COEUR d’ALENE — In a game where Coeur d’Alene was a little shaky early and late, when it came down to making a play at the end of the game, the Vikings were able to, and Mountain View, despite a gutsy comeback, wasn’t.

Coeur d’Alene stopped Mountain View on fourth and 2 from the Viking 25 with 4 minutes left, then Gunner Giulio broke a 67-yard touchdown run three plays later to ice the Vikings’s 31-21 victory over the Mavericks of Meridian in a state 5A football quarterfinal Friday night at Viking Field.

“We made it interesting in the first and fourth quarter,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “But that’s a testament to their team — they keep battling. And that’s a testament to our team, finding a way to finish that thing off. That’s a real good football team.”

Coeur d’Alene (8-2) will play host to Highland (8-3) of Pocatello next Friday at 7 p.m. at Viking Field in a state semifinal. Highland, winning on the road in the playoffs for the second time in two weeks, beat Borah of Boise 27-21 on Friday at Dona Larsen Park in Boise.

The opening kickoff by Mountain View (8-3) was a squib kick that caromed off the leg of a Coeur d’Alene player around the 30, and Mountain View’s Logan Perry recovered at the Viking 35.

Coeur d’Alene stopped Mountain View on downs — the first of three times that happened in the first half. But two plays later, Viking quarterback Jack Prka fumbled while being sacked by Gavin Farris, and Gus Elwell scooped up the ball and ran it in from the 6 for a 7-0 lead.

Coeur d’Alene then took control for the middle portion of the game.

Trent Elstad busted a 51-yard TD run to tie the game later in the first quarter. Prka scored on a 1-yard run, then hooked up with Colbey Nosworthy on a 7-yard score and the Vikings led 21-7 at the half.

Nosworthy’s 50-yard punt return to the Mountain View 10 led to a 21-yard field goal by Eli Jolly early in the third quarter.

Mountain View, which struggled moving the ball for much of the game, found some success to the outside with the speed option in the second half. Perry ran it in from 14 yards out to pull the Mavericks within 24-14 with 3:33 left in the third quarter.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Mountain View drove 65 yards. Junior Jake Farris, who missed a few plays after tweaking his knee on a sack early in the third quarter, hit K.J. Lynch on a 21-yard scoring strike to pull the Mavs within three with 5:26 remaining.

On the next drive, an errant snap by Coeur d’Alene was recovered by Alex Nixon at the Viking 33 with 4:05 left.

Mountain View nearly scored on the first play, but a deep pass went off the receiver’s fingertips in the end zone.

On fourth and 2 from the 25, the Mavericks tried an option pitch to the left, but the Viking defense swarmed the ballcarrier for a 1-yard loss.

“Defensively, we played outstanding,” Amos said. “Offensively, we were out of sync in the beginning ... but I thought our defense was outstanding. How many fourth-down stops did we have? Four?”

And the fourth one proved to be the biggest.

Moments later, Giulio was lined up behind where a tight end would be, on the right side on third and 3 at the 33. He ran to his left across the formation, took an inside handoff from Prka, cut upfield against the packed-in Mountain View defense, and was gone.

“The play is designed to just get a few yards,” said Giulio, a sophomore. “We needed to get the first down to run the clock and win the game. And all of a sudden, my friend Trent (Elstad) and Jack Dohm hit this kid to the outside, and I see the safety’s on the other side and I’m like, ‘Oh crap, this is going for a touchdown.’ And that’s all she wrote.”

“I think our O-line coaches were the ones who saw that, and made that call,” Amos said.

“Weird game,” said Judd Benedick, in his 13th season as Mountain View coach. “We got what we thought was the momentum early, when we got that lucky break. It wasn’t even an intentional thing; we were just trying to squib to keep it away from their dangerous returners. ... And at the end, we got a shot, and it’s just inches, off the fingertips. If we get that first down, we’ve got a shot. And then they capitalized at the end when they had the opportunity. We sold out, and missed, and they made a great play.”

Prka was 29 of 38 for 249 yards. Twelve of those completions were to Nosworthy, on a variety of crossing routes and quick passes to the side, for 131 yards.

“He is one of quite a few weapons that they have,” Benedick said of Nosworthy. “But it seems like he’s their clutch guy; when they need something really big, he comes through in the clutch.”

Giulio finished with 132 rushing yards after his big run late.

Coeur d’Alene outgained Mountain View 432-314.

Mountain View threatened to cut into Coeur d’Alene’s two-score lead late in the first half, but Devon Johnson made a leaping interception in the end zone for the Vikings.

“We weren’t able to capitalize of our opportunities as much as I would have liked,” Benedick said, “because we had opportunities, certainly. But Coeur d’Alene’s a great team ... they’ve got skilled players all over the place. They’ve got three good running backs, they’ve got 4 to 6 receivers that are really good that can make plays, and then the quarterback makes stuff happen.”

Mountain View 7 0 7 7 — 21

Coeur d’Alene 7 14 3 7 — 31

First quarter

MV — Gus Elwell 6 fumble return (Ethan Holland kick), 9:47

Cd’A — Trent Elstad 51 run (Eli Jolly kick), 3:17

Second quarter

Cd’A — Jack Prka 1 run (Jolly kick), 10:14

Cd’A — Colbey Nosworthy 7 pass from Prka (Jolly kick), 2:44

Third quarter

Cd’A — FG Jolly 21, 7:34

MV — Logan Perry 14 run (Holland kick), 3:33

Fourth quarter

MV — K.J. Lynch 21 pass from Jake Farris (Holland kick), 5:26

Cd’A — Gunner Giulio 67 run (Jolly kick), 1:31

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MV, Butler 3-9, Farris 10-43, Perry 16-83, Chan 2-6, Peugh 3-1. Cd’A, Giulio 13-132, Prka 8-(minus 22), Elstad 6-78, Crawford 1-3, Team 1-(minus 8).

PASSING — MV, Farris 13-31-1-143, Peugh 2-5-0-29. Cd’A, Prka 29-38-0-249.

RECEIVING — MV, Lynch 7-90, Peugh 3-15, Chan 4-37, Jones 1-17. Cd’A, Brown 5-36, Elstad 2-(minus 1), Nosworthy 12-131, Giulio 3-3, Cope 2-17, Johnson 1-10, Crawford 4-23.