THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Cool off? Not for a while

Sure, it’s been hot here lately.

Considering everything that high school athletes have been through in the last three years, whether it be shortened seasons, not having a season or games delayed by wildfires, I’m sure just drinking a little more water isn’t so bad.

WITH TEMPERATURES in the mid-90s on Thursday, area golf programs took to The Links Golf Club in Post Falls. With so few chances to play early before school starts, the tournament started at 9 a.m.

“The kids played very quickly and were done in 4 1/2 hours, so we’re thankful for that,” Lakeland coach Rick Anderson said. “We had a good gallery of people there watching too, so it was nice to see. The Links always does a top-notch job for all the kids. It’s just first class all the way.”

Then again, not everything goes according to plan.

As the Coeur d’Alene girls soccer team traveled to Sandpoint, the Vikings were delayed due to an accident on U.S. 95 near Cocolalla on Thursday afternoon.

“Our day started off kind of brutal,” Coeur d’Alene coach Andy Vredenburg said. “There was a massive wreck and it delayed us 45 minutes or so. We had to just sit on the bus and wait in traffic.”

Eventually, the Vikings arrived and, after a shorter warmup, played to a 1-1 draw with the Bulldogs on the artificial turf at War Memorial Field.

Temperature at the start of the game was 97 degrees, according to Vredenburg.

“It was pretty bad,” Vredenburg said. “We knew it was going to be hot and stuff like that. But the girls battled back and I’m proud of them for that.”

By the time Lakeland’s home football game with Columbia High of Nampa began on Thursday night, it was "down" to 86 degrees in Rathdrum.

“We’re not that deep, so we try to do some things to deal with the heat,” Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. “But it’s better for both when it’s cooler.”

And it’s hard to argue with the results.

Lakeland is out to a 3-0 start for the first time since the 2014 season, with a nonleague game at West Valley next Thursday.

Hopefully, the weather is the only thing that cools off by then.

AFTER MONTHS of wondering just why the Seattle Seahawks could trade Russell Wilson, it became pretty clear on Thursday afternoon.

Sure, Seattle won a Super Bowl with Wilson.

But — and a big but — Seattle wasn’t going to pay $245 million to him to play quarterback the next five years.

No way.

Wilson wants to be the guy that throws the ball 25 to 30 times a game.

If these Seahawks do that, they’ll be in trouble.

Granted, Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf are very capable of catching the ball. But Pete Carroll has never been a coach that wants to throw it around the field all day long.

Imagine the team being patient and striking gold with a quarterback on a rookie deal.

Seemed to work out the last time, didn’t it?

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.