THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Another year of musical chairs — or musical football fields — as local high school football schedules come together

Blame it on Pearl Jam. 

And/or Tyler Childers. 

Whatever, Coeur d’Alene won’t be able to play Rigby at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, as the Vikings have done the past two seasons. 

Missoula was a good halfway point for the North Idaho and eastern Idaho school. 

But this year, Rigby will travel to Coeur d’Alene, and the Vikings will visit Rigby in 2025.  

Coeur d’Alene and Rigby were hoping to play in Missoula on Friday, Aug. 23. 

But Pearl Jam is scheduled to play at Washington-Grizzly on Aug. 22, and Childers is slated to play there two nights later. 

Somehow, concerts which would bring in thousands and thousands of dollars trumped a high school football game between two teams hundreds of miles away. 

“It was cool, playing in a stadium,” Coeur d’Alene football coach Shawn Amos said. “But we want to keep playing Rigby, so they’ll send all three levels up here, and we’ll send all three down there next year.” 

For North Idaho teams, putting together a high school football schedule in the first year of a two-year cycle is always difficult. 

“Yes, it was the most difficult in the 22 years I’ve been here,” Post Falls athletic director Craig Christensen said. “I thought those (previous years) were difficult, but they weren’t, compared to this.”

With only three teams in the 6A Inland Empire League this fall, and just three teams in the 5A IEL in football, local schools are left to find 6-7 nonleague games. 6A teams playing 5A teams help with some of that, but not all. 

The Greater Spokane League, an obvious option because of its proximity, has few to no openings for nonleague games. Montana’s schedules are full, and Boise-area teams don’t often need to travel for games, leaving the Tri-Cities, central Washington and western Washington as options. 

And with the Tri-Cities adding another high school in Pasco in 2025, those schools could only commit to one game, “so you have to find another game in the middle of a two-year cycle, which is impossible,” Amos said. 

In most cases, the nonleague games are two-year, home-and-home matchups. 

Here’s a look at how the 2024 football schedules for Coeur d’Alene, Lake City, Post Falls, Lakeland and Timberlake came together: 

COEUR d’ALENE  

Schedule 

Aug. 23 — vs. Rigby. Aug. 30 — vs. Shadow Ridge at Rocky Mountain Rumble, Pocatello. 

Sept. 6 — at Lewiston. Sept. 13 — at Sunnyside (Wash.). Sept. 27 — at Sandpoint. 

Oct. 4 — vs. Camas (Wash.). Oct. 11 — vs. Lake City. Oct. 18 — at Post Falls. Oct. 25 — vs. Raymond (Alberta). 

Overview 

After playing Rigby, the Vikings will travel to Pocatello to play Shadow Ridge of Las Vegas in the Rocky Mountain Rumble in the ICCU Dome (formerly Holt Arena).  

Since it’s hard to otherwise find one-year agreements, the Vikings will likely end up in the Rumble again in 2025 — meaning their first two games would each require trips to eastern Idaho. 

The Vikings have played Camas before, in 2016 and ‘17. Sunnyside played Post Falls last year. 

“We got lucky," Amos said of Sunnyside. They were willing to play us, and it worked out with the open date. 

“I spend weeks getting on the Washington games wanted site every day, and scouring, and trying to jump on games as soon as they pop up,” he added. 

Coeur d’Alene has played Sandpoint every year the past few years. Lewiston was in the Vikings’ league for years, but dropped down to 5A this cycle. 

In the three-team 6A IEL, league games take place the last three weeks, with one team having a league bye in one of the weeks. Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Post Falls drew to decide who would have the bye each week, and Coeur d’Alene, for the next two years, ended up with the bye in the final week of the regular season. 

Enter Raymond of Alberta, which has played Sandpoint in recent years, and Bulldogs coach Ryan Knowles had mentioned to Amos that the Canadian school might be a possibility. 

“That was literally the only game in the Northwest that I could find for Week 9,” Amos said. 

Adding to the challenge for Coeur d’Alene is the Vikings’ quest to play a challenging schedule — plus finding teams willing to play a team which regularly contends for a state title. 

“How nice would it be to play three or four GSL schools instead of having to go all over,” Amos said. 

LAKE CITY 

Schedule 

Aug. 30 — vs. Lakeland. 

Sept. 6 — vs. Wenatchee. Sept. 14 — vs. Highland. Sept. 20 — at Gig Harbor (Wash.). Sept. 27 — at Eisenhower (Yakima, Wash.) 

Oct. 4 — vs. Sandpoint. Oct. 11 — at Coeur d’Alene. Oct. 18 — at Lewiston. Oct. 25 — vs. Post Falls. 

Overview  

The Timberwolves were fortunate to land three schools in Washington — Wenatchee, Gig Harbor and Eisenhower of Yakima. 

Highland of Pocatello, which beat Coeur d’Alene in last year’s state title game, reached out to Lake City about a home and home. 

“The beginning of a two-year cycle is more like a puzzle,” Lake City athletic director Troy Anderson said. “It’s a puzzle of who needs what, and us and Washington matched up pretty well.” 

Lake City has never played Gig Harbor. The T-Wolves played Wenatchee in 2010 and ‘11. Lake City has never played Eisenhower either, but Coeur d’Alene did in 2018 and ‘19. 

“As a league, we talk about this stuff and try to help each other out,” Anderson said. “There was a good collection of ADs working together and reaching out to Washington schools and trying to find the right matchups for each other. We collectively try to help each other with the football schedule.” 

Lake City opens at home vs. Lakeland on Aug. 30, celebrating the newly named Van Troxel Field. It’s the first of three straight home games to open the season for the T-Wolves. 

POST FALLS 

Schedule 

Aug. 30 — vs. Lewiston. 

Sept. 6 — vs. Sandpoint. Sept. 13 — at Eastmont (East Wenatchee). Sept. 20 — at Lakeland. Sept. 28 — at Glacier Peak (Snohomish, Wash.). 

Oct. 4 — vs. Battle Ground (Wash.). Oct. 11 — at Moses Lake. Oct. 18 — vs. Coeur d’Alene. Oct. 25 — at Lake City. 

Overview 

The Trojans’ nonleague schedule includes four games against Washington schools — Eastmont (East Wenatchee), Glacier Peak (Snohomish, Wash.) near Seattle, Battle Ground of southwestern Washington, and Moses Lake. 

As several local ADs have noted, traveling to Washington schools is actually shorter than trekking to the Boise area, or to eastern Idaho. 

Post Falls has played Moses Lake three times since 2014, and played Mount Si in Moses Lake in 2021. 

The Trojans have never played Battle Ground, Eastmont or Glacier Peak. 

Lake City played Glacier Peak in 2010. 

“Thank God, the Big Nine came through with a couple of games for us,” Christensen said. “The Tri-Cities, usually we can pick up a game with them, but they’re adding another school next year (Sageview High in Pasco, originally named Harvest View).” 

The game with Battle Ground wasn’t confirmed until late March, Christensen said. 

“It really caused a lot of angst,” Christensen said. “We were getting so late, I thought maybe we were only going to play eight games. But it all came together.” 

Christensen said he was talking to a team from Denver, trying to arrange a meet-you-halfway game in Billings, Mont. Ditto with a team from Salt Lake. 

“Every day you look at the WIAA (Washington) site, Utah site, Oregon site, Montana site,” Christensen said. “Then you get an email from Battle Ground — hey, do you still have an opening on 10/4?  

“Yes, we do.” 

LAKELAND 

Schedule 

Aug. 23 — at Bonners Ferry. Aug. 30 — at Lake City. 

Sept. 6 — vs. Weiser. Sept. 13 — vs. Frenchtown (Mont.). Sept. 20 — vs. Post Falls. Sept. 27 — at Moscow.  

Oct. 4 — at Timberlake. Oct. 18 — vs. Sandpoint. Oct. 25 — at Lewiston. 

Overview 

For the first time since 2020, Lakeland will not open its season in Butte, Mont.  

After three straight openers there vs. Preston, the southeastern Idaho school opted not to continue the series. 

So Lakeland will open that week at Bonners Ferry, a school the Hawks haven’t played since 2016. 

Moscow, which is also a 5A school, petitioned down to 4A in football, so the Hawks will face the Bears in a nonleague game. 

Lakeland has not faced Weiser since moving up to 4A (now 5A) some two decades ago.  

Frenchtown (Mont.), which has played Timberlake five times since 2014, is a newbie on the Hawks’ football schedule. 

“I was talking to their AD about softball,” Lakeland AD Matt Neff said of Frenchtown, “and we were talking about football and I asked him if he knew anybody who had an opening, and he said he had an opening. 

“What week? What are the odds? And it ended up being the same week, so I just jumped on it.” 

Lakeland’s 5A IEL games this year are the last two weeks of the regular season — Oct. 18 vs. Sandpoint and the following week at Lewiston. 

TIMBERLAKE 

Schedule 

Aug. 24 — vs. Sugar Salem at Anaconda, Mont. Aug. 30 — vs. Grangeville. 

Sept. 6 — at West Valley. Sept. 13 — at McCall-Donnelly. Sept. 20 — at Kellogg. Sept. 27 — at St. Maries. 

Oct. 4 — vs. Lakeland. Oct. 18 — vs. Moscow. Oct. 25 — vs. Bonners Ferry. 

Overview 

Tim Cronnelly retired as AD at Timberlake a few years ago, but the Montana native is still helping his old school with its football schedule. 

The Tigers played perennial 3A power Sugar-Salem last year on a one-year deal, when both teams had a hole in their schedule. 

The two schools wanted to continue, but wanted to meet in the middle to save expenses, as Sugar is in southeastern Idaho. 

“We tried multiple places — Butte High School, Montana Tech, University of Montana — and we couldn’t make any of those work,” Timberlake football coach Kelly Amos said.  

“Tim knows everyone in Montana; he knows the entire state,” Amos said, perhaps only exaggerating slightly.  

Cronnelly recommended Anaconda, which told Amos it was willing to host the game. 

Amos said the teams plan to meet again next year, somewhere in Montana — perhaps again in Anaconda. 

West Valley of Spokane is on the Timberlake football schedule for the first time.  

“It was probably the end of March before we got that one filled in,” Amos said.  

He said Timberlake tried a bunch of Montana schools, as well as some smaller eastern Washington schools, to no avail. 

“Then West Valley sent out a massive email — they had an opening this week,” Amos said. “We’re like, ‘Sold!’” 

Timberlake played at Grangeville last year. Timberlake played host to McCall-Donnelly last year; the 2022 matchup in McCall was canceled due to poor air qualify. 

Kellogg is back on the Timberlake schedule for the first time since 2021 — the last year both teams were in the Intermountain League before Kellogg dropped down to 2A in 2022. 

Speaking of the IML, Moscow dropping down from 4A (now 5A) creates a three-team IML in football for the next two seasons.  

In a bit of a scheduling quirk, Timberlake is scheduled to host both league games, vs. Moscow and Bonners Ferry.  

Bonners Ferry plays at Moscow in the other IML game, giving the Badgers two road games in league. 

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 X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.