A romp in the rain
<p>Bubba Duran, wide receiver for Coeur d'Alene High School, makes a catch after the ball grazed the left forearm of Capital defender Garret Pearson Friday in the first quarter of the 5A state football semi finals in Coeur d'Alene. Duran went on to score the Vikings' first touchdown of the game.</p>
<p>After catching a pass, Coeur d'Alene High's Carlos Martinez handles a wet football as rain pours onto the field in the first half.</p>
COEUR d’ALENE — Much like the U.S. Postal Service, neither wind nor rain — nor a muddy field — was going to keep the Coeur d’Alene Vikings from their appointed rounds Friday night.
Top-ranked Coeur d’Alene broke the game open with three second-quarter touchdowns, and went on to a 37-7 victory over fourth-ranked Capital of Boise in the semifinals of the state 5A football playoffs at Viking Field.
Coeur d’Alene (11-0), the defending state champions, outgained Capital (8-3) 287-68 in the decisive first half, and will play Eagle (10-1) in the state championship game next Friday at 6 p.m. PST at Bronco Stadium in Boise.
“It was rough out there; the ball was real slick,” said Coeur d’Alene senior wide receiver/defensive back Bubba Duran, who scored three touchdowns. “We’re usually practicing in (the elements), so we have to face it almost every day.”
The teams had to deal with winds of more than 30 mph and a steady rain throughout the first half. Still, Coeur d’Alene, using short passes and handoffs to Carlos Martinez, scored on four of its six first-half possessions and led 24-0 at halftime.
“The elements bothered everybody, but our kids found a way to succeed,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “They were excited to play in the rain and the mud; I think it was all kind of a mindset thing, you can make it what it is. Our kids came out, and you could tell they were fired up to play.”
Coeur d’Alene successfully passed twice out of punt formation, both times leading to touchdowns.
The first one came on Coeur d’Alene’s second drive, a flip from quarterback/punter Chad Chalich to Martinez that gained 27 yards. On the next play, Chalich hooked up with Duran on a 30-yard TD pass — the ball glanced off the left arm of Capital defensive back Garret Pearson before Duran caught it.
Early in the second quarter, Chalich hit Duran for 39 yards and Reece Mahaffy circled left end for a 9-yard score and a 12-0 Coeur d’Alene lead.
Jake Cheesman blocked a Capital punt on the next possession. Two plays later, Duran circled the right end on a reverse, cut back toward the muddy middle of the field and raced down the left sideline on a 47-yard scoring run.
“That was the first time we ran that play all year,” Duran said.
Though sometimes snaps bounced back to the quarterbacks, neither team committed a turnover, though there were plenty of dropped passes.
Capital had punts of 12 and 8 yards into the wind during the game. After the 12-yarder stopped at the Eagles’ 34, Coeur d’Alene scored eight plays later on Martinez’ 17-yard run. Martinez finished with 117 yards on 20 carries.
Coeur d’Alene took the wind to start the third quarter, and forced Capital to a three-and-out. After an 8-yard Eagle punt, the Vikings took over at the Eagles’ 35. On second and goal from the 25, a low snap was fumbled by Chalich. He stepped up to pick up the ball, dropped back to pass, was under no pressure, and found Duran running wide open in the end zone, where he easily hauled in the TD pass.
“Actually there was a fairly long debate (at halftime) on what we were going to do,” Amos said. “We thought we’d take it (the wind) and try to finish the thing off. It worked out and made us look smart.”
Chalich was 12 of 23 for 226 yards and two touchdowns. Duran had four catches for 104 yards and two scores. Coeur d’Alene outgained Capital 427-264.
Capital quarterback Makena Simis managed just 3 completions in 12 attempts in the first half for 25 yards. And after Capital’s first drive died at the Viking 43, the Eagles managed just two more first downs the rest of the half. Capital’s fourth-quarter score came against Viking backups.
“They’re good. We knew they were, and we knew it would be a challenge coming up here,” Capital coach Todd Simis said. “They handled the elements better than we did, and they deserved to win. ... It was mostly their defense; the elements didn’t help. We had a plan to try to throw the ball a little bit, and we obviously didn’t do that very well.”
Capital 0 0 0 7 — 7
Coeur d’Alene 6 18 7 6 — 37
Cd’A — Bubba Duran 30 pass from Chad Chalich (kick failed)
Cd’A — Reece Mahaffy 9 run (pass failed)
Cd’A — Duran 47 run (run failed)
Cd’A — Carlos Martinez 17 run (run failed)
Cd’A — Duran 25 pass from Chalich (Parker Wilson kick)
Cd’A — Addison Johnson 28 pass from Chalich (kick failed)
Cap — T.J. Clarke 3 run (Carlos Soria kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Cap, Clarke 19-92, Simis 13-40, Popudnik 7-16, Foley 2-9, Walters 1-18, Shepherd 2-7. Cd’A, Martinez 20-117, Chalich 13-21, Mahaffy 1-9, Duran 1-47, Cheesman 1-0, Montee 3-9, Amos 4-(minus 2).
PASSING — Cap, Simis 10-21-0-82. Cd’A, Chalich 12-23-0-226.
RECEIVING — Cap, Littlejohn 4-40, Hale 1-9, Clarke 1-1, Foley 4-32. Cd’A, Johnson 3-43, Martinez 3-62, Duran 4-104, Roletto 1-14, Carlson 1-3.