Morgan shines as Viks romp
COEUR d’ALENE — One football, lots of talented options for the Coeur d’Alene Vikings.
One of those options, junior Shilo Morgan, took advantage and shined under the lights Friday night.
Morgan scored three touchdowns — two on pass plays — and rushed for 95 yards and a score as Coeur d’Alene routed Capital Christian of Sacramento, Calif., 45-7 at Viking Field.
“When you get your time, you shine,” Morgan said. “It’s amazing what our team can do with all of our threats.”
Colson Yankoff passed for 212 yards and four touchdowns, and rushed for 123 yards and another score — all in the first half — for Coeur d’Alene (4-2), which bounced back from a heartbreaking loss last week at Camas (Wash.).
“Pretty impressive,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “They played a heckuva game on both sides of the ball. It was a tough loss, and they bounced back — the sign of a good football team.”
Coeur d’Alene dominated the first half and led 45-0 at halftime. Capital Christian had 1 yard of total offense in the first half, while the Vikings had 393. Senior defensive lineman Arthur Gustin set the tone early with a couple of tackles for loss, then Coeur d’Alene came after the Capital Christian quarterbacks, putting constant pressure on them. The Vikings totaled four sacks in the first half, two by Caleb Beggerly on the same series.
For the game, Coeur d’Alene outgained the Cougars 495-126.
“We had to stop their run; their run game is a good run game and we had to stop that first and force them to throw,” Amos said.
Coeur d’Alene scored on its first possession, Yankoff connecting with Derek Gove from 3 yards out. Yankoff then sprinted 47 yards for a score, then dropped a screen pass to Morgan, who took it in from 26 yards out for a 23-0 lead after one quarter.
Kaden Hegel caught a TD pass early in the second quarter, Morgan ran 19 yards up the middle for a score, then Morgan took a dumpoff pass from Yankoff and did the rest on a 25-yard scoring play just before the half.
“We noticed that they don’t rotate much,” Morgan said, “so we just ‘tempoed’ them.”
The only negative for the Vikings — they had a punt blocked in the first half, and the second half was an exchange of turnovers between the two teams.
After the game, Amos planned to drive to Missoula, then head to Pocatello this morning to watch his son, Gunnar, a backup quarterback for Idaho State, scheduled to play Cal Poly in Pocatello. The last time Amos drove after watching his son’s game, one of the tires flew off the car outside Dillon, Mont.
“All the tires are tight,” he said.
Coeur d’Alene opens 5A Inland Empire League play Friday at home vs. Lewiston.
Cap. Christian 0 0 0 7 — 7
Coeur d’Alene 23 22 0 0 — 45
First quarter
Cd’A — Derek Gove 3 pass from Colson Yankoff (Yankoff run), 9:02
Cd’A — Yankoff 47 run (Gove run), 3:19
Cd’A — Shilo Morgan 26 pass from Yankoff (Seth Harrison kick), :52
Second quarter
Cd’A — Kaden Hegel 19 pass from Yankoff (K. Hegel run), 9:34
Cd’A — Morgan 19 run (Harrison kick), 3:32
Cd’A — Morgan 25 pass from Yankoff (Harrison kick), :05
Fourth quarter
CC — Maurice Gaines 30 pass from Anthony Avila (Kenyon Bowyer kick), :45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CC, Jones 4-(minus 7), Leali 7-8, Ross 9-29, Avila 4-(minus 20). Cd’A, Beggerly 3-19, Yankoff 6-123, Morgan 16-95, Throm 1-12, Thompson 3-(minus 14), Sundberg 1-1, Friesz 1-(minus 1).
PASSING — CC, Jones 3-6-0-1, Avila 14-31-0-115. Cd’A, Yankoff 13-24-0-212, Thompson 3-7-0-48, Harrison 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING — CC, Ross 4-9, Leali 3-7, Foye 3-10, Fieka 1-1, Gaines 3-55, Jones 3-24. Cd’A, Chadderdon 1-13, Gove 3-18, Matheson 3-33, Dawson 1-12, Morgan 3-62, Beggerly 1-55, K. Hegel 1-19, Linehan 2-27, G. Hegel 1-21.