... and then what?

Dean Johnson and the Prairie Pirates play in the geographically-vast White Pine League

At Saturday's Idaho 8-Man Showcase, conversation naturally wandered toward the future. And not necessarily just next week or next month.

Schools from north Idaho were talking about 1A Division 1 school Wallace playing in 1A Division 2's North Star League this fall. Schools from southern Idaho were wondering if Valley could be making a move soon to 11-man football with a bump up to 2A. People in the Boise metro area often wonder why more small schools don't co-op athletic programs to do better on the fields, courts, or courses.

To steal from early American history, Thomas Paine once wrote, "these are the times that try men's souls."

We're not talking about revolutionary wars here, but there are tough issues confronting most of Idaho's smallest schools right now.

Here are a couple of facts:

1. Idaho, geographically, is one of the biggest states in the United States. It ranks 14th in sheer size, ahead of states like Illinois, Washington, Georgia, and Florida.

2. Idaho, in terms of population, is among the smallest in the United States (40th). It has over a million fewer people than Puerto Rico, which is an island territory of the US, not a state.

Translation - there's a lot of empty space in the Gem State. That's part of what makes it appealing to a lot of folks. There's room to roam, you can carve out your own piece of Americana. But there's a downside to that in this context ... it's not easy to get from Point A to Point B, especially for the smaller communities. One of the reasons Wallace is competing in the North Star League instead of the White Pine League is because it is the only 1A Division 1 school in District 1, which is the northern part of the panhandle up north. Its nearest White Pine opponent is Potlatch, over 100 miles away. If the Miners were headed to Clearwater Valley to take on the Rams, it was 200 miles from Wallace to Kooskia.

Not easy. Travel takes time, for the coaches, staff, and the student athletes, and it costs money. By dropping to the 1A Division 2 North Star League, Wallace to Plummer (Lakeside) is 80 miles. Mullan is less than ten miles down Interstate 90. Clark Fork, the longest trip for Wallace in the North Star, is the same (in miles) than Wallace's shortest trip in the White Pine.

And it's not the outlier. Challis and Glenns Ferry are in the same conference in southern Idaho despite being separated by over 210 miles. That's nearly the distance from Spokane to Seattle (approximately 275 miles) in Washington. It is nearly 200 miles from Grace to Shoshone. Idaho City, in District 3, is at least an hour from all of its Western Idaho Conference foes. There's no quick drive for Salmon River (Riggins) in the 1A Division 2 Long Pin Conference during football season. Similar story for Challis.

There are a couple of newer co-ops in the 1A ranks. Mullan in District 1 has an arrangement for football with St. Regis, Mont. Old rivals Butte County and Mackay have combined to form Lost Rivers in football this season. Kootenai, long one of the top 1A Division 2 programs in north Idaho, is shipping its football players to Wallace this year, though the school hopes to field its own team again next season. In a vacuum, more co-ops make sense. Teams would have more players and would be able to field stronger, deeper teams. But there are a couple fundamental problems with expanding co-ops carte blanche in Idaho.

Go back to the same two facts listed above. Lots of geography and not a lot of people. Small schools already have trouble filling schedules, which is what makes events like the Idaho 8-Man Showcase so great.

Let's use the 1A Division 2 North Star League as an example. With Wallace dropping down (forfeiting any playoff berth by doing so), the North Star had five teams - Wallace, Kootenai, Mullan/St. Regis, Clark Fork, and Lakeside. The teams agreed to schedule each other home-and-home, giving them all eight regular-season games. Then Kootenai had to cancel its season due to a lack of players. Eight games just became six. A few schools were able to scramble to pick up a game here and there, but there were no easy answers. Now, let's say Lakeside opts to co-op with Division 1 Potlatch, located about 30 miles away, just for the sake of conversation. That puts the North Star down to three teams. Four league games, if they opt to play home-and-homes across the board again.

Who do those teams play?

Sure, there are some options in eastern Washington and western Montana that could be explored with more time to put a schedule together, but you're talking about four non-conference games - maybe more, if the teams only play one game against each other - to schedule each and every season. The North Star teams could go back to the White Pine League in Division 2, but that re-introduces a big problem in that endeavor - geography. Clark Fork would be in the same league as Lewis County. Over 200 miles between Clark Fork, near Sandpoint, and Nezperce/Craigmont, well south of Lewiston.

Prairie, located in Cottonwood, in District 2 faces drives of anywhere from 40 to 100 miles to get to road games in the White Pine League right now. Without Wallace, the school has six league games. To find non-conference games, Prairie scheduled Division 2 Kendrick (a very good team) and traveled to Middleton last weekend to play Raft River.

Each region has its own quandaries. It's not all north Idaho. The closest opponent for Rimrock, in District 3, isn't even in its league - it would be Glenns Ferry in District 4, about 30 miles away.

It's a discussion for every football-playing 1A school in Idaho. Some schools have numbers that are dwindling rapidly and all have travel and financial challenges simply due to the layout of the state. Co-operative agreements are better than teams not playing at all, but fewer teams on the field - whether it be via schools not fielding teams or by schools combining to field one team - still leaves problems for everyone. Notably, two 1A teams co-op'ing to form a single team could push the schools over enrollment limits and up into the 2A (11-man) classification.

Is there an answer? Not being rhetorical here. Answers would come in very handy.

#Idaho8Man