Special kind of night for Vikings
Lake City defensive back Logan Jeanselme makes an open-field tackle on Coeur d’Alene wide receiver Jake Brown in Friday night’s game at Coeur d’Alene High School. LOREN BENOIT/Press
Coeur d'Alene linebacker Nick Dohm tackles Lake City running back Natheniel Hayes for a loss during Friday night's game at Coeur d'Alene High School. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — Coeur d’Alene has found ways to run past opponents.
Offensively, been there, done that.
Defensively, ditto.
Friday night, well, it was special.
After ending the first quarter with a 14-7 lead, Coeur d’Alene blew things open in the second quarter — returning two blocked punts for touchdowns — to roll to a 69-14 5A Inland Empire League win over the visiting Lake City Timberwolves on Friday at Viking Field.
“That’s special,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “Those are special, special teams. When you block two punts for touchdowns, that’s tough to overcome for the other side. Derek Edwards designed that this week, and it worked out great.”
Coeur d’Alene opened the scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run by Kale Edwards, who accounted for five touchdowns in the game. Lake City evened the score at 7-7 on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Chris Irvin to Logan Jeanselme with four minutes remaining in the first quarter, but it was all Vikings after that.
With 11:09 remaining in the half, Coeur d’Alene senior Nate Burch deflected a punt, returned by Trent Elstad for a touchdown to give the Vikings a 21-7 lead. With 2:26 remaining in the half, Burch recovered a blocked punt by Nick Dohm and raced 20 yards for a touchdown to boost Coeur d’Alene’s lead to 35-7 at halftime.
“Two blocked punts for touchdowns was big,” Lake City coach Brian Fulp said. “They executed, and we didn’t tonight. When you play somebody that is so much more established, you can’t have those kind of momentum swings go against you. And we can’t overcome them right now. And Coeur d’Alene’s good. Coach Amos does a good job. They played well.”
Coeur d’Alene (7-0, 2-0 5A IEL) clinches a playoff berth and concludes the regular season at Post Falls next Friday.
“You’ve got to be happy with a win like this,” Amos said. “It guarantees us a spot in the playoffs and a chance to play for a league title. We were a little sloppy at times and still have some things to learn from it. Lake City kept fighting and battling. We’ll have stuff to fix from this.”
Shilo Morgan had a 27-yard touchdown reception from Kale Edwards in the third quarter, then returned a kickoff 90 yards for a score with 1:49 remaining in the third.
“It was a big win for us,” Morgan said. “You can’t take any team for granted, so we had to come out and get prepared. That was a big, big game for us on special teams this week. That was fun to watch. It’s good that they’re getting the recognition for all the hard work they’ve been putting in.”
Lake City (3-5, 0-2) concludes the season at Lewiston next Friday.
“We’ve still got a lot to play for,” Fulp said. “For about 95 percent of those seniors, it’s the last time they’ll ever put on the football pads. I think they’ll come out and respond next week. We’re at the point where it’s expected, and I think they’ll do it.”
Coeur d’Alene forced four turnovers in the game, two by Kale Edwards — one fumble recovery and an interception — and another on an interception by Bruce Miller.
“It was a big win for us,” Morgan said. “You can’t take any team for granted, so we had to come out and get prepared.”
Next week’s winner between Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene will get a first-round bye into the state 5A quarterfinals. The loser will host an opening round game the weekend of Oct. 26-27.
“Next week is the biggest game of the week again,” Amos said. “One thing that’s great about this group is that they don’t give up. Right now, we’re playing good football on both sides of the ball. We just need to clean things up and see how good we can get.”
Lake City 7 0 7 0 — 14
Coeur d’Alene 14 21 27 7 — 69
First quarter
Cd’A — Kale Edwards 1 run (Gabe Nazemi kick), 8:03
LC — Logan Jeanselme 31 pass from Chris Irvin (Caden Powell kick), 4:00
Cd’A — Shilo Morgan 4 run (Nazemi kick), 1:11
Second quarter
Cd’A — Trent Elstad 15 blocked punt return (Nazemi kick), 11:09
Cd’A — Edwards 6 run (Nazemi kick), 7:04
Cd’A — Nate Burch 20 blocked punt return (Nazemi kick), 2:26
Third quarter
Cd’A — Colbey Nosworthy 35 pass from Edwards (kick failed), 10:56
Cd’A — Morgan 27 pass from Edwards (Nazemi kick), 4:55
LC — Natheniael Hayes 28 run (Powell kick), 2:03
Cd’A — Morgan 90 kickoff return (Nazemi kick), 1:49
Cd’A — Edwards 4 run (Nazemi kick), 46.2
Fourth quarter
Cd’A — Conner Dixon 5 pass from Carter Friesz (Nazemi kick), 3:39
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LC, Lettau 2-3, Hayes 32-98, Irvin 2-0, Milne 1-7, Jeanselme 1-(-9). Cd’A, Morgan 7-50, Edwards 6-54, Crawford 1-4, Giulio 1-2.
PASSING — LC, Irvin, 14-21-2-124. Cd’A, Edwards, 17-21-0-252, Morgan, 1-1-0-38, Friesz, 3-3-0-27.
RECEIVING — LC, Jeanselme 8-80, Jerome 4-34, Hanna 1-15, Hayes 1-(-4). Cd’A, Morgan 3-36, Prka 2-15, C. Nosworthy 3-54, Ch. Dixon 1-5, Linehan 4-78, Crawford 1-19, Hagel 1-7, Shelton 2-22, Garitone 2-40, L. Nosworthy 1-36, Co. Dixon 1-5.