The Front Row with MARK NELKE Oct. 20, 2011

St. Maries High administrators put the emotion aside, looked at the numbers and other factors, and the school board made its decision.

The most recent enrollment numbers have placed the Lumberjacks in the smaller 2A classification for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years, after decades in the Intermountain League, which consists of 3A schools.

St. Maries, which has seen its enrollment drop in recent years, could have petitioned up to remain with the larger 3A schools in the IML but chose not to — in part because its enrollment numbers are projected to get even smaller in upcoming years.

“This wasn’t a slam-dunk (decision),” St. Maries athletic director Jeff Andersen said. “We actually put in a lot of time and energy, looking to see what’s best for the entire school and program in the long run.”

St. Maries has already had preliminary discussions with the other 2A schools in North Idaho — Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy, Grangeville and Orofino — about forming a league. Grangeville, Orofino and Kamiah currently form the Central Idaho League, but Kamiah is petitioning to drop to 1A Division I next year. Coeur d’Alene Charter is playing this year as a 2A independent, but joins the CIL teams for district tournaments.

The Idaho High School Activities Association used enrollment figures from each school taken in November 2010 and March 2011, multiplied the average of those two numbers by 5 percent to account for absences, etc., and came up with a figure for classification purposes.

St. Maries’ number was 306.5, which would make it the second-largest 2A school in the state (Wendell is at 307.0). The 2A division is for enrollments between 160-319 students. The 3A division is for enrollments between 320-639 students.

“Selfishly, it would be pretty easy for me to say, ‘Let’s just stay in 3A,’” Andersen said. “But there comes a time when you truly have to look at it ... and if our population keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller, and you take a look at some of the other IML teams and their population is projected to grow, at what point do you say, ‘If we want to compete, year after year, should we actually be at a smaller level?’”

Coeur d’Alene Charter’s enrollment number is 263.4, placing it eighth among 25 2A schools. Grangeville (290.1) is fourth, Orofino (285.5) fifth.

St. Maries has been in the Intermountain League for years. The smallest IML team other than St. Maries is Kellogg (406.9 students). The others are Timberlake (541.2, the second largest in 3A), Bonners Ferry (484.9) and Priest River (408.4).

“We’ve always been between 350 and 425 (students),” said Andersen, who came to St. Maries 21 years ago. ‘When I first came here, we were probably pushing the 450 mark. As we get smaller and smaller, it’s a hard thing for us.”

Andersen said after they had done their homework and told the public about dropping to 2A, about 70 percent of the people were against it.

“But after we showed them the numbers, almost all of them said, ‘You’re a 2A school,’” Andersen said.

Andersen, who also said St. Maries’ facilities pale in comparison to many other 3A programs, did a comparison between how many sports teams St. Maries offers (varsity down to ‘C’ squad), and compared it to how many teams offered by IML and CIL schools.

Of a possible 25 teams, St. Maries has 16, including no JV teams in baseball and softball and no ‘C’ teams in volleyball and boys and girls basketball for budget reasons, and no varsity girls soccer team, which was dropped early in the season because of lack of numbers. Everyone else in the IML has 22-24 teams.

Of the 2A teams, Grangeville has 22 of a possible 25 teams, Orofino has 19, Kamiah 14 and Charter, which does not offer football, 10.

St. Maries wants to join the other 2A schools in a league, and not play as an independent, so the Lumberjacks can play all the league teams during the regular season and be seeded into the state-qualifying district tournaments based on their head-to-head matchups with league teams. As an independent, teams run the risk of coming into districts as a lower seed.

And other than the 328-mile round trip to Grangeville, the other road trips in the new league will be comparable to the ones in the IML, Andersen said. The trip to Orofino (230 miles round-trip) is shorter than the trip to Bonners Ferry (266 miles). And the 2A schools have talked about playing tri-matches in volleyball, and doubleheaders in baseball and softball, to save money.

The new league would receive either 1 or 1.5 berths to state, Andersen said, but that will be determined by the IHSAA in December and January meetings.

St. Maries’ volleyball program has been an Idaho power for three decades, winning 12 state titles — most recently a 3A crown in 2009. The boys basketball team and softball team have been regulars at state in recent years.

Andersen said he plans to still schedule bigger schools for his more successful programs.

Football is one sport where lower enrollment numbers often translate into lower turnouts and less success and the Lumberjacks, who used to battle Lakeland for IML superiority in the 1990s, haven’t contended for a state playoff berth in years.

Andersen said a possible football schedule for St. Maries could include league games with Grangeville and Orofino, and nonleague games with Medical Lake, Riverside, Kellogg (twice), Priest River, Newport and possible McCall-Donnelly, another 2A school.

Andersen said the drop to 2A should not mean an easier “way to a gold medal at all.”

“That 2A level is just as competitive, and even more competitive in certain sports, than the 3A level,” he said.

I remember the days in the 1980s when St. Maries and Sandpoint were the best volleyball teams in the state, regardless of classification. At that time, St. Maries was in the second-largest (of four) classifications. Now, the Lumberjacks will be in the third smallest (of six).

But the numbers don’t lie, and as strange as it may seem, it looks like 2A might just be the best home for St. Maries.

“St. Maries is a logging community, and when logging is down, so is our population,” Andersen said.

In the North Star League, Clark Fork is petitioning to remain in 1A Division II (99 students and below). Clark Fork’s enrollment number for the 2012-14 cycle is 103.3, which would put it in 1A Division I (100-159 students).

For the other North Star schools, Wallace (152.5) and Lakeside (116.8) will remain in 1A Division I, and Kootenai (91.5) and Mullan (35.3) will stay in 1A Division II.

Enrollment figures for all schools can be seen at www.idhsaa.org.

OK, so what do you think — can the Post Falls High football team do what no one else has done this year, and make a game of it with Coeur d’Alene on Friday night?

We’ll have more on this in Friday’s paper, but in what has emerged as the “game of the year” in the 5A Inland Empire League, fourth-ranked Post Falls (6-1) travels to top-ranked Coeur d’Alene (7-0) for a 7 p.m. clash.

Coeur d’Alene is winning by an average of 44 points per game, and had the 45-point mercy rule used in eight-man football been in place in 5A, the Vikings would have had their last four games stopped early — which is almost unthinkable at the highest level of high school football in Idaho.

Post Falls has the physicalness and the athletes to control the ball on offense and shorten the game that way. But Coeur d’Alene has the speed on both sides of the ball to make even the good teams look silly.

So we’ll see.

It’s official: Boise State will not be able to host the state track meets in May 2012 because of construction at Bronco Stadium.

Meets in the 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A divisions will be held elsewhere in the Boise area — up to five different sites may be used. The IHSAA is still trying to finalize where those meets will be.

The IHSAA recently approved the new wrestling weight classes being used nationwide. The new weight classes, which go into effect this year, are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285. Also, Idaho is offering a 98-pound weight class on a pilot basis.

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