The Front Row with MARK NELKE Nov. 8, 2012

It's pretty cool that Coeur d'Alene and Lake City are playing in back-to-back state 5A football semifinals on Friday, on the same field.

OK, so maybe it's a little inconvenient that they are doing so eight hours away - at Holt Arena in Pocatello.

But the good news is, they haven't been forced to face each other in the playoffs - yet. And even better, if both teams win Friday, they will square off for the state title next week a lot closer to home - at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

It wasn't always that way.

According to John Billetz, executive director of the Idaho High School Activities Association, athletic directors and coaches from each of the classification submit their bracketing and rotation proposals to the IHSAA board.

For years, the top two 5A teams in North Idaho were forced to face each other in the first round of the playoffs - often after playing one week before in the final game of the regular season.

Talk about anticlimactic.

The North Idaho coaches always pushed for change, but most of the votes were in the Boise area, and the more they could play closer to home, the more likely they were going to vote that way. Every now and then they'd throw the North a bone, like this year, and put the two North teams in opposite sides of the bracket.

SO HOW did these games end up at Holt this week?

It's not as random as you might think. There's actually a method to this madness.

Though Idaho doesn't seed its playoff teams - and as much as fans wish it would - the brackets are set up as much as possible so the No. 1 seeds from each region play at home in the first round, and not against other No. 1 seeds.

In the semis, if the top seed from one region continually advances, if that team hosts a semifinal one year, it would more than likely travel the next.

Take Coeur d'Alene, for example, which is in the semis for the fourth straight year.

In 2009, the Vikings hosted Eagle. The following year, Coeur d’Alene traveled to Boise to play Capital. Last year, the Vikings played at home vs. Capital.

This year? Coeur d’Alene is headed to Pocatello to play Highland on Friday, right before Lake City plays Madison on the same turf.

If you look at the brackets on the IHSAA website, or at IdahoSports.com, the top team in any matchup is the “home” team. So, looking at the 5A bracket, there was no way Coeur d’Alene or Lake City could have hosted a semifinal game — they would have traveled no matter who won the other games.

THEN THERE is the matter of teams moving their home playoff games indoors — North Idaho teams to the Kibbie Dome, eastern Idaho squads to Holt.

It doesn’t happen much in the North — at least among the larger schools. I remember Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls taking their first-round game in the 1990s down U.S. 95 to the Kibbie Dome. But for the most part, teams around here would rather play at home — even if the field is a little bit chopped up by then.

The last game I remember being moved to the Dome was the Sandpoint-Lewiston semifinal in 1997. It was Sandpoint’s home game, but Barlow Stadium was a mess after Sandpoint and Lake City got done playing their “Mud Bowl” first-round game on that field the week before. That, Lake City fans should remember, was the Timberwolves’ first playoff game in school history. They’ve been back in the playoffs every year since.

But why would Madison, which is some 70 miles from Pocatello and located on the other side of Idaho Falls, move its home playoff games to Holt, as it did last week and is doing this week?

Two weeks ago, a snowstorm dumped 9 inches on Madison’s home field the day of its final regular-season game. They were able to plow the field before the game, but it still wasn’t in the best of shape.

“For our fans it is nice to play indoors and we get more people to attend if they do not have to sit outside in the elements,” Madison athletic director Shayne Proctor said. “It is only 70 miles to Pocatello and the team really enjoys playing in this setting.”

SITES FOR the state championship games are based in part on where the teams are coming from, and which region hosted a title game more recently.

So if either Coeur d’Alene or Lake City advances to the title game against either Highland or Madison, the game would be at Holt Arena. That’s because Coeur d’Alene played at the Kibbie Dome two years ago in the title game. Last year, Coeur d’Alene played Eagle in Boise. If Madison advanced to play Highland, that game would be at Holt.

There you have it, clear as mud.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected].