A good one before the big one
COEUR d’ALENE — With a rematch of the 2017 state 5A championship game next Friday at home, the Coeur d’Alene football team could have fallen asleep looking ahead.
Any thoughts of that were quickly put to rest in the first five minutes of the game.
Colbey Nosworthy scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Kale Edwards, the first of two Viking touchdowns in 14 seconds, on the way to a 52-14 trouncing of the Eisenwinter Cadets of Yakima.
“It was nice to have that game,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “We’ve got a big one next week, but our kids put together a great effort tonight. We played a good four-quarter game, and really hadn’t done that yet.”
Edwards connected with Nosworthy again with 5:02 remaining in the third to give Coeur d’Alene a 31-7 halftime lead.
“We feel good about the offense,” Amos said. “I’m already onto Highland in my mind right now. We still have a lot of things we can get better at, and will watch the film and look at that.”
Garrett Hagel recovered a botched snap in the Viking redzone to set up an Edwards touchdown run in the first quarter, and Coeur d’Alene also intercepted two passes — one by Nosworthy and one by Kyle DeWitt.
“It’s always nice to get a homecoming win,” Amos said. “It’s good to come out the preseason 4-0 and a little young, but nobody’s young anymore. We’re just football players.”
Coeur d’Alene (4-0) hosts Highland of Pocatello next Friday. The Rams are currently the top-ranked team in 5A in this week’s state prep football media poll. Highland beat Coeur d’Alene, which returns one starter from last year’s team, 14-8 in the title game at Holt Arena in Pocatello.
Nosworthy, a junior, finished with five catches for 97 yards on offense, and also had an interception to set up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Edwards to Shilo Morgan on the ensuing play after the turnover.
“We’re definitely progressing really well,” Nosworthy said. “We changed some things up and played really well and made some plays tonight.”
Coeur d’Alene forced three turnovers on defense and had none of its own.
“We had some ups and downs and stuff,” Nosworthy said. “But overall we played really good.”
Coeur d’Alene senior Nate Burch set up another touchdown with a blocked punt late in the third quarter.
“I really didn’t get blocked from the left tackle and was able to stretch out and make a play,” Burch said. “Some of my teammates were yelling at me about stretching out on the first one of the night, so I made a play on the next one.”
Edwards finished with 201 yards passing and 30 yards rushing, and was part of five touchdowns for Coeur d’Alene.
Damian Pacheco had 29 carries for 117 yards and one touchdown for Eisenhower (2-1).
Eisenhower 0 7 0 7 — 14
Coeur d’Alene 21 10 21 0 — 52
First quarter
Cd’A — Colbey Nosworthy 13 pass from Kale Edwards (Gabe Nazemi kick), 8:35
Cd’A — Edwards 4 run (Nazemi kick), 8:21
Cd’A — Kyle DeWitt 7 pass from Edwards (Nazemi kick), 4:34
Second quarter
Cd’A — FG, Nazemi, 22, 9:22
Eis — Damian Pacheco 2 run (Thomas Oplinger kick), 7:20
Cd’A — C. Nosworthy 16 pass from Edwards (Nazemi kick), 5:02
Third quarter
Cd’A — Shilo Morgan 10 pass from Edwards (Nazemi kick), 4:40
Cd’A — Edwards 11 run (Nazemi kick), 3:21
Cd’A — Ryan Linehan 18 pass from Carter Friesz (Nazemi kick), 0:07
Fourth quarter
Eis — Drew Reyes 60 pass from Roberto DeLaFuente (Oplinger kick), 8:27
Game called with 7:39 remaining due to lightning.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Eis, Pacheco 29-117, Morgan 3-6, DeLaFuente 1-(-11). Cd’A, Morgan 6-58, Edwards 4-30, Crawford 4-24, Friesz 1-0.
PASSING — Eis, DeLaFuente, 7-12-2-95. Cd’A, Edwards, 14-22-0-201, Friesz, 2-2-0-26.
RECEIVING — Eis, Reyes, 4-81, Spurrier, 3-14. Cd’A, Brown 1-15, C. Nosworthy 5-97, DeWitt 1-7, Linehan 1-18, Hagel 1-41, L. Nosworthy 1-8, Morgan 3-36, Brett 1-8, Crawford 1-(-2), Shelton 1-12, Kay 2-5.