THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Snow in October only part of an unusual — but successfully completed — 2020-21 high school sports season

Naturally, in the middle of a freak June heat wave, I tried to think of something that would cool me off.

So I did.

Snow.

In October.

Remember that Friday in late-ish October, when we woke up to a blizzard that would eventually dump some 7 inches of snow on us, wreaking havoc with the state soccer tournaments being hosted in Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls, and turning that night's high school football games into de facto snow bowls?

There were some bizarre sights during the recently completed high school sports season in North Idaho — games played without fans, then games played with fans kept far away from the court.

But an autumn blizzard — seemingly out of nowhere — took the cake.

THE DAY before — Thursday, Oct. 22 — was a typical nice autumn day.

It was sunny when Lake City played a first-round game at the state 5A girls soccer tournament at Coeur d'Alene High.

Seems like there had been rumblings of a snowstorm on the days leading up to that Friday — but we'd heard threats of major snowstorms before, only to not see them come to fruition.

Oct. 23 was different.

My day began at The Fields at Real Life in Post Falls, where the four-time defending state 3A champion Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy girls were playing a state semifinal game.

Later that night, it was off to Post Falls, which played host to Coeur d'Alene in the de facto 5A Inland Empire League championship football game. And, among the other games, Sandpoint visited Lakeland with a state 4A playoff berth on the line.

If you think running in the snow while carrying a ball is difficult, try running in the snow and pushing a ball along the ground with your feet, through several inches of snow.

There wasn't much "roll."

BETWEEN GAMES, there was just enough time to come plow my way back to the office, dry off, warm up and write a story — and not necessarily in that order.

Then, just before leaving for the football game, the power went out in The Press newsroom building. Electricity, as you might imagine, is somewhat important in putting out a newspaper.

So it was off to the football game, not knowing where I would be filing my story, and finishing the rest of the Sports section. The news side folks headed out to other other parts of town that had power, to do their thing.

Another staffer headed to a motel — with his desktop computer, of course.

Fortunately, while I was away at the game, the power came back on in the office, and we were able to finish up under somewhat normal circumstances.

Other than the blizzard. And the power. And the drying out.

BUT OVERALL, it was a pretty normal high school sports season — compared to how it could have gone.

While some other states delayed their sports schedules — then basically played intramural seasons, with no playoffs — kudos to the Idaho High School Activities Association and its member schools for pushing through and trying to run their seasons on the usual schedule.

True, a few schools started late because of COVID, and others had some games wiped out because of the virus, but each season ended with an actual champion being crowned.

Swimming had to do a virtual state meet, but every other state championship was decided in-person.

And not everybody got to see their friends and loved ones play in person for part of the season. But the kids at least got to play a full season, and if that was the tradeoff ...

... It was worth weathering a few snowflakes in the fall.

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.