THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Wet turf, and taking one for the team

This is the time of year where you just never know what might happen.

Whether it involves winning on the field, or with inclement weather holding off long enough that a game isn’t played in a monsoon.

ON WEDNESDAY, the weather held off for the most part as North Idaho College hosted Columbia Basin in both men’s and women’s soccer matches at Eisenwinter Field.

Or, at least, that was what the plan was.

“Our field got really torn up today,” NIC men’s soccer coach Brad Williams said Wednesday. “By the end of the second game, with two games on it today, it was really beaten up.”

The women’s match was delayed as the visiting Hawks of Pasco, Wash., were late arriving after the school’s bus was nearly two hours late picking the team up, according to NIC women’s coach Kellsi Parson.

The match, which was supposed to begin at 2 p.m., started 15 minutes late.

That left the men’s match ending in near darkness at 6 p.m.

“We cut it a little close, but got it in,” Williams said. “But without lights, we were really close in the end.”

NIC returns home to face Blue Mountain on Wednesday.

The Cardinals also have home dates scheduled for Oct. 14 vs. Treasure Valley and Oct. 25 against Walla Walla.

Start times for those matches have been moved up for Blue Mountain and Walla Walla, both on Wednesdays, in order to avoid the men's games ending in darkness.

When NIC was struggling to find a home field during softball games in the Scenic West Athletic Conference — where the Cardinals return in all sports next fall — often times, they’d play some home games in Moses Lake, Wash., or Lewiston to get games in as scheduled, as Memorial Field was being redone.

Fortunately, with turf fields — and lights — at nearby fields at The Fields in Post Falls, Coeur d’Alene High’s Viking Field or even Memorial Field in Sandpoint, the battle to beat the darkness can be avoided if need be.

IT TOOK a little convincing, but Lake City senior Avery Waddington helped another team to state on Thursday, albeit not her own school.

Waddington, a standout basketball player who has verbally committed to Montana, took to the golf course for the Timberwolves in the 5A Region 1 tournament at Lewiston Country Club.

Thanks to that, Lewiston was able to earn a berth to state.

Had Lake City, which only had three girls this fall, not fielded a full team (at least four players), only the regional champion — Coeur d’Alene — could have advanced.

“She hadn’t played a full 18 holes since she was 12 years old,” Lake City coach Kelly Reed said. “So huge hats off to her. It enabled a lot of kids the ability to go to state.”

Reed added that Waddington practiced with the girls team starting Monday.

“Avery’s a high-level athlete and she really had to not worry about how it went,” Reed said.

As for how it went …

“She made the swing look really easy,” Reed said. “If she spent any time with it, she’d be really good.”

Fortunately for everyone else, the sport she’s really good at will be starting soon.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @JECdAPress.