Next stop, Kibbie Dome
LOREN BENOIT/Press Coeur d’Alene’s Trent Elstad celebrates the Viking’s win against Highland in a state 5A semifinal game at Viking Field.
Coeur d’Alene’s Mason Cummings sacks Easton Durham during Friday night’s semifinal game at Viking Field.(LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene running back Trent Elstad rushes upfield against Highland during Friday’s semifinal game at Viking Field. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene running back Trent Elstad rushes the ball near the sideline against Highland during Friday’s semifinal game at Viking Field. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s Gunner Giulio runs the ball upfield against highland during Friday night’s semifinal game at Viking Field. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s Jake Brown catches the ball and runs upfield against Highland during Friday night’s game at Viking Field. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene quarterback Jack Prka throws the ball upfield against Highland during Friday night’s game at Viking Field. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s Gunner Giulio runs around the edge of Highland’s defense during Friday night’s semifinal game at Viking Court. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s football team returns to the field for the second half of Friday night’s semifinal game against Highland at Viking Field. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — Another week, another fourth-down stop for the stingy-when-it-matters Coeur d’Alene High defense.
The Vikings stopped Highland of Pocatello inside the 5-yard line with just over three minutes to go, then got the first down necessary to run out the clock and finish off the Rams 21-17 in a thriller of a state 5A semifinal Friday night at Viking Field.
“That was crazy,” said Coeur d’Alene linebacker/running back Trent Elstad, who was blitzing on that fourth-down play. “We’ve been rolling (on defense). We struggled the first half of the season on defense, and then our coaches implemented our responsibilities, and we’ve been rolling ever since then.”
Jack Prka’s 30-yard scramble for a touchdown in the third quarter proved to be the winning score for Coeur d’Alene (9-2), which will play Rigby (9-1) in the state championship game next weekend at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, date and time TBA. Rigby stunned defending state champion Rocky Mountain (10-1) of Meridian 31-9 in the other semifinal in Meridian. Rigby has won nine straight since losing at Coeur d’Alene 31-26 in the season opener.
Coeur d’Alene advanced to the state title game for the second time in three seasons, and sixth time in the past 10 seasons. The Vikings lost to Highland in the state title game in 2017.
Last week, the Vikings stopped Mountain View of Meridian on fourth and 2 late in the fourth quarter to halt a potential game-winning drive by the Mavericks.
On Friday night, Highland took over at its 20, trailing by four points, with 9:29 remaining. A holding penalty pushed the Rams back to their 10, but they embarked on a 13-play drive, kept alive by a pair of clutch third-down completions by Easton Durham to Josh Potter and Braxton Wilhelm, respectively.
A 25-yard scamper by Mason Fullmer gave the Rams a first-and-goal at the Viking 4. After an illegal procedure and an incomplete pass, Kaleb Demuzio ran for 7 yards to the 2. On third down, Demuzio was stacked up in the backfield for a 2-yard loss.
On fourth down, Durham rolled right and threw low and incomplete in the end zone.
“Man, that was a huge, huge stop,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “It was just like you would expect — it was a battle. They limited our possessions, so we had to make ’em count when we actually got the ball. It was a great high school football game. Highland’s a tremendous program, man. I’m proud of our kids.”
“I knew it was probably going to come down to that drive,” Highland coach Gino Mariani said. “That’s all you can ask for — an opportunity to win the game on the last drive. We just didn’t make the play in the red zone when we needed to.”
Amos said with Highland being so multiple on offense, the Vikings had to be ready for anything on the play that ultimately decided the game.
“What you do is you line up, and everybody does just their job; you can’t try to defend ghosts, we call it,” Amos said. “That’s what our kids did. That’s five or six fourth-down stops in the last two games; that’s pretty impressive.”
Highland (8-4), bidding for its third straight trip to the state title game, led 17-14 at halftime after Ian Hershey’s 43-yard field goal try skimmed off the crossbar and over on the final play of the half.
Coeur d’Alene punted on its first two drives of the second half. Late in the third, the Vikings started at their 23. Prka connected with Colbey Nosworthy for 13 yards and Elstad, on a swing pass, for 11 more. On a run-pass option, Prka rolled left, ran toward the line of scrimmage and flipped a short pass to Brennan Crawford for a 16-yard gain.
On second and 3 from the Highland 30, Prka faked the handoff, kept the ball and ran to his right, looking for a receiver. But he saw lots of daylight in front of him, so he scooted down the sideline and into the end zone for the go-ahead score.
“I think that was the longest I have ever ran in my high school football career; I am not lying to you,” said Prka, who was 22 of 30 for 246 yards and one touchdown. “My O-line coach, coach (Dustin) Shafer, kept saying, ‘The scouting report says our QB can’t run.’ And then after that run he’s like, ‘You changed it; the QB can run now.’”
Highland’s plan was to chew up the clock and keep the ball away from the high-powered Vikings offense. It worked especially well in the first half.
The Rams took the opening kickoff and embarked on a 15-play drive that took 8 minutes off the clock. On fourth and 19 from the Coeur d’Alene 28, Durham scrambled to his left to keep the play alive, and found a wind-open Wilhelm in the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Coeur d’Alene’s first drive of the game extended into the second quarter, capped by Prka’s 9-yard swing pass to Gunner Giulio to tie the game.
Later in the half, Highland drove 72 yards in 12 plays, with Durham hitting Cooper Duffin from 16 yards out for a 14-7 lead.
Coeur d’Alene needed just five plays to tie it, Nosworthy’s 50-yard catch-and-run setting up Prka’s 1-yard plunge with 1:04 left in the half.
That figured to be the halftime score, but Durham was able to pick up 14, 12 and 16 yards on quarterback draws, getting the Rams just close enough for Hershey’s field goal and the lead.
Highland ran 36 plays in the first half to Coeur d’Alene’s 23. There were just seven drives total; the Rams scored on 3 of 4, the Vikings on 2 of 3.
Both teams finished with 299 total yards, and the Vikings held the Rams to just 100 yards in the second half.
“Coeur d’Alene did a nice job defensively — they kept us out of the end zone in the second half,” Mariani said. “They’re moving on to the state championship game. Well deserved.”
Highland 7 10 0 0 — 17
Coeur d’Alene 0 14 7 0 — 21
First quarter
High — Braxton Wilhelm 28 pass from Easton Durham (Ian Hershey kick), 3:44
Second quarter
Cd’A — Gunner Giulio 9 pass from Jack Prka (Eli Jolly kick), 11:05
High — Cooper Duffin 16 pass from Durham (Hershey kick), 2:48
Cd’A — Prka 1 run (Jolly kick), 1:04
High — FG Hershey 43, :00
Third quarter
Cd’A — Prka 30 run (Jolly kick), 2:27
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — High, Demuzio 17-74, Durham 13-51, Fullmer 4-40, Potter 1-7, Duffin 1-2. Cd’A, Crawford 4-17, Giulio 5-10, Prka 10-25, Elstad 5-11.
PASSING — High, Durham 16-24-0-133. Cd’A, Prka 22-30-0-246.
RECEIVING — High, Demuzio 3-11, Mickelson 3-11, Potter 4-29, Wilhelm 2-44, Duffin 3-32, Huelsman 1-6. Cd’A, Giulio 4-25, Crawford 4-53, Brown 3-30, Nosworthy 5-92, Pottenger 2-7, Elstad 4-39.