IEL, GSL hook up again in football
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years AGO
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order. | January 10, 2014 12:15 PM
Athletic directors for 5A Inland Empire League schools have been scrambling to fill their football schedules for years.
Wednesday's news that Greater Spokane League principals voted to essentially create separate 4A and 3A GSL leagues had IEL ADs scrambling again - but it was OK this time.
In a span of some four hours, Coeur d'Alene secured home-and-home commitments from Ferris and Central Valley for 2014 and '15.
Post Falls scheduled a home-and-home with University, and Lake City did likewise with Lewis and Clark.
"It's great news," Coeur d'Alene athletic director Todd Gilkey said. "Right before Christmas, the GSL told us they have no games to give us."
But that was before the new enrollment figures for the next two-year classification in Washington came out. University will move up to 4A beginning this fall, joining Ferris, CV, Lewis and Clark, Mead and Gonzaga Prep.
The four remaining 3A GSL schools are Shadle Park, North Central, Mt. Spokane and Rogers.
Now, the 4A GSL schools won't have to play all the 3A schools, and vice versa. That leaves the 4A schools with two open dates and the 3A schools with three.
Once the news broke about the splitting GSL leagues, Coeur d'Alene quickly heard from Central Valley about a possible game. Gilkey checked with football coach Shawn Amos, and that game was scheduled "within four minutes."
Gilkey then contacted three other GSL teams, eventually getting a commitment with Ferris.
The Central Valley game this year will be Sept. 5 at Coeur d'Alene. The Vikings will play Ferris on Sept. 12 at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane. Cd'A will play at CV and host Ferris in 2015.
Gilkey said he's also trying to set up a game with Shadle Park.
As of Wednesday, Coeur d'Alene has seven of nine football games scheduled. In addition to the three 5A IEL games, scheduled for the final three weeks of the regular season, the Vikings will play at Skyline of Idaho Falls in their opener Aug. 29, and play host to Highland of Pocatello on Sept. 26.
Post Falls will play University on Sept. 12, likely at home. That game completed the Trojans' schedule. Post Falls opens Aug. 29 at Sandpoint, then travels to Skyview of Nampa the following week, and hosts Moses Lake on Oct. 3. The Trojans also play East Valley and Lakeland, in addition to their three league games.
In recent years, IEL requests for games from the GSL usually fell on deaf ears, at least from administrators.
"I never had so many phone calls and text from the GSL before," Post Falls AD Craig Christensen said of Wednesday's developments. "It feels good to be the belle of the ball for once."
Lake City and Lewis and Clark will play Sept. 12, site to be determined. That date opened up when Madison of Rexburg said it would be unable to travel to Lake City on that date, saying school officials said teams would not be allowed to travel to the Boise area and North Idaho for games.
Lake City is scheduled to open at home vs. Rocky Mountain of Meridian. The Timberwolves are scheduled to travel to Hillcrest of Idaho Falls the following week, but may drop that game if they can pick up another GSL tilt.
Lake City has open dates to fill the following two weeks, before playing Sandpoint and then its three league games.
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“The whole process has been completely amazing,” said Nathan Williams, now in his fourth season as the Badgers boys basketball coach. “And the parents … it’s an hour and a half to Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, when we’d play an AAU game, and an hour and a half back, and there were so many times there was 6, 8 inches of snow. And we’ve got a game at 8 a.m. They’d always schedule us at 8 a.m., coming from Bonners. So we’re waking up at 5 … it was crazy. But the commitment from the parents and the kids has been amazing.”