Vikings pull off a snow job
MARK NELKE/Press Ethan Garitone of Coeur d'Alene races downfield with a big gain after the catch, as Ethan Miller (40) of Post Falls pursues. However, the play was called back as umpire Mike Gump, rear, throws a flag for holding.
MARK NELKE/Press It takes three Post Falls defenders to tackle Coeur d'Alene's Cameren Cope at the end of this pass reception Friday night.
By MARK NELKE
Sports editor
POST FALLS — Apparently, it's going to take much more than a half-foot of snow to slow down the Coeur d'Alene Vikings in the upcoming state 5A football playoffs.
With only some minor adjustments, the Vikings had the same success moving the ball on a snow-covered field as they do on dry land, notching a 30-14 victory over the Post Falls Trojans to win the 5A Inland Empire League championship Friday night at Trojan Stadium.
"We obviously didn’t go vertical as much as we normally do, but we stayed fairly close within our game plan," said Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos, as his players made snow angels and threw snowballs at each other after the game. "We didn’t change that much of what we do."
Both teams had already clinched playoff berths coming into the game. Coeur d'Alene (7-0, 3-0 5A IEL) earned a first-round bye, and a home game in the quarterfinals in two weeks.
Post Falls (5-3, 2-1) will play host to Mountain View (3-3) of Meridian next week in a first-round game.
Coeur d'Alene totaled 412 yards of offense on Friday night, with Jack Prka completing 26 of 34 for 274 yards and four touchdowns — one each to Alex Karns, Trent Elstad, Ethan Garitone and Cameren Cope. Prka also ran for a score.
Karns had eight catches for 47 yards, including the Vikings' first TD of the game, a 9-yarder from Prka early in the second quarter.
Garitone had seven catches for 74 yards, including an 8-yard diving catch into the snow for a TD with 9 seconds left in the half to give Coeur d'Alene an 18-7 lead at intermission.
"Very interesting," Prka said of the game. "I've never been a part of something like that ... a lot of fun. We knew that scoring was going to be hard but we found a way; our running backs had an amazing game. We were dinking and dunking a little while and our wide receivers stepped up making great catches."
The only problem Coeur d'Alene had on this night was punting the ball. The first snap sailed over the punter's head and Post Falls recovered at the Viking 23, but couldn't capitalize.
Late in the first quarter, a low punt was blocked, sailed up in the air and fell into the snow. Chase Berg of Post Falls picked it up and ran it in from 20 yards out for a 7-0 Trojans lead.
But then it was Coeur d'Alene for most of the rest of the game.
Elstad, who also ran for 71 yards on 11 carries, took a short pass from Prka and scooted down the sideline for a 52-yard touchdown with 4:07 left in the half.
Late in the half, Gunner Giulio broke a 42-yard run to the Post Falls 40. Prka hit Garitone for 20 more and the Vikings made it a two-score game right before the half.
"I thought we overcame the element," Amos said. "Our kids played pretty dang clean considering the elements. You kinda knew, a game like this, a 14-point lead would be hard to overcome. I was happy we put 30 points on the board because this was something else, man. Our guys, they made some big-time catches in this weather."
Post Falls managed just 21 rushing yards and 163 total.
"Obviously we thought it (the conditions) favored us early, certainly they struggled punting the ball early," Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. "I thought they did a nice job throwing the football though, they did a nice job with their offense, completing passes. So at the end of the day, the better team probably won.
"I don’t think we performed very well (on offense)," Bennett added. "We missed some guys, dropped a couple balls, had a tough time running the ball. But Coeur d’Alene has a good defense."
Coeur d’Alene 0 18 6 6 — 30
Post Falls 7 0 0 7 — 14
First quarter
PF — Chase Berg 20 blocked punt return (Logan Koller kick), :15
Second quarter
Cd’A — Alex Karns 9 pass from Jack Prka (kick blocked), 9:10
Cd’A — Trent Elstad 52 pass from Prka (run failed), 4:07
Cd’A — Ethan Garitone 8 pass from Prka (run failed), :09
Third quarter
Cd’A — Prka 3 run (pass failed), 5:19
Fourth quarter
Cd’A — Cameren Cope 22 pass from Prka (run failed), 5:12
PF — Kaden Cripps 2 pass from Jaxon Anderson (Koller kick), 2:32
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Cd’A, Elstad 11-71, Prka 7-11, Giulion 3-47, Mallory 3-11, Bengtson 2-(minus 2). PF, McLeod 6-122, Hauser 3-3, Range 1-(minus 1), Anderson 9-7.
PASSING — Cd’A, Prka 26-34-0-274. PF, Anderson 8-18-0-142.
RECEIVING — Cd’A — Garitone 7-74, Karns 8-47, Pottenger 4-46, Elstad 4-63, Giulio 1-9, Cope 2-35. PF, Hauser 4-37, Curlee 2-89, Anderson 1-14, Cripps 1-2.
