STATE 5A BOYS SOCCER TOURNAMENT: Viking rain Dance
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 3 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. | October 20, 2016 8:01 PM
POST FALLS — On a rainy, dark Thursday morning, the Coeur d’Alene High boys soccer team showed it is much more than a one-man band.
Freshman Cameron Dance scored a pair of goals and sophomores Dempsey Brewer and Gabe Nazemi added one each as the Vikings dominated the Bonneville Bees from Idaho Falls 5-1 in the first round of the state 5A tournament at Post Falls High.
Of course, Viking star forward Austin Garitone also played a role in the win, with a goal and an assist, as Coeur d’Alene (9-1-5) advanced to play Centennial (15-2-2) of Boise today at 11:30 a.m. at Post Falls High in a semifinal game. Centennial defeated Mountain View (12-4-3) of Meridian 2-1.
“I’m thrilled with the boys, and how they played,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Lake said. “What was spectacular about the game, in terms of who scored, Cameron, fantastic goal, especially on the second one — he beat three defenders himself. A lot of people just think we’re Austin Garitone, and yeah, he’s a soccer unicorn — you don’t find those kids often. But, you look at Gabe Nazemi scoring a goal, you look at Dempsey Brewer — he played center back for us the entire year. I’ve moved him up a couple of times, and this is the first game he’s actually started in an attacking role for us ... and you look at those goal scorers, besides Austin, they’re all sophomores and freshmen.”
The Vikings, in their first state tournament appearance since 2010, wasted little time taking control of this game. They nearly scored in the first couple minutes, and nearly scored in the 16th before a defender from Bonneville (8-10-2) cleared a ball away from in front of the net.
One minute later, the ball squirted free in the box to Brewer, who drilled in a shot from 10 yards out.
Ten minutes later, Garitone charged in toward the goal from the right side, weaving through defenders and feeding the ball to Dance, who knocked it in from in front of the net for a 2-0 halftime lead.
“I was kind of surprised,” said Dance, a midfielder who came into the game with four goals scored all season. “I was super happy that I was going to score.”
Dance made it 3-0 in the 50th minute with a nifty left-footed shot from about 15 yards out.
Bonneville, the District 5-6 runner-up, scored in the 60th minute on a lefty shot from 30 yards out on the right by Evan Williams that skipped past a defender in front of the goal, and also skipped past the Viking keeper.
Garitone answered a minute later, and Nazemi closed out the scoring in the 71st minute with a nice individual move just to the left of the goal. The Bees’ keeper dove to his right, and Nazemi’s shot sailed past him to this left from some 15 yards out.
Rain fell most of the game, and the wind kicked up at times.
“The weather doesn’t bother us, actually,” Lake said. “We actually enjoyed playing in this weather.”
First half — 1, Cd’A, Dempsey Brewer (unassisted), 17:00. 2, Cd’A, Cameron Dance (Austin Garitone), 27:00. Second half — 3, Cd’A, Dance (unassisted), 50:00. 4, Bonn, Evan Williams (unassisted), 60:00. 5, Cd’A, Garitone (Justin Kofmehl), 61:00. 6, Cd’A, Nazemi (unassisted), 71:00.
Shots on goal — Bonn 10, Cd’A 12.
Saves — Bonn, Marlon Cruz 3, Jason Rogel 1; Cd’A, Shawn McKeeken 8.
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“I’ve been very impressed by Zach’s natural ability to rush the passer,” Eck said. “And he’s worked hard on his body, he’s up to about 222 pounds now, and I really think he can be a difference maker for us. He’s still doing some things with the linebackers, but I think his speed can give some offensive linemen problems (as an edge rusher).”
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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.”