THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Early success could lead to great end

To get to the final destination in high school sports, sometimes you’ve got to take a few bumps along the way to the finish line.

So far, outside of a few knocks, it’s been pretty smooth sailing.

For the most part.

IT’S EARLY, and you can’t state that quite enough, but you can’t help but get caught up with the start of Lake City and Coeur d’Alene’s girls basketball teams.

Especially, against those teams from District 3 (Boise area).

In six games against those foes, both teams went 5-1. Of those games, Coeur d’Alene fell at Boise and Lake City at home to Rocky Mountain in the final moments.

Both games could have been considered a state quality showdown.

“There’s a lot of good teams in that area,” first-year Lake City coach David Pratt said. “I like that we get to play them and get a feel for how those teams look. They’ve got such a big league, and we’ve played six of them. To see that level of competition was good for us, and we hope we can see them again later in the season. To play three in a row, it’s kind of a tournament feel, and really, really good for us.”

Rocky Mountain — last year’s state 5A runner-up — beat Lake City on a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining..

“That game just put things into perspective for us,” Pratt said. “We know we’ve got some talented teams here and it’s good to see some good competition. It’s good for us to go through those kinds of things together early in the season.”

Coeur d’Alene beat Eagle, Rocky Mountain and Meridian last week. The Vikings were without freshman Brookeslee Colvin, who missed the games, as well as two this week against 4A Inland Empire League foes Sandpoint and Moscow, with a sprained ankle.

“I’m proud of the girls,” Coeur d’Alene coach Nicole Symons said. “We figured out a way to win without one of our starters and it was a good experience for some of our younger kids to get in there and play some valuable minutes. It’s huge not having Brookeslee, but she’ll be back and we’ll blend her into the rotation.”

TO FIND quality matches, the Post Falls wrestling team has never shied away from getting on a bus, airplane or whatever mode of transportation to find them.

With a lot of new faces on the roster, the Trojans brought back a duals title and team title from the Sidney (Mont.) Invitational last Saturday.

On Friday, Post Falls beat Mead of Longmont, Colo., the top-ranked team in the state for that team title.

“I’m so proud of how they wrestled,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “It was a great first outing for our kids. To get a solid win over a team like Mead that’s ranked in their state was big for our kids.”

Post Falls had two individual champions — sophomore Gage Loftin at 103 pounds and junior Seth Martin at 182 — helping the Trojans roll to the team title in the bracketed tournament as well.

“We were solid as a team in the duals tournament, but just had a tough first round of the (bracketed) tournament,” Reardon said. “I didn’t think we did poorly, but our kids really came in and got after it on the second day. It was great to see them bounce back and regroup.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the Trojans, who compete in a tournament in Toppenish, Wash., today, then — along with almost every other top team in the Northwest — at the Tri-State Invitational next Friday and Saturday at North Idaho College. 

“We’re really pleased with how our kids are progressing,” Reardon said. “Seeing how some of those kids that haven’t arrived yet, or had their moment, has been great to see how they’ve taken what we’ve been teaching them and put it into action.”

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.