THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: The mat work won't be easy up north

Earlier this week at the Idaho High School Activities Association monthly board meeting, a motion was passed 13-0 when it comes to representation at the state wrestling tournaments moving forward as classifications change for the 2024-25 school year.

A survey was sent out to athletic directors to talk with coaches about their thoughts moving forward before the motion is official.

Judging by at least two of the coaches in this area, that uphill climb to get to the state championship just got tougher, and near impossible.

IN CASE you’ve missed it, as the classification sizes change next year, the 6A division will be Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Post Falls, with Lewiston bouncing down to the 5A with Lakeland and Sandpoint and Moscow in wrestling.

Not that Region 1 was loaded with berths to begin with as the top two advance to state, with two wild-card berths also available for state Feb. 23-24 at the ICCU Dome (formerly Holt Arena) in Pocatello.

Next year, with only Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Lake City in the region, only the top two in the region, as well as a statewide wild-card advance.

“It’s going to be tough,” Moffat said. “The berths are the berths. With only three teams in the league, I don’t really know what they’re going to do to tell you the truth. But the days of getting 20 kids to state have probably come to an end.”

Post Falls could suffer the most from a shortage of berths. The Trojans have won five state titles since 2015, have finished runner-up two times (2017, 2023) and third two times (2021, '22). Coeur d'Alene won back-to-back state titles in 2010 and '11.

“It’s less about losing Lewiston and doesn’t matter who it is,” Lake City coach Corey Owen said. “It’s more about berths. When you’re dealing with Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, who are the best year in and year out in the state of Idaho, you lose a berth, that’s huge. Not just for me, but also for Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls. It will be hard for a Northern Idaho team to win a state title with the amount of berths that we’re going to get, and what a grind that tournament is going to be moving forward.”

In the two-year cycle, the bids will remain the same for the 2025 and 2026 state tournaments.

“You might have to be a district champ to advance,” Owen said. “They may look us square in the face and tell us you get a district champ and a chance at a wild-card and that’s it. It’s going to be a dog-eat-dog world.”

As if it wasn’t already up north.

DURING THURSDAY’s TerHark Cup dual between Coeur d’Alene and Lake City, the 28th overall, the youth really showed for both programs.

Only three starters — Gabe Grassel and Boston Spear of Coeur d’Alene and Caden Dutra of Lake City — were seniors.

“In some weights, we’re still a work in progress,” Moffat said. “Especially the upper weights. We’re just so young and thin with experience. Those guys are going to continue to struggle. But we’ve got some older guys that need to step up and make some changes and wrestle the way we want them to wrestle and meet our expectations — and their expectations.”

Coeur d’Alene is scheduled to host the North Idaho Rumble next Friday and Saturday, the last of the big tournaments before regionals in a few weeks.

“We’re just hoping we can keep improving and by the time that district tournament rolls around, we can get enough guys on the podium,” Moffat said. “Numbers are going to be tough. To compete for trophies out of the north, unless you’re dominant, like Post Falls has, it’s going to be tough.”

Two freshmen, Jordan Schield (138) and Brock Armstrong (152) missed Thursday’s dual with injuries, but are expected back soon, if not this weekend at the Clearwater Classic according to Moffat.

“I see us getting better and better,” Moffat said. “Injuries are the thing. We’ve got to get everyone healthy for sure. That’s the only thing that scares you at the end of the year, but we’ve got a few weeks still to get everyone going and heading in the right direction.”

SPEAKING OF directions, it wasn’t Lake City’s fault that it had missed out on three duals last Thursday in a tuneup for the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula.

Lake City lost a tri-dual with Columbia Falls, Polson and Whitefish due to those schools being able to travel for the matches, as well as the Missoula tourney last Friday and Saturday at Sentinel High.

“It wasn’t good for us,” said Owen, whose team was a half-hour from Polson when notified the matches were canceled. “We need mat time and to get our guys some matches. We’ll probably add something to the schedule. We weren’t planning to go to Bonners Ferry, but that’s something we’ll probably do now to get some of our younger guys some time on the mat. We just need more chances to get better.”

Lake City is off until the Rumble next week.

“January is a grind, but we’re going to stay after it,” Owen said. “We’re going to keep working, and have it taper off a little bit at the start of February, but we’ve got to keep working hard for the next three weeks to get where we want to be.”

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 Twitter @JECdAPress.