The squealy pigs, deep-fried bacon and hypnotist shows this week can only mean one thing:

The high school football season is once again upon us.

Well, yeah, that fair thing’s going on this week as well.

Coeur d’Alene High does not open at home this year, so the Vikings’ season opener will not be played against the backdrop of carnival rides and sounds of the rodeo from the nearby Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

But Lake City and Post Falls do open at home on Friday, with Lake City playing host to Lakeland and Post Falls home against Lewiston.

If Post Falls-Lewiston sounds a little early for a 5A Inland Empire League game, don’t worry, it won’t count in the league standings. The two teams will play again at Lewiston on Oct. 28 in the league tilt.

BECAUSE SCHOOLS from the Greater Spokane League, Montana and the Boise area were unable or unwilling to fit them into their schedules, Post Falls, Lewiston and Lake City have to play each other twice (the first one not counting in league) to fill out their nine-game schedules.

Lake City plays host to Post Falls next week and travels to Lewiston the following week for nonleague games.

When Lake City first opened, the Timberwolves and city rival Coeur d’Alene often played twice a year — with the first meeting a nonleague game — so Lake City coach Van Troxel is used to playing somebody twice in a season.

However, what irks him about this year’s schedule is the Boise-area teams essentially canceling out of the second year of home-and-home meetings. Lake City played at Capital last year, but this year, after Caldwell dropped down to 4A and the remaining 10 teams in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference opted to play each other for their nine regular-season games, Capital said it wasn’t coming north this year, Troxel said. Because of that, he said he felt no need for Lake City to return the game at Mountain View of Meridian this year — and the Mavericks didn’t need the game since they already had nine.

“You’re either in or you’re out,” Troxel said of the scheduling agreement between the North and the Boise-area schools.

SO TROXEL is upset at what he calls the “state of Boise,” and is especially happy the 5A playoff format was changed this year so the top two teams from the 5A IEL don’t play each other in the first round.

Both qualifiers from the 5A IEL will play teams from the Boise area in the first round, with the 5A IEL champ at home and the runner-up traveling to the Boise area.

“There’s nothing better than going to Boise and beating them and shutting them up,” Troxel said.

BUT BEFORE then, there should be some pretty good regular-season matchups.

After this Friday’s opener at Rocky Mountain of Meridian, Coeur d’Alene plays on three straight Saturdays — vs. Moses Lake on Sept. 3 at CenturyLink Field (formerly Qwest Field) in Seattle; at home vs. Skyview of Vancouver, Wash., on Sept. 10 and vs. Whitney of Rocklin, Calif., on Sept. 17 at the Kibbie Dome. Skyview handed Coeur d’Alene its only loss last year on the Vikings’ way to a state title.

Lake City is also part of the Idaho Football Classic at the Kibbie Dome, playing Rio Linda from the Sacramento area.

Coeur d’Alene plays host to Post Falls on Oct. 21 and travels to Lake City on Oct. 27.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com.