Rocky road — Coeur d'Alene's state title dreams end in semifinal loss to Rocky Mountain

MERIDIAN — The Coeur d’Alene Vikings couldn’t have asked for a much better start to their state 5A semifinal matchup on Friday night.

An interception on the game’s second play by Ethan Garitone led to a quick touchdown, and a swing pass turned into a 50-yard score and a 14-0 Coeur d’Alene lead less than six minutes into the game.

But three turnovers, as well as some other missed opportunities on offense, eventually caught up to the Vikings in a 36-21 loss to the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies at Brighton Stadium.

“It was a great game, two evenly matched teams,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “When you play a game like that, you always look at two or three plays … They’re really good,

they just made a few more plays than we did, and they deserved the win.”

Coeur d’Alene, bidding for its seventh trip to the championship game in the last 11 years, finished 8-1.

Rocky Mountain (8-1), a winner on its two previous trips to the title game, will play defending state champion Rigby (10-0) in the title game next week, somewhere in eastern Idaho, at a site and date to be determined.

Coeur d’Alene finished with 360 total yards, but only 99 of those came in the second half. The Vikings, who came into the game averaging 49.6 points per game, came up empty on all six possessions after intermission. The first drive of the second half ended in an interception, and Coeur d’Alene turned it over three times on downs in the half.

Jack Prka passed for 251 yards and two touchdowns for Coeur d’Alene, and Tanner Langley connected with Cameren Cope on a 42-yard wide receiver pass for a score.

Rocky scored its first three touchdowns on three big plays — all passes from Kobe Warr to Jordan Erickson. Erickson, who began the season with offers from five Division I schools, caught just three passes on the night, but got free in the Coeur d’Alene secondary each time, and the result was TD connections of 74, 31 and 67 yards.

Erickson also ran 10 times for 52 yards, including an 11-yard scamper late that set up the clinching touchdown.

“Oh my gosh, that kid’s good,” Amos said of the 6-foot, 200-pound Erickson. “When you don’t see someone of that caliber, it takes awhile to adjust to how fast he is.”

Warr completed just seven passes on the night in 14 attempts, but three were for scores.

Two plays after Garitone’s pick to open the game, Prka hit a wide-open Luke McLaughlin in the end zone from 8 yards out.

On the next drive, Coeur d’Alene went for it on fourth and 3 at the 50. Gunner Giulio caught a swing pass from Prka, was nearly stopped in the backfield by Rocky, but slipped through and zipped the rest of the way down the field for the score and a two-touchdown lead.

Rocky answered two plays later when Erickson got behind the Coeur d’Alene defense and hauled in a 74-yard TD pass from Warr.

Mason Jacobsen of Rocky picked off a screen pass from Prka and returned it to the Viking 3. But Coeur d’Alene held, and Rocky settled for a 20-yard field goal.

Early in the second quarter, Rocky turned it over on downs at its 42 as Jack Dohm knifed in for the stop. One play later, Langley hit Cope on a double pass for a touchdown and a 21-16 Viking lead.

Erickson’s third reception went for his third TD, a 67-yarder from Warr for a 23-21 Rocky lead.

Coeur d’Alene was driving for the go-ahead score late in the first half, but fumbled at the goal line and Rocky recovered in the end zone, preserving the Grizzlies’ 23-21 lead at the half.

“We missed some opportunities, no doubt, and they capitalized on it,” Amos said. “Their defense was tough the whole time. The first half we got some turnovers and got to be in their red zone. We were 6 inches from scoring a touchdown, and it was a fumble.”

Rocky had a chance to add to its lead after an interception early in the second half, but Isaiah Griffin intercepted for the Vikings in the end zone.

Rocky boosted its lead to 29-21 when the Vikings flushed Warr out of the pocket on a blitz, but lost contain on the outside and Warr ran it in around the left side from 14 yards out. That score was set up by a 26-yard completion to Kade Thompson that advanced the ball to the Viking 28.

Coeur d’Alene, bidding for its third state title appearance in four years, went for it on fourth and 3 at its own 34 with just under 3 minutes left, but the first of a double pass was ruled forward and incomplete. Rocky’s Arthur Williams ran it in from 5 yards out to clinch the win.

Prior to Friday night, the fewest points Coeur d’Alene had scored in a game this year was 30 — and that was in a 30-14 victory at Post Falls in a game played in a snowstorm.

Rocky was playing in its eighth straight state semifinal.

In a calendar year where COVID-19 wiped out the spring sports season and caused numerous changes of schedule during the fall sports season, it was a victory of sorts to make it to the end of the season.

“This whole season was crazy,” Amos said. “The whole year you feel like you’re waiting to get punched in the gut (because of COVID). It was stressful; every day you didn’t know what was going to happen. The way this senior class stayed focus and stay on task … that leadership is why we’ve been successful.”

Coeur d’Alene 14 7 0 0 — 21

Rocky Mountain 16 7 0 13 — 36

First quarter

Cd’A — Luke McLaughlin 8 pass from Jack Prka (Eli Jolly kick), 11:06

Cd’A — Gunner Giulio 50 pass from Prka (Jolly kick), 6:46

RM — Jordan Erickson 74 pass from Kobe Warr (Caden Zierenberg kick), 5:52

RM — FG Zierenberg 20, 4:30

RM — Erickson 31 pass from Warr (run failed), :30

Second quarter

Cd’A — Cameron Cope 42 pass from Tanner Langley (Jolly kick), 8:01

RM — Erickson 67 pass from Warr (Zierenberg kick), 4:18

Fourth quarter

RM — Warr 14 run (kick failed), 8:28

RM — Arthur Williams 5 run (Zierenberg kick), 1:45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Cd’A, Elstad 12-55, Prka 8-13, Giulio 2-4, Garitone 1-(minus 5). RM, Erickson 10-52, Warr 12-44, Williams 10-25, Lehman 9-12, Thompson 2-28, Douglas 1-0.

PASSING — Cd’A, Prka 22-41-2-251, Langley 1-1-0-42. RM, Warr 7-16-2-244.

RECEIVING — Cd’A, Cope 5-69, Giulio 5-66, McLaughlin 4-55, Garitone 4-74, Karns 3-24, Elstad 1-2, Pottenger 1-3. RM, Erickson 3-172, Mason 1-5, C. Jacobsen 1-7, Nead 1-24, Thompson 1-26.