Madi Farrell said it was "so hard, so hard" to sit on the bench and watch her Lake City High volleyball teammates play last season.

But after suffering a torn ACL in her left knee in June 2010, she sat out the Timberwolves' volleyball season, as well as the basketball season.

So far this year, the 6-foot-1 junior middle blocker appears to be making up for lost time.

"I was pretty anxious, pretty anxious to play," Farrell said last week, after playing a key role at the net in helping Lake City beat Coeur d'Alene. "The season's been great so far. I'm just loving it."

Farrell was cleared to play last January, and played during club season.

So far, so good.

"Madi's phenomenal," Lake City coach Bret Taylor said. "She brings a good energy and a good spirit out there on the court. She comes to compete."

Last year, though she couldn't play (her sister, Carly, was a senior middle blocker on last year's team), she made sure she made it to every Lake City practice, every match, working in her physical therapy on the side.

"I knew that I had to prove to my coach that I was not just in it for myself, I was in it for the team," Farrell said.

Last year Lake City finished third at state, and with the return of Madi and fellow middle blocker Haile Watson, the Timberwolves have similar high hopes this year.

So far, Lake City is off to a 7-2 start, 1-1 in the 5A Inland Empire League, and coming off a runner-up finish to Inland Northwest power Colville at the 22-team Lakeland Invitational last weekend.

"I love my team, and I know it's just going to get better from here," Farrell said. "And I'm excited to see how this season pans out."

* Coeur d'Alene High football fans have had the Skyline game circled on their calendars since it was scheduled last spring.

The two-time defending Idaho state 5A champions meet the winners of three of the last four Washington state 4A championships on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, the fourth and marquee game of the second Idaho Football Classic.

Hopefully the game lives up to the hype.

Skyline (2-0) is just coming off a trip to suburban Salt Lake City, where the Spartans waxed Cottonwood of Murray, Utah, 57-25 last Friday in a game nationally televised by ESPNU.

That game was hyped as one between two of the top high school quarterbacks in the nation — Max Browne of Skyline, who has verbally committed to USC, and Cooper Bingham of Cottonwood, who has verbaled to Alabama.

This game is more like Max Browne and his band of renowned teammates against a junior-laden Coeur d’Alene team hungry to prove the Vikings haven’t slipped a notch after losing most of the key players from those back-to-back title teams.

Often times it’s tough for teams at any level to get up for big games on successive weeks. Then again, Skyline has played a lot of big games in recent years, but we’ll see what the Spartans have left for this Saturday in a game the Viking fans are definitely gunning for.

Coeur d’Alene is averaging 45.7 points per game. Skyline has given up 46 points in two games, and is averaging 45 points per game. The Vikings allowed 36 points to Skyview of Nampa, and 21 to Mercer Island, so for all the talk of a shootout, it could come down to who can stop who.

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