Cd'A adds a little spice to football slate

OK, so the revealing of high school football schedules usually isn’t met with the same excitement as, say, the release of the NFL schedule, or the slate for your favorite college football team.

Coeur d’Alene High, however, is a little bit different.

Due to their success in recent years, the Vikings have been able to land games against some pretty good teams in the West — Skyline of Sammamish, Wash., and Folsom (Calif.), just to name a couple.

This season, for the second straight year, Coeur d’Alene will return to Folsom to open its season.

THE VIKINGS originally had an open date in Week 6, but Coeur d’Alene recently secured a home game with Capital Christian, a private school in Sacramento, for Sept. 29.

Capital Christian finished 11-3 last season, advancing all the way to a regional final in Division 5-AA before bowing out.

“A very good private school. They lost a team out of their league,” leaving them with an open date as well, Coeur d’Alene football coach Shawn Amos said.

Capital Christian is coached by Casey Taylor, in his first season after spending the last 15 years as head coach at Del Oro. If that school sounds familiar, Del Oro played Lake City in the 2008 Rocky Mountain Rumble at Holt Arena in Pocatello. Lake City won 34-33.

WHEN THE Vikings scheduled Folsom last year, it was a two-year deal, kinda-sorta contingent on how competitive the first game was. As it turned out, the game was quite entertaining, with Folsom eventually winning 55-36.

Coeur d’Alene had hoped to get Folsom to come to North Idaho this year, but it wasn’t to be.

For one thing, Folsom needed another home game on its schedule for this season. And Folsom was able to put together a pretty good financial package to help the Vikings defray costs last year — and will do so again.

Which, as it turns out, is OK by Coeur d’Alene.

“Our players actually wanted to make the trip again,” Amos said of the game, scheduled for Aug. 25. “They pay us $5,000, provide transportation, and feed us a meal so we would have had to provide the same.”

Folsom finished 12-2 last year, losing in the section championship.

LOOKING TO fill Coeur d’Alene’s open date, Amos said he posted the need for an opponent on a number of state websites.

Capital Christian came through.

“They noticed that we came down to play Folsom and gave them a good game (last year),” Amos said. “We are helping offset some travel costs, but not as much as Folsom is giving us.”

After opening at Folsom, Coeur d’Alene is scheduled to play at Central Valley on Sept. 1. The Vikings then host Mead and Moses Lake, and travel to Camas (Wash.) on Sept. 22. Camas went 14-0 last year and won the Washington state 4A championship.

After playing Capital Christian, Coeur d’Alene plays its three 5A Inland Empire League games — Oct. 6 at home vs. Lewiston, Oct. 13 at Lake City and Oct. 20 at home vs. Post Falls.

WHEN COLSON Yankoff, Coeur d’Alene’s star quarterback, will be ready to play is anyone’s guess. Yankoff, who has verbally committed to the University of Washington, suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee during the spring.

“Colson should be ready sometime between Game 1 and 4 — no way to tell at this point when exactly he will be back,” Amos said.

Yankoff hurt his knee long jumping — an event he was getting pretty good at before he was injured.

Amos, his football coach, used to be an assistant coach in track as well.

“I no longer coach track, but I did encourage him to go out,” Amos said.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.