DYJ*

Five weeks into the season, the Coeur d’Alene Vikings defensive crew knew something needed to change.

The Vikings had given up 120 points in their first four games, and in their fifth, they allowed three touchdowns and trailed Highland 20-7 at halftime in Pocatello.

“It was just us not clicking together,” Coeur d’Alene senior defensive lineman Gino Pallotta said. “I was not committing to my job 100 percent. I was kinda biting off on the eye candy (falling for fakes when offenses would run the read option). It was a real wakeup call. When we don’t do our job, you can see what will happen. But when we do ... ”

In the second half, Coeur d’Alene held Highland to a single touchdown, eventually falling 28-21. Since then, the Vikings allowed just 81 points over the last six games — an average of 13.5 points per game.

“We had gone thought the first five games with too many breakdowns,” Coeur d’Alene defensive coordinator Jeff Vesser said. “As coaches, we felt like we needed to do a better job communicating and teaching what we needed to do individually and collectively to get stops. It really is a credit to the players for trusting the process and putting in the work.”

Essentially, the adjustment was the coaches reminding the players of the team’s mantra over the years — “Do Your Job.” Fill the gap you’re supposed to fill. Trust that your teammates will do their job and have your back, and you do what you are coached to do.

“As a defense we started getting better when we started to learn to deal with adversity,” Viking senior cornerback Jake Brown said. “We would get smacked in the mouth, and we would learn how to bounce back from that, and make our adjustments, and if everybody does their job, and focuses on their job only, it’s make everybody’s job easier. The big plays come when you’re just doing your job. Nobody’s just trying to make those big plays; they just come. When everybody does their job, that’s when it starts clicking.”

“There was definitely a point where some of us were being more aggressive (than we should have),” Brown added. “When everybody started doing their job, they kinda found it. ... as long as we all do our job, we can be a pretty good team.”

Another key to Coeur d’Alene’s success on defense is that coaches can rotate as many as 20 different players in on defense without missing a beat.

On the defensive line that would be Pallotta, seniors Dylan Franks and Brady Bybee, juniors Brayden Booth, Seth Hagel and Jackson Kohal, and sophomore Cameren Cope.

At linebacker, that would be senior Brennan Crawford and juniors Luke McLaughlin, Jack Dohm, Carter Wiebusch, Trent Elstad and Mason Cummings.

And in the defensive backfield, that would be Brown and seniors Colbey Nosworthy, Devon Johnson and Hunter Schueller, junior Ty Pottenger and sophomore Gunner Giulio.

The top three tacklers are McLaughlin (162, including 6 tackles for loss), Dohm (105, 13 TFLs) and Wiebusch (92, 6 TFLs).

Dohm has six sacks, Cope four.

Nosworthy has eight of the Vikings’ 13 interceptions. Johnson has two.

The defensive backfield has held up remarkably well despite losing two starters — senior Hunter Brett and junior Ethan Garitone — to injuries early in the season.

That increased the workload for folks like Brown, who is in his second year as a starting wide receiver. Now he’s also playing most of the snaps on defense.

“It’s forced some other guys to step up, but I couldn’t ask for anything else,” Brown said. “And we have guys that can step in when I need a breather.”

“His practice habits and attention to detail are outstanding,” Vesser said of Brown. “His competitive nature and mental toughness help drive our success in the secondary.”

It also helped that some of the players were able to talk Johnson into coming back out for the team. He missed the first couple of games but has played lots since, including a leaping one-handed interception in the end zone vs. Mountain View a couple weeks ago in the quarterfinals.

“He’s really stepped in and helped us out a ton,” Brown said. “A few guys put a little word in his ear.”

Was Brown, who played some in the defensive backfield last year, one of them?

“Maybe,” the 6-foot, 170-pound Brown said with a smile. “I told him, ‘It’s your senior year, I think you could really help the team.’ And he was 100 percent bought in.

Pallotta (5-9, 252 pounds) played mostly on the junior varsity team last year. He said he might be interested in playing at a small college next year.

This year, he started the season at nose guard, but has played defensive end in recent weeks.

“He brings a motor and toughness that guys respect,” Vesser said of Pallotta.

Those game-saving fourth-down stops by Coeur d’Alene in recent weeks to beat Mountain View and Highland?

“When those guys (linemen and linebackers) plug their holes and the corners lock up their dudes, that’s just how it goes,” Pallotta said. “And when everyone does their job, we get the fourth-down stop.

“It’s just like any other down; there’s just more on the line.”

Brown, still deciding whether he wants to play baseball or football in college, recalled the feeling of walking off the field — and feeling for the seniors — last year when the Vikings were eliminated in the semifinals at Rocky Mountain of Meridian.

“It motivates you more than anything to get out there and do your job and try and finish, because we’re there now, and it just comes down to execution,” he said. “ ... and doing our job.”

There’s that phrase again.