North Idaho got a taste of Vander Esch in high school

If you haven’t had the chance to see an 8-man football game in your lifetime, make sure you do if you’re a football fan.

Sure, it’s a track meet with huddles in the sense that a ton of points will be scored.

It might not be the brand of football most are familiar with, but you never know where some of those athletes will wind up.

A FEW years ago, on a football field at Harrison Flats, the Kootenai Warriors took on the Salmon River Savages of Riggins in a state 1A Division II quarterfinal game.

On the field that day was a — then — little-known quarterback/safety named Leighton Vander Esch, a senior, who at that time, was still undecided on where he’d play his college football.

He ended up walking on at Boise State, had quite the career there and eventually did so well, he left school a year early to enter the NFL Draft.

In case you missed it, Vander Esch, now a linebacker, was selected 19th overall by the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night.

Back to that November 2013 game for a moment.

Vander Esch, as a 6-foot-4, 185-pound senior accounted for 282 yards passing, ran for another 103 and scored six touchdowns — all in the first half — of the Savages’ 56-6 win over Kootenai.

“We were able to strike first, then he took over,” Kootenai football coach and athletic Doug Napierala recalled. “He was a very good quarterback. We could not contain him and his passes were on the money. As a linebacker, he had great instincts and we struggled all day to even get a block on him.”

Kootenai, making its eighth straight trip to state that season, tied the game at 6 in the first quarter, but Salmon River scored 50 unanswered points to end the game in the third quarter on the 45-point mercy rule.

Salmon River went on to win the state title that year, its second straight title. A few months earlier, the teams could have met in the semifinals of the state 1A Division II basketball tournament in March 2013, but the Warriors lost an opening round game.

“We would have played against him his junior year in basketball at state if we had won our opening game,” said Napierala, who at that coached the Kootenai boys basketball team. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get the job done.”

At the recent NFL combine, Vander Esch checked in at 6-4 and 256 pounds.

“I really think Leighton could have played any position on the field,” Napierala said. “He had size, speed and that gift for the game. It’s kind of neat that he’s having this kind of success. There’s no way you could have seen this coming, but he was definitely capable of it.”

AS A senior, shortly after leading Salmon River to its second straight state basketball title, Vander Esch competed as part of the North boys basketball team in the state high school all-star basketball games at North Idaho College. On that day, Vander Esch scored 12 points for the North.

Lake City boys basketball coach Jim Winger coached the North that year.

“It was about 10 to 15 minutes into the practice (on Friday night, before the Saturday afternoon game), and just watching him, I was thinking, ‘What in the world?,’” Winger said. “I went up to JJ (Winger’s son, who was also on the North team that year) and we both said this kid’s legit. He was one of our top scorers in the game. I remember talking with him about what a great player he was and he’d mentioned he was walking on at Boise State.”

Vander Esch still holds the state 1A Division II record for most points in a game with 37, and points in the tournament with 93.

“I thought he’d be a great college player, but he wasn’t as big as he is now,” Winger said. “You couldn’t have called it at that time. He’s an amazing athlete, but I got the chance to meet his parents and they’re great people. He was just an awesome kid. For his size, and what he’s doing, you just think ‘Oh boy.’”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.