THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016
The way Coeur d’Alene or Lewiston moved the ball up and down the field Friday night, on the few occasions they were “forced” to punt, you had to shake your head.
It has to be a trick, right?
The two teams moved the ball up and down the field all night in a 5A Inland Empire League football matchup at Bengal Field in Lewiston that more than lived up to its billing.
Lewiston, ranked No. 2 in 5A in Idaho, beat No. 3 Coeur d’Alene 55-51.
Each team punted on just four of its 15 possessions.
The teams combined for more than 900 yards of offense. Both quarterbacks — Colson Yankoff of Coeur d’Alene, and Colton Richardson — passed for at least 300 yards.
Perhaps more impressively, Coeur d’Alene ran for 313 yards, a credit to an offensive line that pushed the Bengals back much of the night.
It was a game you wouldn’t mind seeing again — on a dry day, though Lewiston’s field appeared to hold up quite well despite the rain.
“If you want to win the league, or have a chance of winning the league, you’ve got to go through Coeur d’Alene, and everybody knows that,” Lewiston coach Shawn Nilsson said. “They just rebuild and reload … take your hat off to their program and (Coeur d’Alene coach) Shawn (Amos), because they’ve done a great job.”
THE ELEMENTS did play a factor in the scoring, especially for Lewiston. A fumble return, a muffed punt and an interception return set up three scores. And, of course, there was the wacky play in the first half where Coeur d’Alene had the ball at the Lewiston 1, but had the snap sail over Yankoff’s head. In the ensuing madness, Alex Light of Lewiston scooped up the ball and raced 76 yards for a Bengal touchdown.
That put Lewiston up 28-8. If Coeur d’Alene was deflated by the play, the Vikings didn’t show it, scoring three touchdowns in less than three minutes for a 29-28 halftime lead.
After that, the teams traded the lead until Lewiston scored the final two touchdowns to beat Coeur d’Alene for the first time since 2008.
Coeur d’Alene mixed up its pressure on Richardson, sacking him five times — with Gaige Howard in on three sacks, and Joey Naccarato in on two others (they teamed on one sack).
Lewiston also struggled — again, a relative term — when it went through a stretch of trying low-percentage passes made even more difficult by the elements. On their last two drives, the Bengals chipped away with pretty much short, simple throws
“He’s a heckuva player,” Amos said of Richardson. “They’re a good football team. They responded, and they made the plays when they needed to at the end. And they have more than just him; they have some good players.”
IN THE old days, you could enjoy what happened in this game, then look forward to seeing the rematch in the playoffs in a few weeks.
That’s because the old eight-team brackets usually pitted the two North teams against each other in the first round.
But a few years ago North coaches, tired of seeing the league cannibalize itself in the playoffs, pushed for the two playoff teams to be placed on opposite sides of the bracket.
So, in the third year of the expanded 12-team playoffs, that is the case again this year.
Of course, Post Falls will have something to say about this in the next couple of weeks, but if Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston are to meet again this season, both will endure at least one long road trip, and in the case of Coeur d’Alene if it winds up the No. 2 seed, an extra, first-round playoff game.
The good news, though — if two North teams collide in the state title game, it would be at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.
Where, last we checked, a rainy night is not a problem.
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.