PREP FOOTBALL: Vikings just too much
MARK NELKE/Press Ethan Garitone (3) of Coeur d'Alene races downfield after the catch as Bridger Stephens of Lake City pursues on Friday night at Lake City. Garitone scored to complete the 68-yard scoring play — the second play of the game.
MARK NELKE/Press Xander Webb of Lake City runs against Coeur d'Alene during the first half Friday night at Lake City High.
COEUR d’ALENE — For two teams that — in their assessment mind you — haven’t played a full game quite yet, there’s a lot to build on for both Coeur d’Alene and Lake City High.
As for Friday night, the pieces that the visiting Vikings held were just a little too much for the Timberwolves.
Ethan Garitone broke free on a 68-yard touchdown reception from Jack Prka on the game’s second play as Coeur d’Alene beat Lake City 40-13 in a nonleague game between the two 5A Inland Empire League rivals at Lake City High.
“We knew this was coming with Ethan,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “He had a really good game, and made some really big catches for us tonight.”
Lake City answered just as quickly as Chris Irvin hit Zach Johnson on an 83-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7 after the first.
“That pass was big, but then they came back and answered right away,” Amos said. “Lake City came ready to play. It was a battle. We haven’t played four quarters of football yet, and you can tell our guys weren’t used to that. But it was a great battle. We’ve got a ton to get better at for sure.”
Garitone finished with six catches for 138 yards for Coeur d’Alene (3-0), which hosts Post Falls next Friday at Viking Stadium in a nonleague game.
“My outside receiver (Alex Karns) had been blocking really well all night,” Garitone said. “He made a really nice block and I was able to turn it up the field and put the burners on to get it in.”
Coeur d’Alene extended the advantage to 28-7 in the second quarter, capped by a fumble recovery in the end zone by James Elliott with 4:51 remaining in the half.
The game was then delayed a half hour due to lightning in the area. After both teams returned to the field, Lake City capped the first-half scoring on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Irvin to Matthew Whitcomb.
“In that second quarter, we were facing the wind and that affected us a little bit,” Lake City coach Brian Fulp said. “We put ourselves in some negative situations and didn’t execute what we needed to do. We had a couple of blown coverages, but came out in the second half and just battled. We played basically even in the second half, which was good to see.”
Prka finished with 18 completions for 238 yards and four touchdowns.
“Prka’s really brought our team together this year,” Garitone said. “He’s done an amazing job this year. If I run a bad route, or if he misses me on the field, we’re picking each other up. It’s nice to know he’s got my back.”
The teams will meet again in 5A IEL play on Oct. 16 at Viking Stadium.
“It’s different, and we haven’t done this for a long time,” Amos said. “What we can take from this is that there’s a lot of different things that we can get better at down the road.”
Lake City will host Sandpoint, a team they lost to 20-15 at Barlow Stadium in Sandpoint on Sept. 11, next Friday night.
“We’ve got to play a complete game,” said Fulp, whose team turned the ball over six times in a loss to Post Falls on Sept. 19. “This was probably our closest to that, but there’s a lot to build on effort-wise. We took care of the ball a lot better offensively, and that was everybody. We were more secure in our routes and just taking care of the ball. It was a better effort all-around.”
Coeur d’Alene 7 21 6 6 — 40
Lake City 7 6 0 0 — 13
First quarter
Cd’A — Ethan Garitone 68 pass from Jack Prka (Eli Jolly kick), 11:41
LC — Zach Johnson 83 pass from Chris Irvin (Kyrus Condon kick), 10:22
Second quarter
Cd’A — Prka 2 run (Jolly kick), 8:46
Cd’A — Luke McLaughlin 46 pass from Prka (Jolly kick), 5:01
Cd’A — James Elliott fumble recovery in endzone (Jolly kick), 4:51
LC — Matthew Whitcomb 16 pass from Irvin (kick failed), 1:42
Third quarter
Cd’A — Gunner Giulio 28 pass from Prka (kick failed), 9:03
Fourth quarter
Cd’A — Mason Cummings 16 pass from Prka (pass failed), 3:00
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Cd’A, Giulio 12-95, Elstad 8-35, Prka 3-3. LC, Chavez 5-4, Irvin 8-44, Howard 2-7, Webb 8-27, Johnson 1-(-2).
PASSING — Cd’A, Prka 18-26-1-238. LC, Irvin, 18-32-0-233.
RECEIVING — Cd’A, McLaughlin 2-53, Garitone 6-138, Giulio 3-26, Karns 3-17, Elstad 2-(-5), Entzi 1-10, Cope 1-7, Cummings 1-16. LC, Johnson 7-120, Whitcomb 5-82, Webb 2-13, Rosenau 3-29, Bowman 1-8.
