Yankoff, Sumner help Coeur d’Alene rebound from league-opening loss last week

COEUR d’ALENE — Come October, every game in the 5A Inland Empire League is basically a playoff game in a four-team league.

After both Lake City and Coeur d’Alene came up short in their respective league openers last week, that level got turned up a notch to must-win territory in Friday’s annual game between the crosstown rivals.

And it was the Vikings — after allowing a season-high 55 points last week for a second time — that answered the call on Friday.

Colson Yankoff accounted for five touchdowns for Coeur d’Alene, three rushing and two passing, and Jackson Sumner had four tackles for loss in the Vikings’ 53-27 win over the city rival Timberwolves at Viking Stadium.

“We were able to move the ball successfully,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos, whose team was penalized 11 times for 90 yards in the win. “The penalty thing is something we need to fix. We need to clean that up. If we want to continue to play into November, we’ve got to clean that up. The kids know it, but haven’t cleaned it up yet. Our defense played great, and the kids worked hard, but to do all that work and bury yourself with penalties is frustrating.”

Sumner caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Yankoff to put Coeur d’Alene up 36-8 with 6:08 remaining in the third quarter.

“Defense, last we allowed 55 points, so we came out with little more intensity tonight with the rivals,” Sumner said. “It was good for us because we played really well the entire game. Starting 0-1 in league, we had to get this one. If we want to continue playing down the road, we needed to have this one and especially next week against Post Falls.”

“Jackson’s a really good football player,” Amos said. “He’s a great leader and just a great kid. We’re lucky to have him. He’s a good part of our program.”

Joe Vang ran for a game-high 116 yards and Caleb Beggerly finished with 107 yards for Coeur d’Alene, which finished with 298 yards on the ground as a team.

Next Friday, Coeur d’Alene (4-3, 1-1 5A IEL) travels to Post Falls and Lake City (3-5, 0-2) visits Lewiston.

“Every game is a playoff game now,” Amos said. “This week is just as important as next week. If you want to keep play, we’ve put ourselves in a position where we’ve got to keep winning, or our season ends early.”

Yankoff finished the game with 314 total yards, 238 passing and 76 rushing for Coeur d’Alene.

Coeur d’Alene has won seven of the last eight meetings between the schools, with the Timberwolves lone win coming at Coeur d’Alene in 2014.

“You’ve got to give credit to Coeur d’Alene and their coaching staff,” first-year Lake City coach Bryce Erickson said. “They did a great job of game planning. We really get in trouble when we can’t run the ball successfully because our defense is on the field for way too long. We tried to run and they were loading the box. And we had a few plays where we were having trouble with the snap, and it just kills field position and drives. You’ve got to be able to stay in front of the chains and get to manageable second and third downs, and we didn’t do that tonight. Our defense played really hard in the first half and had some opportunities.”

Lake City got on the scoreboard with 20.4 seconds remaining in the first half as Jason Pierard caught a 6-yard pass from Duchow. Duchow later scored on an 8-yard run with 8:53 remaining.

“I’m proud of our kids,” Erickson said. “They kept fighting and they’ve been fighting all year. We just can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot and expect to beat good football teams. Hats off to the Coeur d’Alene coaching staff and team. Their kids played hard, and physical. Our kids didn’t give up and kept fighting until the end, and that’s a huge step for us. We just have to get ready for Lewiston. We’ve got one more opportunity and they’re a great team.”

Lake City 0 8 0 19 — 27

Coeur d’Alene 9 14 21 9 — 53

First quarter

Cd’A — Safety, tackle in end zone, 4:22

Cd’A — Kyler Prendergast 14 pass from Cole Yankoff (Seth Harrison kick0, 3:30

Second quarter

Cd’A — Yankoff 3 run (Yankoff run), 5:20

Cd’A — Yankoff 10 run (kick failed), 1:26

LC — Jason Pierard 6 pass from Matt Duchow (Duchow run), 20.4

Third quarter

Cd’A — Jackson Sumner 12 pass from Yankoff (Harrison kick), 9:56

Cd’A — Yankoff 3 run (Harrison kick), 6:09

Cd’A — Gavin Anderson 2 run (Harrison kick), 2:51

Fourth quarter

Cd’A, FG, Harrison, 36, 11:55

LC — Duchow 8 run (run failed), 8:53

LC — Ram Lettau 7 run (Marco Rojo kick), 5:52

Cd’A — Ryan Linehan 32 pass from Brady Thompson (kick failed), 1:44

LC — Pierard 10 pass from Bryce Buttz (kick failed), 2.7

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — LC, Clark 11-4, Duchow 9-9, R. Lettau 6-38, Z. Lettau 4-45, Buttz 1-8. Cd’A, Yankoff 10-76, Vang 16-116, Beggerly 9-107, Anderson 6-36, Morgan 6-35, Thompson 2-4.

PASSING — LC, Duchow, 11-29-0-103, Buttz, 3-9-0-28. Cd’A, Yankoff, 25-40-0-238, Thompson, 3-4-0-46.

RECEIVING — LC, Goldthorpe 5-28, Kosianic 1-13, Clark 1-17, Pierard 5-52, Watkins 2-21. Cd’A, Gove 3-15, Naccarato 1-15, Prendergast 2-11, Sumner 3-24, Vang 2-30, Lundblad 8-63, Dawson 3-18, Ramseyer 1-8, Pederson 5-64, Linehan 1-32.