A look back at Vikings' big play on defense

The big plays used to always happen on offense for the Coeur d’Alene Vikings.

But this time — and, actually, several times this season — it was the Vikings’ defense that came up big to seal a victory.

Mountain View had been successful with its speed option in the second half, whittling a 24-7 Coeur d’Alene lead down to 24-21.

But when the Mavericks needed 2 yards on fourth down at the Vikings’ 25 to keep their drive alive, and possibly continue on for the go-ahead touchdown, Coeur d’Alene swarmed the ball carrier to make the stop.

“Could not have been prouder of the guys’ effort last night,” Coeur d’Alene defensive coordinator Jeff Vesser said. “Mountain View had some earlier success with (the speed option). They did a good job blocking us on the perimeter and we had to make some adjustments. Going into that fourth-down play, we felt that was something they would come back to.”

So, following a timeout by Mountain View with 3:16 remaining, Coeur d’Alene was ready. The Mavericks ran the play to the left, Mason Cummings forced the quarterback to pitch early and Colbey Nosworthy, Jack Dohm, Ty Pottenger and Luke McLaughlin all got to the running back about the same time, stopping him for a 1-yard loss.

Coeur d’Alene scored on a long run three plays later to ice the game.

“As far as execution, the guys did a heck of a job pursuing to the football,” Vesser said. “Really, four guys all got to the play about the same time.”

PLAYOFFS BY THE NUMBERS: On Friday, when Coeur d’Alene plays host to Highland in the state 5A semifinals, it will mark the 10th meeting between the two schools in the last eight seasons. The Vikings will have played Highland more in that span than they have any of their 5A Inland Empire League foes.

Highland has won five of the last nine meetings, and the teams have alternated wins in the nine games, with the Rams winning the most recent tilt, earlier this season at Holt Arena in Pocatello.

This will be the third time since 2012 the teams have met twice in one season. In 2012, Highland won at Coeur d’Alene in the regular season, and the Vikings won at Holt Arena in the semifinals. The following year Highland won at Holt during the regular season, and Coeur d’Alene won in the state title game at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

The teams have met three times at Viking Field since 2012, with Highland winning in 2012 and ’14, and Coeur d’Alene winning last year.

Rocky Mountain of Meridian, which plays host to Rigby in the other 5A semifinal, is in the semis for the seventh straight year. The defending state champion Grizzlies have won 22 straight games. Coeur d’Alene won 24 straight from 2010-12.

RECORD-SETTING TROJANS: Quarterback Derek Pearse’s assault on the Post Falls High football record books was well documented a month ago.

But junior wide receiver Tommy Hauser set a bunch of single-season and career records this year as well, in numbers also compiled by the school.

Hauser set a single-game receiving record in yards (253 vs. Sandpoint; old, Levi Buckles with 246 vs. Cheney in 2007), single-season records in receiving yards (1,448; old; Buckles with 1,018 in 2007) and receptions (77; old, Hauser with 65 in 2018), and career records in receiving yards (2,451; old, Brett Hollenbeck with 2,013 from 1993-95) and receptions (142; old, Buckles with 83 from 2005-07).

Pearse, a senior, set single-game records in TD passes (6; old, six different players with 4), passing yards (431 vs. Lewis and Clark; old, Darick Pope with 355 vs. West Valley in 1994), total offense (469 vs. Lewiston; old, 462 by Pearse vs. Lewis and Clark earlier in 2019. Before that, the record was Pope with 377 vs. Coeur d’Alene in 1994) and total touchdowns (6; old, 5 held by Pope, Josh Mort, Braden Vaughn and Nate Buer).

Pearse set single-season records in passing touchdowns (30; old, Nate Buer with 26 in 2017), passing yards (2,912, breaking his own record of 2,114 in 2018) and completions (219, breaking his own mark of 188 in 2018). He also set career records in passing touchdowns (49; old, Buer with 37 from 2016-17), passing yards (5,026; old, Nikk Reinhardt with 3,111 from 2006-08), completions (407; old, Reinhardt with 217 from 2006-08) and total offense (5,268; old, Mort with 4,480 from 1994-96).

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.