POCATELLO — When Coeur d’Alene High marched down the field with the second-half kickoff and scored to finally get on the board, it looked like just the spark the Viking offense needed.

But it wasn’t to be — not against this stingy Highland defense.

Coeur d’Alene turned the ball over four times, and stalled on several other drives, in a 14-8 loss to the Rams of Pocatello in the state 5A football championship game Friday night at Holt Arena.

“Offensively we had opportunities; I just don’t think we executed,” Coeur d’Alene senior tight end/linebacker Cole Ramseyer said. “Their defensive line caused us a lot of trouble. I don’t think we had our best offensive game, but that was one of the best defensive teams we played.”

Coeur d’Alene, which came in averaging 44.9 points per game and 500.4 yards of total offense, was held to 305 yards and its lowest point total in two years.

“We just knew we had to get a pass rush going,” said Tommy Togiai, Highland’s 6-foot-3, 300-pound U.S. Army All-American beast of a defensive tackle, who showed why he holds scholarship offers from Ohio State, USC and Washington, among others. “Our DBs did a helluva job tonight.”

Coeur d’Alene, in its first title game appearance since 2013, was seeking its fourth title in eight years, and sixth overall.

Highland, in its 18th trip to the state title game, won its state-record 11th state championship, and first since 2014.

Coeur d’Alene’s defense wasn’t too shabby, either holding Highland to 260 total yards — including only 75 yards in the second half, and four first downs.

But the Vikings couldn’t take advantage offensively, particularly against Highland’s pressure up front.

“It was the game we envisioned,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “What a display of two very good defenses. It was a complete slugfest. Very proud of our kids; kept battling, kept battling. Down 14 at the half, cut it to 6. There was no quit; that’s all you can ask for.”

Coeur d’Alene took the second-half kickoff and drove 80 yards in 10 plays, capped by quarterback Colson Yankoff taking off on a 29-yard TD run. Yankoff then ran in the two-point conversion — rather, the Vikings pushed Yankoff and the pile into the end zone from 2 yards out — and it was 14-8 just over 2 minutes into the third quarter.

Four plays later, Coeur d’Alene’s Ross Chadderdon intercepted Highland quarterback Kobe Tracy at the Rams’ 29, and the Vikings were back in business.

But Yankoff was picked off by Spencer McSpadden at the 4-yard line, then was intercepted again in Highland territory by Kolmon Farnsworth on Coeur d’Alene’s next play after getting the ball back.

Yankoff, a University of Washington commit and also a U.S. Army All-American, finished 20 of 32 for 168 yards and was intercepted three times.

“There were a few times we shot ourselves in the foot,” Yankoff said. “I threw some big picks that shouldn’t have happened, and that’s on me. … they (the Rams) just played a better game tonight.

“Those interceptions are on me. A few of them the guys were not open, a few of them I shouldn’t have thrown.”

Coeur d’Alene punted on its next two possessions, and turned the ball over on downs on its final two possessions. After those back-to-back picks, the Vikings never got closer than the Highland 47.

“At halftime I told them, we’ve got to weather the storm; he (Yankoff) is not going to back down,” said Highland coach Gino Mariani, who won his fourth state title. “I know that offense. It was weathering the storm, and these guys did that. They kept everything in front of them, they made tackles. He got loose on one long run; outside of that, we bottled them up. That’s a heckuva offense those guys stopped tonight.”

Highland did all its scoring damage late in the first half.

Three plays after Micah Naumu intercepted a Yankoff pass at the Viking 28, Tracy threw a bubble screen to the right to Tyler Hall, who made a couple Vikings miss and scooted into the end zone from 23 yards out.

Then, two plays after a 41-yard punt return by Konnor Cordingley to the Coeur d’Alene 20, Landon Demuzio sped 20 yards up the middle on a draw play to make it 14-0 with 36 seconds left in the half.

“And it was too tough of a game to give those things up,” Amos said. “They never scored on us unless they had the ball inside our 30.”

Highland ran very little, totaling just 57 yards on the ground. The Rams passed on their first nine plays, and threw on 41 of their 64 snaps, mostly short passes.

Ramseyer, the Boise State commit, had six receptions for 67 yards, including a 16-yarder in the first quarter where he went up and took the ball away from the defensive back.

“We made mistakes, but give credit to what they did on the defensive side of the ball,” Amos said. “We obviously didn’t play as clean as we should have at times, and they’re too good a defense to give up drives. Regardless of how it happened, we lost four drives.”

Coeur d’Alene also lost a fumble in Highland territory in the first half, and punted six times.

“That was a great team we played right there; one of the best lines we’ve faced,” Coeur d’Alene senior center Jack Bloom said. “They got off the ball hard, and played aggressive. Togiai is a great player. We did our best to try to stop him, but he got us in the end.”

Coeur d’Alene 0 0 8 0 — 8

Highland 0 14 0 0 — 14

Second quarter

High — Tyler Hall 23 pass from Kobe Tracy (Kyle Taylor kick), 3:27

High — Landon Demuzio 20 run (Taylor kick), :24

Third quarter

Cd’A — Colson Yankoff 29 run (Yankoff run), 9:39

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Cd’A, Yankoff 18-91, Beggerly 13-19, Morgan 5-27. High, Demuzio 9-42, Tracy 7-(minus 11), Garcia 6-22, Taylor 1-4.

PASSING — Cd’A, Yankoff 20-32-3-168. High, Tracy 24-41-1-203.

RECEIVING — Cd’A, Gove 3-27, Beggerly 2-9, Morgan 1-2, Ramseyer 6-67, G. Hegel 2-25, Prendergast 3-25, Matheson 1-3, Chadderdon 1-7, Yankoff 1-3. High, Mariani 2-13, Richards 2-14, Liday 7-95, Taylor 5-29, Demuzio 3-6, Carr 1-6, VanSickle 1-9, Hall 3-31.