COEUR d’ALENE — It was far from perfect, but the Coeur d’Alene Vikings will take it for the first of three all-important games in the 5A Inland Empire League.

Now about that turnover ...

And the 100 yards in penalties ...

“It wasn’t pretty, but it does count,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “It’s one of three that we’ll need that are really important right now.”

Caleb Beggerly had a 26-yard interception return for a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage, then threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Kyler Prendergast to open the second quarter, as the Vikings rolled past the Lewiston Bengals 55-18 in the league opener for both schools on Friday at Viking Field.

Colson Yankoff threw for 208 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters for Coeur d’Alene (5-2), which plays at Lake City next Friday.

“A win’s a win in league, and we’re one step closer,” Amos said. “But we’re at a point in the season where we need to be controlling ourselves and what we can do.”

Lewiston (4-3) answered on the second drive of the game to pull within 7-6 before the Vikings rattled off 35 straight points before halftime.

“We just couldn’t gain real consistency,” Amos said. “Our defense was flying around and playing good football. But we had a lot of mental mistakes, and blown coverages on defense and substitution mistakes on offense. We just need to be cleaner.”

Coeur d’Alene took the momentum early in the second quarter on a strip sack of Lewiston quarterback Tyson Wallace by Ross Chadderdon, who recovered the recovered the fumble at the 30, setting up Beggerly’s touchdown pass to Prendergast.

“At first, I thought he threw it and I was breaking down on the play,” Chadderdon said. “I saw him go back and tipped it out. We’ve got a good defense that is really good up front and don’t have many breakthroughs.”

Coeur d’Alene’s defense benefited from a strong night on special teams by Seth Harrison, who had touchbacks on five kickoffs, and added a 40-yard field goal in the third quarter.

“He really kicked the ball well tonight,” Amos said. “And that really makes a big difference, especially in high school when you’re having to start at the 20-yard line all the time. That’s a long way to make a drive.”

Wallace finished with 268 yards passing for Lewiston, which hosts Post Falls next Friday.

Lewiston 6 6 0 6 — 18

Coeur d’Alene 21 21 13 0 — 55

First quarter

Cd’A — Caleb Beggerly 26 interception return (Seth Harrison kick), 11:18

Lew — Tyson Wallace 2 run (kick blocked), 9:40

Cd’A — Sam Matheson 19 pass from Colson Yankoff (run failed), 8:16

Cd’A — Yankoff 2 run (Ryan Linehan pass from Yankoff), :22

Second quarter

Cd’A — Kyler Prendergast 30 pass from Beggerly (pass failed), 11:46

Cd’A — Shilo Morgan 13 run (Morgan run), 8:57

Cd’A — Derek Gove 6 pass from Yankoff (Harrison kick), 4:08

Lew — Colt Jacobs 42 pass from Wallace (pass failed), 1:21

Third quarter

Cd’A — Morgan 14 pass from Yankoff (Harrison kick), 11:27

Cd’A — FG Harrison 21, 8:01

Cd’A — FG Harrison 40, 3:22

Fourth quarter

Lew — Jacobs 27 pass from Wallace (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lew, Hanes 11-32, Wallace 14-(-5), Carpenter 3-6, Smith 1-9. Cd’A, Beggerly 6-38, Yankoff 8-92, Morgan 9-53, Throm 2-7, Edwards 4-12, Sundberg 1-4.

PASSING — Lew, Wallace, 16-34-1-268. Cd’A, Yankoff, 17-24-1-208, Beggerly 1-1-0-30, Edwards 4-4-0-36.

RECEIVING — Lew, Alford 3-69, Hanes 1-8, Spencer 5-38, Jacobs 2-69, Bradley 4-74, Hutchens 1-10. Cd’A, Prendergast 3-58, Matheson 3-39, Linehan 4-42, Morgan 3-35, Gove 4-53, Beggerly 2-30, Chadderdon 1-18, K. Hagel 1-8, Brennan 1-9.