HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Picking off a win

COEUR d'ALENE - See ball - see game end.

Coeur d'Alene High senior cornerback Alec Seibold stepped in front of a Wes Harrington pass with 30 seconds remaining to preserve a 17-14 nonleague win against the Moses Lake Chiefs on Friday night at Viking Stadium.

"Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said. "We shot ourselves in the foot - a lot tonight - but just kept battling. They're a good football team and made some big plays, but it's that last play that counts."

Moses Lake (1-2) appeared to be in position for the go-ahead score in the final minute before Seibold intercepted Harrington's pass intended for wideout Isaiah Thomas in the end zone.

"I saw the quarterback rolling out toward me and looking right at me," Seibold said. "I just broke down like my coach told me to do and came away with it. We both kind of tangled up with it, but I didn't want it to end like this. It was huge. Our defense really stepped up and had a huge game."

Moses Lake forced three turnovers, including a fumble to set up the tying score with 10:45 remaining.

"With a win like this, our kids know they can't play like this next week and come away with a win," Amos said. "We've got some good teams on the road in the next two weeks. I thought our defense was lights out tonight. They were just outstanding."

After a scoreless first quarter, Coeur d'Alene (3-1) inserted Colson Yankoff into the game at quarterback, and the sophomore responded with a 88-yard scoring drive, capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass to Cole Ramseyer. Starting quarterback Austin Lee had 63 yards rushing and 59 passing for Coeur d'Alene.

"We're lucky to have both quarterbacks," Amos said. "We're very blessed that way. Our offensive line might have played its best game up front, but our skill guys hurt themselves a number of times. Our line was just outstanding."

Coeur d'Alene will travel to Pocatello next Friday to take on Highland High at Holt Arena.

Thomas finished with 124 yards receiving for Moses Lake.

"It was a great game," Moses Lake coach Todd Griffith said. "And we knew it coming here that it was going to be. It's always a pretty good dogfight with them. Hats off to them. They pretty much shut down our running game and we had to resort to the pass, which is something we don't like to do. Our defense played well and caused a bunch of turnovers, but just couldn't get it going offensively."

With the game tied at 14-14 late, Coeur d'Alene took a lead on a 26-yard field goal from Griphen Le with 4:17 remaining. Le had missed from 21 yards out on the Vikings' previous possession.

"We practice it quite a bit, but it wasn't the best snap," Le said of the game winner. "But we'll get it down. It was definitely a scary moment."

Moses Lake 0 6 0 8 - 14

Coeur d'Alene 0 14 0 3 - 17

Second quarter

Cd'A - Cole Ramseyer 13 pass from Colson Yankoff (Ramseyer pass from Griphen Le), 8:31.

ML - Isaiah Thomas 73 pass from Wes Harrington (pass failed), 3:10.

Cd'A - Le 4 pass from Yankoff (pass failed), 41.3.

Fourth quarter

ML - Henry Russaw 23 pass from Kevin Whithall (5 run), 10:45.

Cd'A - FG, Le 26, 4:17.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - ML, Nunez 11-16, Harrington 13-19, Thomas 6-2, 15 3-0, Torres 3-0. Cd'A, Lee 8-63, Hutchings 2-5, Vang 7-38, Skinner 6-52, Le 4-33, Bonacci 1-6.

PASSING - ML, Harrington, 8-24-1-138, Whithall, 1-1-0-23. Cd'A, Lee, 11-22-1-59, Yankoff, 18-32-0-201, Lundblad, 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING - ML, Thomas 5-124, Russaw 3-36, Nunez 1-4. Cd'A, Bonacci 2-14, Hutchings 5-7, Lundblad 8-85, Le 2-23, Ramseyer 4-76, Skinner 3-20, Naccarato 2-27, Vang 1-8.