Bonners Ferry High School is Boundary County’s only high school in Idaho’s northernmost county. While many in the community see that as a benefit, Bonners Ferry’s location can complicate scheduling sports games. 

Over the past three seasons, BFHS has performed significantly worse when games are away. On average, teams performed 17% better at home than on the road. Out of BFHS soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, football and volleyball, only girls soccer has a better record away than home, based on a sample size of nearly 400 games.  

In total, there have been 188 home games and 209 away games for BFHS teams in the last three years. Having more away games than home games means, based on statistics from the last three years, BFHS sports will perform worse on average than if the schedules were balanced. An effort is required to ensure that BFHS does create an even home and away schedule for all its teams. 

Most BFHS games are against non-conference opponents. Baseball, softball, both basketball teams and volleyball have only one other league opponent: Timberlake High School. Football is only a three-team league, while soccer has several league opponents. This creates a challenge for BFHS athletic director Curt Bayer, as other schools have no obligation to schedule games with Bonners Ferry.  

High schools often schedule home and away series against each other, where one team hosts the first year and the other team hosts the following year. Bayer said that some schools are reluctant to come to Bonners Ferry and sometimes only offer away games for BFHS. 

“It’s a networking thing more than anything else,” Bayer said. “I say to myself, okay, do I gamble and say I’m going to go find another game? Or do I take the away game?” 

He described a situation in which a high school football team did not honor their word. 

“The year before (I came on board), the athletic director took a game to go down south,” Bayer said. “We had to leave the day before to play there. It was a pretty significant moment.” 

The following year, Bayer called the school to schedule the home game for Bonners Ferry. 

“I call the school back up and say it’s your time to come up here, because if nothing else, it’s an unwritten agreement,” Bayer stated. “They said, we can’t travel.” 

Travel time can take away from schoolwork. Bayer said that away games sometimes result in students returning to Bonners Ferry after 11 p.m., allowing them to arrive at school 30 minutes late the next day. 

High schools in the Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene areas have several high schools within a short drive. BFHS does not. Each year, Bayer and BFHS head coaches work to ensure that the teams play a balanced amount of away and home games.