THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, June 25, 2015

Some thoughts after rummaging through some football schedules we've received from local high schools:

PUTTING TOGETHER a football schedule, particularly for the larger schools, has usually been a pain in the you-know-what for local athletic directors.

But, thanks in part to the Greater Spokane League, not this year. In fact, with this being the second year of two-year agreements with all those teams in football, it was probably as easy as it will ever be.

The football opponents for Coeur d'Alene, Lake City, Post Falls and Lakeland are exactly the same - and on the same week - as they were last year, only the sites have been flipped.

Coeur d'Alene will play host to Skyline of Idaho Falls, Ferris and Moses Lake in nonleague play, and host Lewiston and Post Falls in 5A Inland Empire League play. The Vikings' longest road trip in league play will be a strenuous 2-mile bus ride across U.S. 95 to Lake City.

Coeur d'Alene's other road games are at Central Valley, at Highland of Pocatello and, the next week, at Hermiston (Ore.).

All of Lake City's road games will be played less than an hour away. The Timberwolves will play twice at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane - against Lewis and Clark and, two weeks later, against Brett Rypien-less Shadle Park. Lake City also travels to Sandpoint, and visits Post Falls in its 5A IEL opener.

Rocky Mountain of Meridian will travel to Lake City in the season opener. Central Valley and Tumwater (Wash.) will visit Lake City, as will Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston in league play.

Post Falls has four home games - vs. Sandpoint, Skyview of Nampa, Lakeland and Lake City. The Trojans will play University High of Spokane Valley out at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, and they'll also be on the road for games at East Valley, Moses Lake, Lewiston and Coeur d'Alene.

Lakeland has no GSL schools on its schedule - maybe in the future, the Hawks say.

Lakeland will play host to Lewiston, East Valley, Timberlake and, in 4A IEL play, Moscow in the regular season finale. The Hawks will travel to West Valley, Cheney, Post Falls, Pullman and, in their other league game, Sandpoint.

NEXT YEAR, of course, things could change, depending on what the GSL does - expands, contracts, or just wants to go back to playing all of its games within its league. And replacements might be needed for far-away teams like Hermiston, Moses Lake, Tumwater, Skyview, etc., if they're not interested in committing, or even unable to commit, to another two-year deal.

Timberlake will play six of the eight teams that was on its schedule last year. The Tigers, who played Frenchtown (Mont.) at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula last year, will host Frenchtown this year, and travel to Pullman and Lakeland.

Timberlake has a road game at Freeman (Wash.) and a home game vs. Lethbridge (Alberta) Collegiate Institute, replacing a home game last year at Riverside and one against Asotin (Wash.) at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

In league play, the Tigers host Priest River and Kellogg, and visit Bonners Ferry in the regular-season finale. Timberlake again has an eight-game schedule because the Tigers have a play-in game to the state playoffs on Week 9.

Even without Mullan playing football this season, Lakeside has a nine-game schedule, thanks to the second year of the White Star League, a combination of teams from the North Star and Whitepine leagues.

In league play, Lakeside will play Lewis County twice (once in a non-leaguer), Kendrick, Kootenai, Clark Fork, Timberline and Deary. The Knights will play Garfield-Palouse and Wallace in nonleague games.

The first night of games - Aug. 28 - is only 64 days away.

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