THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: A change could put charge in 'Jacks

Do this job long enough and you’ll see football teams evolve.

Back in my time in the Silver Valley, it wasn’t too often where you’d see Kellogg throwing the ball all over the field like the Wildcats have been doing this year.

Those Wildcats, you knew they were going to run and it was up to the opponent to stop them.

When St. Maries won its state 2A football championship in 2016, the Lumberjacks could hit you from any direction.

They could throw it around the field and run different guys on and off the field to either catch it, or break a big run.

But these Lumberjacks, they like to run and do it well.

DURING ITS run to the title in 2016, St. Maries outscored its opponents 316-87, including 31-8 in the title game against Declo at Holt Arena in Pocatello.

This year, outside of the last three games, it’s been a different story.

“We knew coming into the season that we weren’t going to be able to do what we did in the past offensively,” St. Maries coach Craig Tefft said. “We tried two different styles of offense early on, and neither of them worked very well.”

In the win over Orofino, St. Maries attempted just six passes. Most other high school teams often attempt six passes before fans have found their seats and bag of popcorn.

Since a 46-14 setback to Bonners Ferry, St. Maries has won three straight games, beating Grangeville, Priest River and Orofino to advance to the state 2A playoffs.

Keep in mind, St. Maries also played Kellogg and Timberlake, both of which also advanced to the state playoffs this season.

As for a key to the turnaround?

“We just tightened our lines and made our assignments easier,” said Tefft, in his 13th season as coach at St. Maries. “We’re just going to run the ball and that’s going to be that. We’re just going to run the ball and we’ve been doing it very successfully.”

THANKS TO the Idaho High School Activities Association allowing schools to petition for competitive reasons, some football teams were allowed to remain at a lower level if it worked out attendance wise.

This move allowed for the North Star League to be reborn, with Mullan, Clark Fork, Kootenai, Lakeside and Wallace being back in the same league for the first time since 2004.

There’s been times when Mullan couldn’t quite field a team and had to get creative, playing some 6-man games as well as a highly successful co-op with St. Regis, who itself has dealt with low numbers.

Merging the White Pine and North Star for those teams at the Division I and Division II level, while at times led to some competitive games, other times didn’t.

It’s understandable why the teams moved to playing conference games within two districts. At that time, there was often no guarantee that a few teams were going to be able to field a team in the North Star League.

Lakeside, for a time, struggled with its numbers before things turned around in Plummer.

And if not for that co-op between Mullan and St. Regis, who knows if either of those programs are strong enough to stand on their own.

With high school football, there’s no guarantee that either Mullan/St. Regis or Clark Fork, both representing the league in the playoffs, could have played at home in that combined league with the schools from District 2.

This year, both teams are at home, and deserve it.

The rest is now up to them.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.