STATE 6A QUARTERFINALS: 'Win and move on' Coeur d'Alene puts away Middleton, on to state 6A semifinals

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

COEUR d’ALENE — It was one of the most lopsided fairly close games that you will ever see. 

The Coeur d’Alene Vikings shredded the Middleton Vikings through the heavy dose of wide receiver screens — with a deep ball or two thrown in as a change of pace. 

But Coeur d’Alene also was guilty of just enough miscues to give Middleton life throughout the game. 

Despite that Coeur d’Alene’s defense came up with the big plays when it needed them, and finished off a 35-21 victory over Middleton in a state 6A quarterfinal football game Friday night at Viking Field. 

"Well, we had to make it interesting at the end, didn’t we?” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “They (Middleton) kept fighting, but the bottom line in the playoff is, win and move on, man. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. Win and move on.” 

Coeur d’Alene (8-2) will play host to Eagle (8-2) next weekend in a state semifinal. Eagle rallied from nine points down to beat visiting Madison of Rexburg 22-16.

Junior Caden Symons passed for 459 yards and four touchdowns for Coeur d’Alene, which never trailed, and led 35-7 before Middleton (6-4) got its offense cranked up in the fourth quarter. 

Kai Wheeler did a little bit of everything for Coeur d’Alene. The senior receiver caught 11 passes for 151 yards and three touchdowns, and intercepted a Middleton pass at the goal line in the second half. 

Wheeler said his favorite play was the 52-yard post-pattern TD from Symons early in the third quarter, “because I got to actually run. I got to move my legs.” 

Most of his catches were on quick throws to the sideline, where he made the magic happen afterward. 

Coeur d’Alene outgained Middleton 219-67 in total yards in the first half, holding the visitors to 10 rushing yards, but led “only” 21-7 following a crazy second quarter. 

Coeur d’Alene led 14-0 and was in Middleton territory when Jackson Dixon picked off a Symons pass and returned it to the Cd’A 29. One play later, Brockton Smith hit Blake Bishop for a touchdown. 

Coeur d’Alene then fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, and Middleton recovered at the Cd’A 13. A touchdown pass from one of the wingbacks in a double-wing formation was called back because Middleton had a lineman downfield. 

Three plays later, Evan Williams of Coeur d’Alene atoned for his fumble with an interception at the goal line.  

Coeur d’Alene then turned the ball over on downs at its own 35, but Jayson Cady of Cd’A intercepted Smith three plays later.  

Coeur d’Alene drove 68 yards in eight plays, with Wheeler catching a jump ball from Symons in the left corner of the end zone from 5 yards out. 

Coeur d’Alene made it 28-7 early in the third quarter when Wheeler got behind the defense and hauled in a long pass from Symons. 

One play after Wheeler’s pick kept Middleton from drawing to within two touchdowns, Dylan Sutich of Coeur d’Alene took a pass from Symons on a wide receiver screen and zipped 84 yards down the home team’s sideline for a four-touchdown lead. 

Jayson Cady also had a first-half interception for Coeur d’Alene.  

“Defense made some huge stops, and bailed us out a couple times with a couple of picks,” Amos said.  

“We take a lot of pride in our defense,” Wheeler said. “We threw a pick, and we’ve got to bow our backs and play really good defense every drive.” 

For the game, Coeur d’Alene outgained Middleton 489-268. The visitors had 155 of their 212 passing yards in the second half. 

Middleton recovered an onside kick after its first TD in the fourth quarter, then drove to another score to make it 35-21. 

Middleton reached the Coeur d’Alene 8 with 4 minutes left and a chance to make it a one-score game, but turned the ball over on downs. 

“We would like to be more consistent,” Amos said. “We played well early on. We’ll live and learn from it. But no, we’d rather not do that. We’d rather finish them off.” 

Drew Holman threw for 155 yards and a touchdown, all in the second half, for Middleton, and also ran for the Vikings’ other score. 

“We had our chances,” said Bill Brock, in his 25th season as Middleton coach. “We turned the ball over in the first half when we had a chance to make it a little closer than that. Obviously their quarterback can get the ball out of his hand. We did a good job of mixing it up. They got us with the screen game, but they’ve been doing that with everybody.” 

Middleton    0    7    0    14    —    21 

Coeur d’Alene     7    14    14    0    —    35 

First quarter 

Cd’A — Kai Wheeler 17 pass from Caden Symons (Anthony Thompson kick), 2:25 

Second quarter  

Cd’A — Tannar Stern 3 run (Thompson kick), 11:03 

Mid — Blake Bishop 29 pass from Brockton Smith (Tyler Robinson kick), 5:41 

Cd’A — Wheeler 5 pass from Symons (Thompson kick), 1:27 

Third quarter 

Cd’A — Wheeler 52 pass from Symons (Thompson kick), 7:35 

Cd’A — Dylan Sutich 84 pass from Symons (Thompson kick), :58.3 

Fourth quarter 

Mid — Drew Holman 5 run (Robinson kick), 7:30 

Mid — Derrick Walker 4 pass from Holman (Robinson kick), 5:52 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — Mid, Holman 14-44, Harper 8-14, Lewis 1-2, Smith 1-(minus 4). Cd’A, Thompson 8-23, Young 6-15, Stern 4-10, Symons 4-(minus 17), Myers 3-(minus 1). 

PASSING — Mid, Smith 6-14-2-57, Holman 19-30-1-155. Cd’A, Symons 30-40-2-459, Stern 0-1-0-0. 

RECEIVING — Mid, Harper 6-35, Bishop 4-48, Thomson 4-41, Kaminski 3-28, Steik 2-25, Walker 2-14, Sheets 2-5, Mortensen 1-6, Andersen 1-3. Cd’A, Wheeler 11-151, Williams 6-47, Cady 3-23, Young 2-5, Murray 2-26, Booth 2-25, Coey 1-8, Shoup 1-19, Sutich 1-84, Myers 1-71.  

    MARK NELKE/Press Caden Symons (15) of Coeur d'Alene passes as Dylan Memmott (50) protects on Friday night against Middleton at Viking Field. Symons passed for 459 yards in Coeur d'Alene's 35-21 win in a state 6A quarterfinal game.