Coeur d'Alene bowls past Mead
CHENEY — Apparently, bowling balls are more versatile than we may have imagined.
Shilo Morgan, Coeur d’Alene’s 5-foot-9, 215-pound senior running back, barrelled for 156 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries as the Vikings outlasted the Mead Panthers 47-34 in nonleague high school football Friday night at Eastern Washington University’s Roos Field.
But he also displayed another dimension, catching five passes — two for touchdowns — as Coeur d’Alene improved to 3-0.
“They wanted me to be involved in the route game a little bit more,” said Morgan, who totaled 42 yards on his five receptions. “It put me in some more routes. I like it; it’s fun, being able to be a dual threat. They can be worried about you running, and they have to be worried about you catching.”
“We think our backs can catch the ball, and it’s nice to get them out of the backfield,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “He’s a slick bowling ball; he’s just a good football player. He’s a load, plays hard.”
On Morgan’s first touchdown, he slipped out of the backfield and looped down the right sideline. Mead lost track of him, and he was wide open when he hauled in a 23-yard pass from Kale Edwards. That made it 14-0 midway through the second quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Edwards rolled right and threw to Morgan in the right corner of the end zone. Morgan outfought a Mead defensive back and came down with the 9-yard TD reception. That made if 44-21 Vikings.
“I just knew I couldn’t give up on our quarterback,” Morgan said. “They don’t give up on me, so I can’t give up on them. So I just fought as hard as I could to get it.”
Morgan’s 1-yard run early in the third quarter — set up when Mead muffed a punt at midfield and the Vikings recovered — hiked Coeur d’Alene’s lead to 28-0.
That was the start of a wild second half which produced a combined 61 points.
Colbey Nosworthy of Coeur d’Alene returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Gabe Nazemi booted a pair of second-half field goals for the Vikings, including a 49-yarder on the first play of the fourth quarter that just snuck over the crossbar.
Coeur d’Alene never trailed, but withstood a flurry of touchdown passes by Mead (1-1) in the second half.
Backup QB Ryan Blair passed for 282 yards and three TDs in the second half, after coming for starter Ryan Chan, who ran for 64 yards in the first half, and tossed a 77-yarder for a score early in the third quarter. All told, the Panthers passed for 412 yards, all but 53 coming in the second half. Michael Workman caught seven passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns. And Mead dropped a potential 36-yard touchdown pass that would have made it a one-score game with less than two minutes remaining.
“That’s a concern; we certainly weren’t trying to let them do that,” Amos said. “They know the second half wasn’t as clean as we’d like it to be.”
Also, the Panthers sacked Edwards five times. Still, he threw for 257 yards and the two scores to Morgan, and also ran for two TDs.
Coeur d’Alene plays host to Eisenhower of Yakima next Friday.
Coeur d’Alene 7 13 14 13 — 47
Mead 0 0 14 20 — 34
First quarter
Cd’A — Kale Edwards 5 run (Gabe Nazemi kick), 9:41
Second quarter
Cd’A — Shilo Morgan 23 pass from Edwards (Nazemi kick), 6:03
Cd’A — Edwards 1 run (kick failed), :20
Third quarter
Cd’A — Morgan 1 run (Morgan run), 10:09
Mead — Michael Workman 77 pass from Ryan Chan (Eli Eldridge kick), 9:26
Cd’A — Colbey Nosworthy 60 punt return (kick blocked), 4:20
Mead — Jonathan Baird 42 pass from Ryan Blair (Eldridge kick), 2:19.
Fourth quarter
Cd’A — FG Nazemi 49, 11:56
Mead — Baird 14 pass from Blair (Eldridge kick), 10:11
Cd’A — Morgan 9 pass from Edwards (Nazemi kick), 6:51
Mead — Workman 72 pass from Blair (Eldridge kick), 5:43
Cd’A — FG Nazemi 24, 4:03
Mead — Keli’i Zalopany 7 run (run failed), 2:23.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Cd’A, Morgan 14-156, Edwards 28-52, Crawford 2-9. Mead, Chan 17-57, Shawen 11-24, Blair 1-(minus 2), Hill 2-1, Zalopany 1-7, Saldana 1-16.
PASSING — Cd’A, Edwards 23-38-0-257. Mead, Chan 5-12-0-121, Blair 17-22-0-291.
RECEIVING — Cd’A, Dixon 1-33, Crawford 3-25, Linehan 1-7, Brown 7-89, Morgan 5-42, Hegel 5-55, L. Nosworthy 1-6. Mead, Hill 2-25, Dolezal 6-46, Shawen 1-(minus 2), Workman 7-232, Baird 4-78, Zalopany 2-33.