Vikings catch on
COEUR d’ALENE — The Coeur d’Alene Vikings had the benefit of a first game behind them, unlike their opposition.
And it showed.
With Drew Berger, Gibson Green, Austin Lee and Ryan Walde leading the way, the Coeur d’Alene Vikings pounded Central Valley of the Greater Spokane League 50-14 on Friday night at Viking Field.
“Our kids responded really well after last week,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said, referring to the Vikings’ 26-13 victory at Skyline of Idaho Falls. “We still have penalty issues (13 vs. CV, for 110 yards), but it wasn’t with our mouth, and after-the-play stuff. The good thing is, we still have a long ways to go.”
Berger, the Boise State commit, scored the first two touchdowns, the second on a 67-yard interception return of a pass deflected by Green.
Green ran for 68 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Berger, who splits running back duties with Green as both play defense, made it three touchdowns on the night with a 5-yard run in the third quarter.
“Those two guys are horses,” Amos said. “It’s a great thing to have two backs like that. Our line, everybody keeps questioning our line, our line keeps getting better and better.”
Berger also deflected a pass in the first half that was intercepted by Myles Mahaffy, but it was negated by a roughing-the-passer penalty.
Lee, who made a name for himself late during last year’s state title run when starter Gunnar Amos was injured, completed 17 passes — including one to himself, on a deflection — on 24 attempts for 259 yards and four touchdowns.
“He made great strides from last year,” Amos said. “He’s a good player who cares.”
Two of his TD passes went to Walde, who finished with five catches for 77 yards. One went to Colby Daniels, and the first one was a swing pass to Berger, who sped up the right sideline 65 yards for the score.
Coeur d’Alene (2-0) dominated from the middle of the first quarter on — building a 40-0 lead before the Bears got on the board late in the first half. The Vikings pressured CV’s passer and punter. CV quarterback Tanner Sloan took some shots from the blitzing Vikings, including one from Cody Nowoj that led to an interception by KC Hutchings in the second half.
“They’re an explosive offense,” said CV coach Rick Giampietri, who watched the Vikings total 434 yards. “They’re a very good team; they give you a lot of fits. We probably could have had a couple in the first quarter, and got that thing evened up a little bit, but then 22 (Berger) took charge, and made two big ones right in a row.”
It was CV’s opener, and with a young team, it looked like it — first-game mistakes, but also flashes of what could be in the future.
Sloan, a junior and son of former CV quarterback Rick Sloan, put the ball up 44 times, completing 23 for 210 yards and two touchdowns, and was picked off twice.
“It makes a difference,” Giampietri said of the Vikings playing their second game vs. CV playing its opener, “because we had a lot of sophomores that hadn’t played in the big time before.”
Coeur d’Alene plays Ferris next Friday at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane.
Central Valley 0 7 7 0 — 14
Coeur d’Alene 20 20 10 0 — 50
First quarter
Cd’A — Drew Berger 65 pass from Austin Lee (Lee run), 6:08
Cd’A — Berger 67 interception return (kick failed), 2:50
Cd’A — Ryan Walde 32 pass from Lee (pass failed), 1:47
Second quarter
Cd’A — Colby Daniels 12 pass from Lee (kick failed), 10:17
Cd’A — Walde 6 pass from Lee (Brennen Barber kick), 5:11
Cd’A — Gibson Green 1 run (Barber kick), 2:01
CV — Tucker Stout 7 pass from Tanner Sloan (Ryan Rehkow kick), 19.2.
Third quarter
CV — P.J. Bowden46 pass from Sloan (Rehkow kick), 10:32
Cd’A — Berger 5 run (Barber kick), 8:30
Cd’A — FG Barber 27, 1:09
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CV, Orrino 19-56, Johnson 4-15, Sloan 3-(minus 4), Connole 3-26. Cd’A, Lee 5-6, Green 7-68, Berger 7-34, Pierce 3-2, Le 7-34, Yankoff 1-(minus 3), Bonacci 2-7.
PASSING — CV, Sloan 23-44-2-210, DeGeest 2-3-0-19. Cd’A, Lee, 17-24-0-259, Yankoff 2-3-0-13, Williams 1-1-0-14.
RECEIVING — CV, Craig 3-25, Stout 5-50, Foley 3-16, Bannon 3-15, Bowden 3-54, Johnson 4-39, Orrino 1-11, Hanson 1-8, Connole 1-11. Cd’A, Walde 5-77, Bonacci 3-18, Daniels 4-31, Schneider 1-14, Johnson 2-10, Lynn 1-27, Berger 1-65, Lee 1-11, Williams 1-29, Nazemi 1-4.