Until Cd'A, Post Falls meet again?

The problem with a game with so much hype is sometimes the game doesn’t live up to it.

Friday night’s Post Falls-Coeur d’Alene showdown for the 5A Inland Empire League football title didn’t turn out to be the showdown many expected, but it was because Coeur d’Alene made sure of it.

The Vikings knocked the Post Falls Trojans around early, scored the game’s first 23 points and rolled to a 59-29 whipping at Viking Field.

Coeur d’Alene came in with the “lesser” record (6-2), but had played a tougher schedule than Post Falls. The Trojans (8-0) were rarely tested in rolling through their first eight foes, but hadn’t faced a team as talented and balanced as Coeur d’Alene.

Until Friday night.

BOTH TEAMS had already clinched berths to the state 5A playoffs. By winning, Coeur d’Alene earned a first-round bye, and will host a quarterfinal game and, if the Vikings win, they’ll host a semifinal game.

By losing, Post Falls plays a first-round playoff game next week, at home vs. Rocky Mountain of Meridian. If the Trojans win that one, they would travel to Eagle in a quarterfinal game. But if they win that one, they would host a semifinal game.

Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos knew how important it was to secure home-field advantage all the way to the championship game. He has had a couple of teams in recent years that were good enough to win a state title, but either through bracketing or a league loss had to go on the road in the first round, or the quarterfinals, and that was where the Vikings’ season ended.

“We played really well, and this is the time you’ve got to be playing really well,” said Amos, whose team is headed to the playoffs for the ninth straight season. “We’ve got to carry that over now.”

Coeur d’Alene running back/linebacker Caleb Beggerly said the Vikings were motivated by losses to Post Falls in 2014 and ’15, as well as by their performance in last week’s win over Lake City.

“Last week against Lake City practice was real low tempo, and this week we just cranked it up,” said Beggerly, who rushed for four touchdowns and had an interception against Post Falls. “We’ve just got to keep that energy the rest of the season.”

Everyone knew Coeur d’Alene had the running game and passing game to compete for a state title. But an underrated strength of the Vikings is its offensive line, and its aggressive defense.

“They’re well prepared, well coached, they’ve got a lot of very good players, obviously, and they showed it tonight,” second-year Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. “They do a good job with their odd front, and mix things around. Our big guys had a tough time chasing those fast D-ends and linebackers.”

Viking quarterback Colson Yankoff is so fast, he can run himself out of trouble. And then there’s that arm ...

“He’s pretty special,” Amos said of the University of Washington commit. “And with our running backs we have a lot of weapons, we are able to spread it out, and it makes it hard to defend.”

And for those who think Coeur d’Alene might slow down once this talented senior class departs, well, think again.

“We went 9-0 at all levels in league, so that bodes well for the future with these guys,” Amos said.

POST FALLS, in the playoffs for the first time since 2014, is confident it will bounce back. After all, the Trojans totaled 389 yards of offense against Coeur d’Alene on an “off” night.

If the two teams are going to meet again in the playoffs, it would be in the state title game, at the Kibbie Dome.

“I think Post Falls is going to make some noise,” Amos said of the playoffs.

“We have some very good players, a big senior team,” Bennett said. “They went on quite a run, 8 and 0, and we came up against a very good Coeur d’Alene team and were on the short end of it tonight.”

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.