THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Oct. 19, 2014
There were the Lake City Timberwolves on Friday night, inches from a signature victory over the Coeur d'Alene Vikings, on fourth down in overtime, needing only a field goal for the victory.
Certainly they weren't going to try to run it in, when they were just stopped short moments before, and when a chip shot field goal would have accomplished the same result.
Or were they going to actually line up and run a play, into the teeth of the Viking distance?
"Yeah," admitted Lake City coach Van Troxel. "You know me - I went for it back there."
As he said that, he was pointing to the other end of the field, where he went for it on fourth and inches on the Lake City 21, and a quarterback sneak failed. Coeur d'Alene scored two plays later to tie the game at 28.
"I'm old, and I don't learn very well," Troxel said with a laugh. "And I do roll the dice, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but our kids never quit, and that's really the most important thing."
FOR SURE.
We'll never find out if Troxel rolling the dice in overtime would have worked out any better or not, as an illegal procedure penalty pushed Lake City back to the Coeur d'Alene 5, bringing on the field goal team.
A delay-of-game penalty pushed the Timberwolves back to the 10, which actually made for a better angle for Casey Bourque to kick a 27-yard field goal from the right hash for a 45-42 victory over Coeur d'Alene that sends the Timberwolves to the state 5A playoffs as the No. 1 seed from the North.
Pretty good feat, considering Lake City (7-1, 2-0 5A Inland Empire League) had lost six straight games to its city rival dating back to 2009. Since then, the Vikings (6-2, 1-1) have become the top team in the city, as well as the state, with four state title game appearances - and three state titles - in the last four seasons.
But on this night, and this season, the two teams were quite the equal, putting on a thrilling show for the estimated 4,000 at Viking Field.
"They just don't quit," Troxel said of his team. "They've got the right attitude, they're good students, they work hard, they're just really good kids, and they don't quit. That's what pleases me the most about tonight is, it kind of vindicates these guys for four years - hard work and being good guys does pay off."
IN DEFEAT, Coeur d'Alene racked up 685 total yards (better math adding up stats the day after, with more time). An astounding number, for sure, especially in a high school game.
Lake City never trailed in the game, though Coeur d'Alene tied in on four occasions. Had the Vikings gone ahead in the fourth quarter - a receiver was hit and fumbled the ball through the end zone just before he reached the goal line - it might have been the Vikings with the first-round bye instead of the Timberwolves.
But Coeur d'Alene committed a whopping 18 penalties for 103 yards.
"Our kids played hard and didn't give up," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said. "But we played a little bit undisciplined, which has, unfortunately, been a problem for us throughout the year. When you're playing good teams like that, you've got to be disciplined. We put ourselves in bad spots with penalties, mental mistakes. That's something that, if we want to continue playing through November, we've got to fix."
And then there was those kick returns by Lake City's Jerry Louie-McGee - an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, a 60-yard punt return for a TD, and a 92-yard kickoff return for another score.
The punt return came off of a short line drive, rugby-style punt which Louie-McGee came up and caught it before it bounced.
The second kickoff return was a highlight-reel return. Coeur d'Alene had just tied it at 28 midway through the third quarter on a 16-yard pass from Austin Lee to Chase Daniels.
Coeur d'Alene then executed what seemed like a successful-looking squib kick on the kickoff, a ball which spun like a top past the second line of return for Lake City. Louie-McGee picked the ball up at the 8, near the Viking sideline. He ran back toward the middle of the field, where three different Vikings tried to tackle him around the 10, but couldn't corral him. Louie-McGee got away, and was gone for a 35-28 Lake City lead.
Remarkable play - but then again, we've seen remarkable from him before.
"Jerry was absolutely amazing, and we really didn't give him the football enough," Troxel said.
Louie-McGee caught five passes for 53 yards and a touchdown, and had 11 of Lake City's 41 rushes, for 57 yards.
Coeur d'Alene might argue Louie-McGee had the ball more than enough.
"Their special teams were a lot better than ours," Amos said.
THE MOST dramatic of the 31 games in the series - Lake City now leads it 19 wins to 12 - means Lake City will get a bye in the first-round in the expanded 12-team state 5A playoffs, and play host to a quarterfinal game. The T-Wolves would have to travel for a semifinal game.
Coeur d'Alene, if it beats Post Falls on Friday, would be the No. 2 seed, and would travel in the first round, and travel in the quarterfinal round, but would host a semifinal if it got that far.
If Post Falls wins, the Trojans would be the No. 2 seed, and Coeur d'Alene would still likely get in as a wild card. But that would mean three straight weeks on the road in the playoffs, just to get to the title game, which could entail another long road trip.
"That puts us a a lot better spot," Troxel said of being the No. 1 seed. "Four weeks in a row, being a No. 2 (seed), is a tough scenario, no matter who you are."
If Lake City and Coeur d'Alene were to meet up again in the playoffs, it would be in the state title game at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.
Amos has taken his last five teams at least as far as the state semifinals, but was looking no further than next week.
"We've got to beat Post Falls, or we might be home," he said.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.