98-yard drive sparks Viks
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 years, 5 months AGO
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order. | November 5, 2011 9:00 PM
COEUR d'ALENE - First down on your own 2-yard line, just over 1 minute left in the first half.
Most teams would run a couple times up the gut and take their chances in the second half.
But, as we have witnessed through 10 games this season, the Coeur d'Alene Vikings are not like most teams.
The top-ranked Vikings drove 98 yards in just five plays - and in only 51 seconds - to take the lead at halftime, then went on to beat fifth-ranked Mountain View of Meridian 27-14 in the first round of the state 5A football playoffs Friday night at Viking Field.
"Most people say a 99-yard drive is practically impossible, but we did it in a minute," Coeur d'Alene quarterback Chad Chalich said. "That was big; that got us momentum going into halftime. Our coach said it was going to be a hard drive, but we got it done, we got it in our players' hands and they made plays."
Coeur d'Alene (10-0) plays host to fourth-ranked Capital (8-2) of Boise in the semifinals next Friday at 7 p.m. Capital beat Skyline of Idaho Falls 58-26 on Friday night at Bronco Stadium in Boise.
Mountain View led 7-6 when the Mavericks’ punt was downed at the Viking 2 with 1:21 left in the first half.
On the first play, Chalich rolled left and hit Deon Watson for a 38-yard gain to the 40. After two incomplete passes and an offside call against Mountain View, Carlos Martinez zipped 25 yards on a draw play on third and 5. On the next play, Chalich threw deep down the middle to Jackson Carlson, who caught the ball backpedalling in the end zone for a 30-yard score.
Carlson, a sophomore who played much of the year on the junior varsity, got his chance because fellow soph receiver Addison Johnson was sitting out with a concussion sustained last week.
On the PAT, holder Reece Mahaffy ran around left end for two points and a 14-7 halftime lead.
“That was a big drive, obviously,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “And to have a sophomore, who just got moved up because our other sophomore got hurt, make the touchdown catch was pretty cool. That’s a pretty big-time play for a sophomore in the state playoffs.”
“That hurt,” Mountain View coach Judd Benedick said of the drive. “We felt like we were in the right coverage to stop it, but they just made a good play and got behind us. The Chalich kid, he’s a great player; he’s not the 5A player of the year for nothing.”
Coeur d’Alene scored on its first two possessions in the third quarter to make it 27-7, making it four straight possessions on which the Vikings scored. Chalich passed for 339 yards and four touchdowns, two to Watson in the third quarter in a 1:24 span to break the game open. Bubba Duran caught 10 passes for 104 yards. Watson had seven catches for 91.
Mountain View (7-3) scored first on Kai Turner’s 5-yard pass to Logan Hansen with 3:43 left in the first quarter. Coeur d’Alene drove the ball into Mountain View territory on three of its first four drives, but came away with zero points. Finally, the Vikings took advantage of a short field and drove 31 yards in five plays, capped by Chalich’s 8-yard TD pass to Joe Roletto. The extra point was blocked.
After Mountain View’s first score, the Viking defense kept the Mavericks in check for much of the rest of the game, until Mountain View scored again with 1:08 left. Dan Lau, who rushed for 157 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s upset of Eagle, was held to 44 yards on 16 carries by the Vikings.
“All facets of our team are good,” Amos said. “That makes a big difference.”
Coeur d’Alene came in averaging 57.0 points per game, and its 27 points was its lowest output of the season. Still, the Vikings totaled 420 yards to 277 for Mountain View.
“That was a heckuva football game,” Amos said. “Mountain View’s a good football team. You can see why they beat Eagle. Their defense was all that was advertised.”
Mountain View appeared to have taken a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter when quarterback Kai Turner squirted free on a keeper and raced 89 yards to the end zone, but a holding penalty at the Mavericks’ 21 brought the ball way back.
“It was huge, to be honest,” Benedick said of the penalty. “We feel like we didn’t get any breaks tonight, but we’re not going to point fingers ... it was just unfortunate. That would have been a big momentum changer right there.”
Mountain View 7 0 0 7 —14
Coeur d’Alene 0 14 13 0 —27
MV — Logan Hansen 5 pass from Kai Turner (Seph Azevedo kick)
Cd’A — Joe Roletto 8 pass from Chad Chalich (kick blocked)
Cd’A — Jackson Carlson 30 pass from Chalich (Reece Mahaffy run)
Cd’A — Deon Watson 9 pass from Chalich (pass failed)
Cd’A — Watson 3 pass from Chalich (Parker Wilson kick)
MV — Connor Armstrong 9 pass from Turner (Azevedo kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — MV, Lau 16-44, Turner 16-27. Cd’A, Martinez 14-73, Chalich 7-8.
PASSING — MV, Turner 25-39-0-206. Cd’A, Chalich 25-37-0-339.
RECEIVING — MV, Sale 4-30, Lau 2-18, Buss 8-61, Armstrong 8-70, Hansen 1-5, Lyngar 1-11, Deroin 1-11. Cd’A, Duran 10-104, Martinez 3-26, Roletto 3-75, Watson 7-91, Carlson 2-43.
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“The whole process has been completely amazing,” said Nathan Williams, now in his fourth season as the Badgers boys basketball coach. “And the parents … it’s an hour and a half to Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, when we’d play an AAU game, and an hour and a half back, and there were so many times there was 6, 8 inches of snow. And we’ve got a game at 8 a.m. They’d always schedule us at 8 a.m., coming from Bonners. So we’re waking up at 5 … it was crazy. But the commitment from the parents and the kids has been amazing.”