Vikings rule 5A IEL again

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

COEUR d’ALENE — After hearing about it all offseason following a down year last year, and after a turnover-plagued first half Friday night, the Coeur d’Alene Vikings established themselves as the top football team in the 5A Inland Empire League once again.

Coeur d’Alene scored on its first three possessions in the first half to break open a tie game, then coasted to a 29-16 victory over the Lewiston Bengals at Viking Field to win the league title.

The Vikings (7-2, 3-0 5A IEL) missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2008. This year, Coeur d’Alene earned a first-round playoff bye, and will host a quarterfinal game in two weeks.

“It’s funny; when you rule the North for years, and you have one tough year, everything you did is kind of diminished,” said Coeur d’Alene senior quarterback-turned wide receiver/outside linebacker/gunner Jamison Kizziar, who caught the go-ahead TD pass, a 46-yard strike from sophomore Caden Symons, 5 minutes into the third quarter. “It was hard for us juniors last year and seniors this year to put in so much hard work and kind of not have the pieces last year, to watch it slip away the way it did. It was rough last year, getting blown out by Lewiston in that final league game. This means a lot to me personally, because I know all the seniors, even the younger guys that stepped up, we spent that winter training … for us it started in December. I can’t be more proud of the work we put in, and I just hope we can keep it going.”

It’s the sixth time in seven seasons that Coeur d’Alene has either won or shared the league title, and 11th time in 13 years.

“We struggled (in the first half),” said Shawn Amos, in his 27th season as Vikings coach. “Lewiston came to play, but, a league title’s a league title. These kids worked hard to re-establish themselves. A lot of people had a lot of doubts about us this year, so it’s nice to prove it on the field. They were pretty motivated to re-establish themselves. A lot of people had a lot of things to say about us in the offseason. Obviously, you fix that by working your butts off, and getting back to where you think you belong. So it was satisfying to see them do that.”

Lewiston, which ended Coeur d’Alene’s season last year with a 40-7 rout at Bengal Field, finished 4-5, 1-2 and missed the playoffs.

The Bengals scored first when Rylan Gomez picked off a pass on the sixth play of the game and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown. It was the first of two interceptions by Gomez in the first half.

Coeur d’Alene answered with an 80-yard drive, capped by a 9-yard scramble by Symons to tie it up.

Lewiston took a 10-7 lead on a field goal late in the first quarter.

Coeur d’Alene lost a fumble deep in Lewiston territory in the second quarter for its third turnover of the half.

But Nolan Christ’s 38-yard punt return set up a 26-yard field goal by Jayson Cady with 6 seconds left in the half.

The game was tied at the half, though Coeur d’Alene had outgained Lewiston 214-49, including minus 11 yards rushing for the Bengals.

“And that’s the thing; we had barely turned the ball over all year,” Amos said. “It was just kind of a weird start to the night — sound system going down, senior night … it was just a weird night to start. But they found a way — win and move on.”

Early in the third quarter, Kizziar faked like he was blocking for a bubble screen, then took off down the sideline and Symons connected with him in stride for the lead.

“The corner bit on my fake block, and it worked,” Kizziar said. “Great ball by Caden, and I was just glad we could score, because we needed it in that moment. It was a big play, and it helped us get that momentum we needed for the rest of the night to finish it out.”

Late in the third quarter, senior Owen Harris broke loose for a 33-yard touchdown run for the Vikings. Harris finished with 115 yards on 20 carries, carrying the load after senior Carsen Speelman left in the first half with a knee injury. Harris also had an interception.

Junior Brett Myers capped another 80-yard march by Coeur d’Alene with a 1-yard run to make it 29-10 with 7:06 remaining.

Coeur d’Alene outgained Lewiston 433-193 for the game. The Bengals finished with just 56 rushing yards, much of that coming late after the outcome had been decided.

Kizziar caught five passes for 115 yards, and Joe Hagel had five catches for 60 yards.

Aaron Ivankovich had one solo sack for Coeur d’Alene, and teamed with Parker Neff on two others.

Coeur d’Alene’s potential quarterfinal foe was still to be calculated as of Friday night.

Post Falls, which earned the second playoff berth from the 5A IEL, will play host to Mountain View of Meridian next week.

Lewiston 10 0 0 6 — 16

Coeur d’Alene 7 3 12 7 — 29

First quarter

Lew — Rylan Gomez 60 interception return (Alex Hernandez kick), 10:26

Cd’A — Caden Symons 9 run (Jayson Cady kick), 5:33

Lew — FG Hernandez 30, 1:32

Second quarter

Cd’A — FG Cady 26, :06

Third quarter

Cd’A — Jamison Kizziar 46 pass from Symons (kick failed), 7:03

Cd’A — Owen Harris 33 run (pass failed), 1:24

Fourth quarter

Cd’A — Brett Myers 1 run (Cady kick), 7:06

Lew — Drew Hottinger 7 run (no attempt), :00

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lew, Hottinger 18-36, Lathen 12-25, Irwin 1-3, Yoder 6-(minus 8). Cd’A, Harris 20-115, Myers 7-36, Speelman 5-18, Symons 4-14.

PASSING — Lew, Hottinger 13-21-1-137. Cd’A, Symons 20-28-2-250.

RECEIVING — Lew, Gomez 4-29, Lathen 2-14, Grittner 2-34, Yoder 2-20, Alldredge 1-16, Arlilnt 1-14, Irwin 1-15. Cd’A, Kizziar 5-115, Hagel 5-60, Wheeler 3-20, Booth 2-19, Williams 1-12, Speelman 1-0, Coey 1-8, Harris 1-8, Petree 1-8.