Right place, right time

COEUR d’ALENE — Carter Friesz saw the pass in the air, intended for a teammate, and figured on a rainy night with a slick football, he might as well be in the area too, just in case.

He ended up making the play of the game to keep Coeur d’Alene’s season alive.

Friesz’s catch of a deep pass that bounded off a teammate in the game’s final minute set up the go-ahead score, and the Vikings rallied to beat the Borah Lions 37-34 in a wacky state 5A football quarterfinal Friday night at Viking Field.

“I’ve been in a lot of ’em, but that one was certainly crazy,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “Sometimes you get away with one. They have some really good football players, and they battled their butts off, and our kids did too. It wasn’t pretty, it was sloppy, and we have a lot of things we need to get better at in a hurry. But to find a way to win, that’s huge.”

Coeur d’Alene (9-0) will travel to Rocky Mountain (10-0) of Meridian next weekend for a state semifinal.

The Vikings, trailing 34-30, were facing a third and 19 from their own 36 with less than 2 minutes left. Kale Edwards threw deep down the middle of the field for Garrett Hagel. Hagel reached up for the catch, but the ball bounced off him and Friesz, running a similar route a few yards to the left, dove and caught the ball at the Borah 12.

“We were just running fades on the same side,” Friesz said. “Kale just threw a deep ball up for Garrett Hagel, and it hit off his hands, and it was wet out, and it bounced off his helmet, too, and it came down and I just grabbed it. Perfect timing, to be in the right spot.”

Three plays later, Edwards powered over the left side from 4 yards out for the go-ahead touchdown with 36 seconds left.

“Carter’s a beast,” Edwards said. “He’s always been my guy, and he always makes plays all over the field.”

Borah (6-5) reached the Coeur d’Alene 43 before time ran out.

Momentum changed hands throughout the game.

Coeur d’Alene scored first, after Viking Nate Burch recovered a Borah fumble on the third play of the game. Edwards connected with Colbey Nosworthy from 13 yards out and the Vikings let 6-0.

Borah lived on big plays all night.

Ellis Magnuson caught a deep pass down the middle from Jake Standlee and took it in to complete a 67-yard scoring play midway through the second quarter. Magnuson then returned a punt 65 yards for a score as the Lions led 14-6 at halftime.

Coeur d’Alene scored three straight touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 24-14 lead. The last two scores were set up by interceptions by Hagel and Brennan Crawford.

Shilo Morgan scored two of the TDs. He took a screen pass and rumbled 36 yards for a score to cut Borah’s lead to 14-12. After Crawford’s pick, with Coeur d’Alene facing fourth and 2 from the Borah 17, and everyone expecting Edwards to run right behing his three blocking backs, Morgan cut back left at the snap, took a forward handoff from Edwards and powered over the left side, carrying tacklers into the end zone.

Borah then showed some life when Logan Miller returned a punt 52 yards for a score late in the third, cutting the Viking lead to 24-20.

Standlee, who returned at quarterback last week after suffering a broken wrist, threw interceptions on three straight passes. After the third pick, by Kyle DeWitt, Borah went with Austin Bolt, normally a wide receiver, at quarterback. Essentially running a wildcat offense, Bolt bolted, as it were, for touchdown runs of 50 and 74 yards to put Borah ahead 34-24 with 7:08 left.

Then it was Coeur d’Alene’s time to respond. The Vikings, who hadn’t been in this much trouble since the season opener at Rigby, marched 66 yards in 12 plays, Edwards tossing over the defense to Jake Brown from 4 yards out for a TD with 3:22 remaining.

But Borah was unable to run out the clock, mostly because of an errant snap that zipped past Bolt, who fell on the ball on his 18 for an 18-yard loss. The Lions punted, and Coeur d’Alene took over at its 45 with 2:17 remaining.

A holding penalty backed up the Vikings to second and 25 on their 30. But two plays later, Friesz made his big play, keeping Coeur d’Alene’s season alive.

“It really opens your eyes to how quick you can be done playing high school football,” Friesz said. “It definitely makes you want to work harder next week, and not have a close game like that. But it’s good to see our team can go through some adversity.”

Edwards passed for 325 yards and three scores for the Vikings, rushed for 50 yards and two TDs, and also intercepted a pass in the first half.

Bolt rushed for 170 yards and two TDs on 16 carries for Borah, and caught eight passes for 130 yards.

“They’ve got big-play guys,” Amos said. “They’ve got three or four guys that are as good as anybody in the state. We practiced for 9 (Magnuson, who played QB when Standlee was injured), but 11 (Bolt) is a horse.”

Borah 0 14 6 14 ­— 34

Coeur d’Alene 6 0 18 13 — 37

First quarter

Cd’A — Colbey Nosworthy 13 pass from Kale Edwards (kick blocked), 9:06

Second quarter

Borah — Ellis Magnuson 67 pass from Jake Standlee (Kellan McCullough kick), 6:24

Borah — Magnuson 65 punt return (McCullough kick), 3:49

Third quarter

Cd’A — Shilo Morgan 36 pass from Edwards (run failed), 8:00.

Cd’A — Edwards 1 run (pass failed), 5:12

Cd’A — Morgan 17 run (kick failed), 3:42

Borah — Logan Miller 52 punt return (kick blocked), :13

Fourth quarter

Borah — Austin Bolt 50 run (McCullough kick), 8:18

Borah — Bolt 74 run (McCullough kick), 7:08

Cd’A — Jake Brown 4 pass from Edwards (kick failed), 3:21

Cd’A — Edwards 4 run (Gabe Nazemi kick), :36

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Borah, Bolt 16-170, Standlee 2-(minus 7), Phomphackdy 4-9, Magnuson 7-72, Pruitt 2-4, Batubenga 2-1. Cd’A, Morgan 15-89, Edwards 13-50.

PASSING — Borah, Standlee 13-26-4-254. Cd’A, Edwards 26-46-0-325.

RECEIVING — Borah, Bolt 8-130, Dilworth 2-11, Magnuson 2-100, Nett 1-13. Cd’A, Hagel 6-56, Morgan 4-65, C. Nosworthy 6-33, Friesz 4-69, Brown 4-87, Dixon 2-15.