such a great community event; so special for those girls to get to play in front of that many people,” Coeur d’Alene girls coach Nicole Symons said. “That’ll never happen again, maybe not even if they play in college. It’s a pretty special thing for them.”

“To me, it’s really no different,” second-year Coeur d’Alene boys coach Jon Adams said of the Fish game. “Once the game starts, and all the pageantry goes away, we’re just playing basketball. Other than the students standing right next to me, and the pom-poms in my face once in a while, it’s just basketball … but what a cool experience, this is truly a spectacle of an event. I’ve coached a long time and never been in something like this. It’s really cool to see all the school spirit and everybody come out.”

FIRST OF TWO … OR THREE … OR MORE: Everybody knows how good Lake City’s boys are. Many wondered how Coeur d’Alene, off to a very good start as well, would match up to the T-Wolves.

As it turned out, Lake City (now 12-0, 2-0 Inland Empire League) won by 25 in Coeur d’Alene’s (10-4, 2-1) gym.

“I think they’ve got a good team,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said of Coeur d’Alene, “we just played really good defense. We’re not going to look by them (in future games). I’ve watched them on film; they do some very good things. We’ve got a really good group; we’re tough to match up against.”

“They don’t get enough credit for being a good defensive team,” Adams said of Lake City. “They’re so long, and they gave our perimeter shooters problems.

“They’re very talented,” he added. “If you catch them on a night where they’re not shooting well, you’ve got a chance. But when they’re doing everything, AND they’re hitting shots, fadeaway shots from the baseline, what are you going to do?”

AND THE GIRLS … : Coeur d’Alene (now 14-2, 5-0 IEL) beat Lake City (14-3, 5-1) last Friday.

Lake City beat Post Falls (17-1, 5-1) on Tuesday.

Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene play this Friday — then again next Thursday.

“I think this team hasn’t seen its best basketball yet,” Nicole Symons said. “With our new girls in, we’re still trying to figure out our identity, and how everyone fits with each other.”

“They’re a great team, they’ve played together for so long,” Symons said. “They know where each other are. They shoot well, so we just have to have real tight defense, and hopefully hit some shots, and just keep working on the offensive end. They’re going to be tough games, which is the way it should be.”

Lake City bounced back from that 13-point loss to Coeur d’Alene by whipping previously unbeaten Post Falls by 30.

“We’ve kind of gone through a lull in the middle of our season; pretty similar to last year,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “And I think every team has that at some point, just hoping to get them out of it and get them back playing good basketball.”

As for Post Falls, after that beatdown …

“Post Falls is going to regroup,” Anderson said. “They’ve got some good players, and obviously Capri (Sims, a Central Washington signee) is unbelievably difficult to defend. They’ll be back; I’m sure this will make them that much better.

“These games will only get tighter the more the year goes on, and the more we know each other.”

“Back to the drawing board,” first-year Post Falls girls coach Brian Hall said. “We’re going to have to work harder if we want to go to state, and I knew it was going to be a tough road.”

THANKS FOR COMING, COACH: Among the overflow crowd at Coeur d’Alene High for the Fish game the other night was Idaho football coach Jason Eck, along with three of his assistant coaches.

Zach Johnson, a four-year starter on the Lake City boys basketball, is a standout linebacker who has signed to play football for Eck at Idaho.

“He asked for tickets, so I got him some tickets,” Johnson said of the Fish game.

Of course, after the season the Vandals just had, with Eck, the first-year coach, guiding Idaho to its first FCS playoff berth since 1995, Eck likely could have just shown up at Coeur d’Alene High last Friday and been allowed to sit wherever he wanted.

Still, seeing his future coaches in the crowd …

“It just furthers the support they have in Moscow, to come up here and support the players that are close,” Johnson said. “Not just me, the whole recruiting class, that just furthers the support they have for the team.”

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.