COEUR d'ALENE - It wasn't pretty in Coeur d'Alene head coach Shawn Amos' eyes on Saturday afternoon - but it was still enough as the 5A top-ranked Vikings defeated the Mercer Island (Wash.) Islanders 39-21 in a nonleague football game at Viking Stadium to extend their overall win streak to 24 games.

"I thought our effort was mediocre," Amos said. "We were a little undisciplined and I don't think we played a good football game today. Mercer Island is a good football team, but I wasn't real satisfied with how we played."

Coeur d'Alene (3-0) built a 20-7 lead after the third quarter, but Mercer Island made that advantage disappear four minutes into the fourth quarter, taking a 21-20 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Brian Higgins with 7:55 remaining.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Vikings got a spark from junior wide receiver Addison Johnson, who scooped up a squib kick and returned it 50 yards. That was followed quickly by a 32-yard touchdown pass from Gunnar Amos to Camden Doering to regain the lead at 26-21.

“The momentum was kind of starting to go their way,” Johnson said. “We had to swing it back our way. I got some blocks and turned it up the field. We’ve been making strides in practice, but we need to get better each week and keeping improving.”

After that touchdown, Coeur d’Alene linebacker Reece Mahaffy intercepted a tipped pass to set up a 18-yard TD pass from Amos to Chase Blakely to extend the advantage to 32-21. Coeur d’Alene capped the scoring with a 48-yard pass from Amos to Doering with under three minutes remaining.

“Our guys we expect to step up stepped up,” Amos said. “Those guys make big plays and that’s what we’re counting on. But we need to be better as a group next week.”

Mahaffy also had a 34-yard reception to move the Vikings into scoring position in the third quarter, leading 17-7.

“I try to give it my all and get every yard I can on each play,” said Mahaffy, who finished with 72 yards on three receptions. “It feels good to win, but we need to pick it up and practice a lot harder this week.”

Gunnar Amos finished the game with 372 yards passing with one interception. Doering finished with 128 yards receiving on eight receptions and Johnson had 112 on nine catches.

“We’ll take the win today, but we’ve amped up our schedule and there’s no easy games,” coach Amos said. “Every week we need to show up and these guys are starting to learn that. We’ll take the win and move on to next week — but we’ve got to be better.”

Coeur d’Alene will face Skyline High of Sammamish, Wash., on Saturday in the final game of the Idaho Football Classic in the Kibbie Dome. Skyline (2-0) hammered Cottonwood 57-25 on Friday night in Murray, Utah, in a game televised by ESPNU.

“There’s a good reason why they’ve won (three of the last four) state titles,” said Amos of Skyline. “They’re a good football team and everyone knows it. If we played like we did tonight, we might be in deep trouble. We’ll be right there, but we can’t make the kind of mistakes we did today — or they will bury you.”

Mercer Island, which runs the same spread offense as Coeur d’Alene — was led offensively by Higgins, who threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns.

“It’s just like playing ourselves in a way,” Mercer Island coach Brett Ogata said. “There wasn’t anything too unique. What we do offensively is pretty similar. For us, we wanted to get our players out there and see who makes the better plays — and tonight, Coeur d’Alene made the better plays.”

Mercer Island, located six miles from Seattle and in 3A (Washington’s second highest classification), was playing out of state for the first time.

“The opportunity came up last year and I thought it would be a fun challenge,” Ogata said. “Maybe (hopefully) we’ll advance to the state playoffs and might have to travel to eastern Washington, so I want to get our guys ready for that kind of environment and schedule. It was a great chance to push our kids to the limit and persevere to try and get the win. Coeur d’Alene’s a tough team. We got ahead on them, but that’s what state champions do — they persevere and make big plays. That kickoff return was a big play for them and a big momentum changer. They were just a great team tonight.”

Mercer Island 0 7 0 14 — 21

Coeur d’Alene 3 14 3 19 — 39

Cd’A — FG Parker Wilson 33

Cd’A — Marques Mort 14 run (Wilson kick)

MI — Jack Counihan 9 pass from 8 (Erik Pederson kick)

Cd’A — Jackson Carlson 14 pass from Gunnar Amos (Wilson kick)

Cd’A — FG Wilson 20

MI — Zach Bucklin 7 pass from Brian Higgins (Pederson kick)

MI — Higgins 1 run (17 kick)

Cd’A — Camden Doering 32 pass from Amos (pass failed)

Cd’A — Chase Blakely 18 pass from Amos (kick failed)

Cd’A — Doering 48 pass from Amos (Wilson kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MI, Lesko 11-49, Higgins 8-(-1), Mahony 9-28. Cd’A, Mort 8-43, Amos 15-16, Mahaffy 1-(-2), Johnson 1-3.

PASSING — MI, Higgins 32-59-1-296. Cd’A, Amos, 28-45-1-372.

RECEIVING — ML, Bucklin 8-95, Swedstedt 2-16, Omdal 2-23, Hopkins 7-44, Counihan 5-38, Orehek 5-58, Emanuels 2-12, Mahony 1-0. Cd’A — Blakely 4-41, Johnson 9-112, Carlson 3-27, Doering 8-128, Mahaffy 3-72, Mort 1-0.