POCATELLO — When the last pass fell incomplete and the clock finally struck :00, marking the end of a Coeur d’Alene High comeback that seemingly lasted the entire game, several Viking players dropped to a knee, exhausted, spent … you name it.

Coeur d’Alene’s bid to become the first 5A football team to win three straight state titles came up just short Friday night at Holt Arena, as the Vikings fell 37-30 to top-ranked Madison of Rexburg before an estimated 5,000 fans.

“It hit me pretty hard,” senior running back/linebacker Reece Mahaffy said, “because it was probably my last game, my last play ever ...”

The loss wasn’t for lack of effort. Coeur d’Alene (9-3) scored first, but fell behind 21-7 by halftime, and was down 27-7 early in the third quarter. The Vikings kept battling back, to 30-23 midway through the fourth, then within a touchdown again after Madison scored, then recovered an onside kick in the waning seconds for one last shot …

“That first quarter offensively was a mess,” Coeur d’Alene High coach Shawn Amos said. “Madison’s too good to do that (against). But we came back, and we had our chances. We made it a good football game.”

And in the end, a Madison team that was lightly regarded by many statewide for most of the season had enough firepower and enough defense to fend off the junior-laden Vikings and complete a 12-0 season — Madison’s first state 5A title in football, first state title since 1995, and seventh overall.

“It was a little stressful; we made it that way,” Madison coach Mitch Buck said. “That’s what happens in these games. It is really hard to finish because of that stress. We were trying to hang on and hang on, and wait for the clock to finally run out, and it did.”

For much of the game, each team bottled up what the other team did well. Mahaffy ran for 148 yards on 23 carries, but several plays which produced big yardage against other teams during the season were snuffed out for little gain by Madison.

However, the Vikings torched the Bobcats’ defense in the second half. Quarterback Gunnar Amos, who passed for just 37 yards in the first half and threw two interceptions — one returned for a touchdown from 25 yards out by Will Evans — passed for 263 yards and a touchdown in the final two quarters.

“We kept fighting to the end; we put up a valiant effort,” Gunnar Amos said. “When that ball dropped on that last play, your heart dropped with it. Everything you worked for in the offseason — gone. I wish we could have won it for these seniors — they’re the hardest working group I’ve ever been with.”

Madison’s Logan Anderson completed a pedestrian 16 of 36 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns for the pass-happy Bobcats. Coeur d’Alene’s Sean White and Matt James sacked Anderson during a start where he completed 2 of his first 11 passes for 6 yards with one interception.

Many of his passes were low-percentage throws to tightly covered receivers, though he did hit some key passes later to keep the Vikings at bay.

“I think our defense played outstanding,” Shawn Amos said. “We made them earn everything. I think defensively we were great. And offensively, after the first quarter, we got it going. We could just never quite catch up to them.”

Coeur d’Alene outgained Madison 443-346 in total yards.

Madison opened up a 27-7 lead early in the third quarter when running back Sam Baldwin took a screen pass from Anderson and sped down the right sideline for a 61-yard touchdown.

But Coeur d’Alene answered with a 9-play, 75-yard drive, capped by Amos’ 13-yard TD pass to DeHaas on a bubble screen, with White delivering the springing block for the score.

Madison made it 30-14 on a 36-yard field goal by Dan Jones with 11:01 left, but the Vikings weren’t done then either. Amos and Addison Johnson hooked up on a 59-yard pass-and-run play to the Madison 15, and Mahaffy scored from 5 yards out with 9:13 left.

Coeur d’Alene got the ball back and drove to the Madison 7 before settling for Parker Wilson’s 29-yard field goal, making it 30-23 with 5:33 remaining.

Madison’s Hayden Hastings squirted 41 yards up the middle for a touchdown, pushing the lead to 37-23 with 3:48 left. And when Jackson Carlson’s flanker reverse pass was intercepted two plays later, things looked grim for the Vikings.

But Coeur d’Alene forced a three-and-out, and Amos had the Vikings back in business, hitting Chase Blakley on back-to-back completions of 18 and 16 yards, leading to Mahaffy’s 6-yard halfback pass to DeHaas to make it 37-30 with 29 seconds left.

Wilson’s onside kick bounced off the hands of a Madison player and Johnson recovered at the Madison 47 with 27 ticks left. Could it be?

Mahaffy took a short pass from Amos and scooted out of bounds at the Bobcat 34 with 3 seconds left. But a personal foul on the Vikings on the play pushed them back to the 49, and Amos’ final pass fell incomplete around the Madison 35 as the clock ran out.

“When it came down to it, our kids were warriors,” Shawn Amos said. “Very proud of them.”

“That’s what they’ve shown all year,” Buck said of Coeur d’Alene. “And even when we were up two or three scores, we’re still going, ‘Oh my gosh, hang in there, man. Let’s finish this game.’ The style of offense we play makes it kind of hard … and usually, we bend but don’t break (defensively). For a big play to happen on us created a little stress.”

Notes: With Coeur d’Alene leading 7-6, Amos got his bell rung on a 9-yard scramble to the Madison 29. He came out for a few plays and while he was gone, an errant snap in the shotgun from the 15 yard-line led to a 27-yard loss, and the Vikings eventually punted. … Coeur d’Alene was penalized eight times for 75 yards in the first half, before being flagged just twice in the second half. … Buck wasn’t even the only person in his family to win a state title Friday night. His brother, Blackfoot head coach Stan Buck, guided the Broncos past Middleton in the state 4A title game later Friday night.

Coeur d’Alene 7 0 7 16 — 30

Madison 6 15 6 10 — 37

Cd’A — Reece Mahaffy 33 run (Parker Wilson kick)

Mad — Logan Anderson 30 run (kick blocked)

Mad — Logan Lee 29 pass from Anderson (Brayden Cook pass from Anderson)

Mad — Will Evans 25 interception return (Dan Jones kick)

Mad — Sam Baldwin 61 pass from Anderson (kick failed)

Cd’A — Kolby DeHaas 13 pass from Gunnar Amos (Wilson kick)

Mad — FG Jones 36

CD’A — Mahaffy 5 run (pass failed)

Cd’A — FG Wilson 29

Mad — Hayden Hastings 41 run (Jones kick)

Cd’A — DeHaas 6 pass from Mahaffy (Wilson kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Cd’A, Mahaffy 23-148, Amos 13-(minus 5), Johnson 1-(minus 6). Mad, Anderson 13-48, Baldwin 6-9, Hastings 2-44.

PASSING — Cd’A, Amos 24-36-2-300, Carlson 0-1-1-0, Mahaffy 1-1-0-6. Mad, Anderson 16-36-1-245.

RECEIVING — Cd’A, Mahaffy 6-35, Blakley 8-88, Carlson 3-46, DeHaas 4-50, Johnson 3-78, Sharp 1-9. Mad, Baldwin 4-98, Hastings 5-47, Wilson 4-32, Lee 2-62, A. Anderson 1-6.