Turnovers doom Vikings in loss to G-Prep
SPOKANE — No, you can’t win a game in the second quarter.
But turn the ball over enough, you can definitely put yourself in a position where you are playing from behind the entire night.
Gonzaga Prep took advantage of five Coeur d’Alene turnovers — three coming in the first half — to run away with a 45-13 win over the Vikings in a nonleague football game on Friday night.
The Bullpups finished with 358 yards rushing on the night, led by Jaden Ortega with 101 yards and four touchdowns.
“They do a great job with their system, and always have,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “They’ve got a couple of kids that can run really well. They just outplayed us tonight. We had too many turnovers on our part, and they did some good stuff tonight. They were just better than we were tonight.”
Ortega scored three touchdowns in the second quarter as Prep, in its season opener, took a 24-0 halftime lead.
“We just didn’t get the job done tonight,” Amos said. “There’s no excuses. We’ll go back and coach them up and get ready for next week.”
Coeur d’Alene (1-1) answered in the second half as Gunner Giulio scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 10:11 remaining in the third quarter. Following a 3-and-out on defense, Giulio scored again to cut the deficit to 24-13 after the conversion pass was intercepted.
“I was happy with how our kids responded coming out of the second half,” Amos said. “They didn’t panic, and I think that shows there’s a chance to be a pretty good football team.”
Coeur d’Alene quarterback Jack Prka finished with 173 yards passing. Trent Elstad led Coeur d’Alene with 83 yards rushing, all in the second half.
“The great thing is we’ve got three great running backs, and someone can get hot,” Amos said. “Trent had a nice game and it gave us a chance to get Brendan (Crawford) out to receiver a little more.”
Coeur d’Alene hosts Mead of Spokane next Friday. Mead beat Post Falls 42-21 in its season opener on Friday at Whitworth University.
Robert Collier Jr. finished with 74 yards rushing and two touchdowns for Gonzaga Prep, both coming in the third quarter.
“The way our offense rolls, if we protect the football, good things will happen,” Gonzaga Prep coach Dave McKenna said. “We did a good job up front with the offensive line.”
Coeur d’Alene beat Gonzaga Prep 28-14 in last year’s game in Coeur d’Alene. It was Prep’s first win in four meetings vs. the Vikings.
“It started up front on both sides of the football for us tonight,” McKenna said. “Coach Amos is a class act and a great guy. He does a heck of a job and he’s a great man. I respect him as a person, and his entire staff. They’re really good people, and they’re a great team.”
Coeur d’Alene 0 0 13 0 — 13
Gonzaga Prep 0 24 14 7 — 45
Second quarter
GP — FG Evan Duchense, 30, 10:06
GP — Jaden Ortega 8 run (Duchense kick), 8:51
GP — Ortega 5 run (Duchense kick), 4:28
GP — Ortega 18 run (Duchense kick), :40.1
Third quarter
Cd’A — Gunner Giulio (Eli Jolly kick), 10:11
Cd’A — Giulio 1 run (pass failed), 7:50
GP — Robert Collier Jr. 1 run (Duchense kick), 4:00
GP — Collier Jr. 4 run (Duchense kick), 2:36
Fourth quarter
GP — Ortega 1 run (Duchense kick), 6:31
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Cd’A, Giulio 5-12, Crawford 7-41, Prka 5-11, Elstad 4-83. GP, Becker 9-59, Kerr 8-40, Keyes 8-19, Ortega 17-101, Dodson 3-23, List 2-6, Collier, Jr. 12-74, McKenna 12-59.
PASSING — Cd’A, Prka, 11-19-1-173. GP, Keyes, 4-10-1-52, McKenna, 1-1-0-40.
RECEIVING — Cd’A, Giulio 1-6, Crawford 4-58, Pottenger 1-22, Schueller 2-32, Nosworthy 2-27, Elstad 2-34. GP, Prado 1-4, Kerr 2-48, Becker 2-40.