THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE, November 17, 2013
After watching the Coeur d'Alene High football team pummel another foe in the playoffs Friday night, it seems almost inevitable the Vikings will complete the journey with a statement victory this Friday in the state 5A championship game.
Of course, few things really are inevitable - death, taxes, losing seasons by the Mariners. And Highland of Pocatello has its own journey it wants to complete, when the Rams (11-0) and Vikings (8-3) collide in the title game at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.
But, inspired by an injury to a key player and a body blow of a diagnosis of cancer in its coach - not to mention, oh by the way, the motivation of reaching a fourth straight state title game, and trying to win it for the third time in that span - it's hard to imagine the Vikings doing anything other than celebrating on Friday.
MAYBE IT was just me, but Friday night's semifinal game vs. Capital of Boise looked like it was over after just a few plays - Capital guys slipping and falling and dropping passes that were right to them. Coeur d'Alene guys churning through the sloppy track like it was artificial turf, its linemen dominating on both sides of the ball.
Statewide, those looking for cracks in the Viking armor pounced on the fact they would have to win a state title with a backup quarterback, after the starter, senior running/passing threat Gunnar Amos, broke his ankle in two places in Coeur d'Alene's first-round victory over Timberline of Boise.
As one person pointed out to me last week before the Capital game, usually when a high school team has to go to its backup quarterback, there is a BIG dropoff in performance.
Sorry, rest of the state, no such dropoff here.
Sophomore Austin Lee has been mentioned as being on a similar level, progression wise, as his predecessors at Coeur d'Alene - Amos and Chad Chalich - though neither one of them had to take over the wheel with so much on the line this early in their careers.
Lee, a pretty good run/pass threat himself, has kept the Viking machine churning through the postseason. But, as Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos - diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma last month - has pointed out several times recently, Lee hasn't had to carry the team. He's just had to "do his job," and as long as everybody else "does their job," the Vikings can still roll.
And they have.
The aforementioned offensive line and defensive front has dominated lately. Who's going to step up and make the big defensive play? Take your pick.
On how many teams - high school or otherwise - could someone (senior Ty Holgate) who came into the game with all of 301 yards rushing, break loose for a career-high 177 yards and score two touchdowns in the biggest game of his life - so far?
TO BE sure, Highland will be looking to prove that its 24-21 win over Coeur d'Alene in September at Holt Arena in Pocatello was no fluke. The Vikings will be out to show that the 21-3 lead they built on the Rams in their own house was more indicative of how Friday's game will turn out.
Friday's game in the snow reminded me of 2009, when Coeur d'Alene played host to Eagle in the semifinals. Eagle, with its future Arizona State quarterback, Taylor Kelly, was expected to run around and through the upstart Vikings. But that game was also played in snow, and if not for a flukey play that led to Eagle's winning touchdown - a low snap that skidded through Kelly's legs, picked up by the running back and carried down near the Viking goal line - Coeur d'Alene likely would have pulled off the upset.
But, despite it being a loss for Coeur d'Alene, that's where this amazing run by the Vikings - five straight semifinals and four straight title games - began.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached by phone at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.