THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: A good reason to follow along

Sure, not everything was going to be smooth sailing once North Idaho College moved from the regional-friendly Northwest Athletic Conference back to the NJCAA and the Scenic West Athletic Conference.

Credit to the men’s and women’s soccer teams, they handled what was put in front of them really well this week.

IN CASE you missed it, the Cardinals traveled to Powell, Wyo., to face Northwest in men’s and women’s soccer matches, the final tuneup before the grind of the conference schedule kicks in starting tonight. 

On Tuesday, the Cardinal women played to a 3-3 draw with the Trappers in a match that included thunderstorms and a 45-minute lightning delay after the Cardinals had taken a 3-2 lead.

When the match resumed with a little under 20 minutes remaining, Northwest scored in the final moments to even the score.

“Usually, when you get down 2-0 at this level, it’s kind of over,” NIC women’s soccer coach Kellsi Parson said. “But our girls just don’t quit, no matter what happens. Now, we realize we can do it. But we’ve got to put it together for 80 minutes.”

As for the men’s team, it was a different story.

After planning to play on Tuesday, the Cardinals had to wait until Wednesday morning to take the field. In fact, they weren’t informed the match was on until 9 p.m., a little over 12 hours from kickoff on Wednesday.

“It was a good lesson in dealing with adversity when things don’t go according to plan,” NIC men’s soccer coach Brad Williams said. “They had to go out and perform regardless and get up ready to play. It was a great learning experience for us.”

All told, it was the first time NIC had played a match against NJCAA competition since leaving following the 2013 season.

Both Cardinal teams face Pacific Northwest Christian of Kennewick, Wash., tonight at War Memorial Field in Sandpoint, with the women's match at 5 and the men at 7.

“The Pend Oreille Cup is this weekend, and we wanted to play in front of a big crowd,” Williams said. “We wanted to show our local region what we’re all about this year.”

NIC’s men went 2-8-4 last year in Williams’ first season, 

“We knew it was going to take a year to get things rolling the way we wanted to,” said Williams, who has 25 freshmen on the team this season. “But we were going to be competitive this year. And that was the goal right away this year.”

IT’S NO secret that I’m a little bit of a fanatic when it comes to the Seahawks.

No, I’m not to the point where I spend hours in front of the mirror spray painting my hair blue and green, but with the team wearing throwback jerseys this weekend in its opener against the Denver Broncos, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.

However, if you asked me point blank, just how good do I think this team will be this year, I’m totally clueless.

In the past, I’ve made it a habit to go to the home opener in Seattle, and it might be at least 13 of the 20 since they opened what is now called Lumen Field (at first called Seahawks Stadium, then Qwest Field and then CenturyLink Field) back in 2002.

My first game was actually when Seattle played Denver in 2000 at Husky Stadium, in the years after they imploded the Kingdome to make room for the stadium.

And yes, I was at the first game in the new stadium when it opened. If you’re a fan, you’d understand why.

It's also the same reason while many of you sleep tonight, I'll be navigating my way across the state of Washington to get to the game by the 1 p.m. kickoff on Sunday.

As for this team, do I expect a run to the Super Bowl?

No, that’s crazy.

But do I expect whatever happens to be entertaining.

Absolutely. 

That’s why I watch.

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.