COEUR d’ALENE — In a matchup for the 5A Inland Empire League football title, Post Falls landed the first couple of shots.

Coeur d’Alene then came off the ropes and delivered a savage beatdown the rest of the way.

Colbey Nosworthy scored the Vikings’ first two touchdowns on open-field plays, and his interception set up the third score as Coeur d’Alene roared back from a 14-0 deficit to pummel Post Falls 55-14 on Friday night at Viking Field to win the league championship for the third straight year.

“You hate to start a game like that, but ... ” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “They punched us in the mouth to start, but what a great job by our kids responding. They were more physical to start the game; they were ready to go, and they caught us off guard. Our kids responded; they just did what we asked them to do. When we do our job, we’re a pretty good football team.”

Coeur d’Alene (7-2, 3-0 5A IEL) earned a first-round bye with the victory, and will host a state quarterfinal game in two weeks.

Post Falls (6-3, 2-1) will host Timberline of Boise in the first round next Friday.

Post Falls, normally a pass-happy, fast-tempo team, slowed the pace down against the Vikings, relying mostly on the running game. It worked on the first two possessions, drives of 74 and 73 yards, both capped by 1-yard runs by Eli Gondo for a 14-0 lead just over 9 minutes into the game.

But the rest of the game was all Coeur d’Alene.

On the first play of the second quarter, Nosworthy took a quick pass to the right from quarterback Jack Prka, slipped a tackle and raced down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown.

Post Falls punted on its next possession — a low line drive that was bouncing toward the end zone ... until Nosworthy picked it up at the 4.

He shook a tackler or two, veered to the right, found some open field and sped down the sideline for a 96-yard punt return.

“I was going to let it roll into the end zone, but I knew they thought that was what was going to happen,” Nosworthy said. “So I was thinking, maybe I could make something out of nothing, and I did.”

“You can count on him, every game he has a couple plays that are like, ‘Oh my god,’ that saved us,” Amos said. “As coaches, it’s like, ‘No, no, no ... yes! He’s very confident in his ability. We do that a lot — ‘no, no, no ... yes! Way to make us look good.’”

Midway through the second quarter, Post Falls quarterback Derek Pearse tried to throw the ball away, deep in his own territory. But Nosworthy was able to keep his feet just inside the boundary and made a one-handed interception at the Trojans 13.

Five plays later, Prka ran it in from 1 yard out, putting the Vikings up 20-14.

Coeur d’Alene poured it on from there, and eventually took away Post Falls’ running game, in particular jet sweeps from wide receiver Tommy Hauser. He had 52 yards on his first three carries, but after that, Mason Cummings and Ty Pottenger were among those who crept into the backfield to stop Hauser before he got rolling.

Coeur d’Alene ran just 21 plays in the first half to Post Falls’ 45, but led 27-14 at halftime after Prka found Brennan Crawford down the left sideline for 17 yards and a score.

Gunner Giulio burst 70 yards for a TD on the first play of the second half, and later in the quarter he snagged a swing pass from Prka and took it in from 22 yards out.

Prka completed his last nine passes and finished an efficient 15 of 20 for 278 yards and five touchdowns.

“They’ve got some good ballplayers, and they showed it on those first two drives,” Amos said. “Our kids took it upon themselves to respond to that with some pride; it could have been ugly if we didn’t answer.”

Coeur d’Alene outgained Post Falls 448-279. The Trojans passed for just 94 yards.

“I thought we had a nice game plan going in,” Post Falls coach Blaine Bennett said. “They’ve got some good team speed; we thought we had him (Nosworthy) pinned down (on his punt return).”

Post Falls 14 0 0 0 — 14

Coeur d’Alene 0 27 21 7 — 55

First quarter

PF — Eli Gondo 1 run (Bryan Mendez kick), 8:37

PF — Gondo 1 run (Mendez kick), 2:56

Second quarter

Cd’A — Colbey Nosworthy 80 pass from Jack Prka (kick failed), 11:40

Cd’A — Nosworthy 96 punt return (run failed), 9:34

Cd’A — Prka 1 run (Nosworthy pass from Prka), 4:10

Cd’A — Brennan Crawford 17 pass from Prka (Eli Jolly kick), :20

Third quarter

Cd’A — Gunner Giulio 70 run (Jolly kick), 11:43

Cd’A — Jake Brown 23 pass from Prka (Jolly kick), 8:00

Cd’A — Giulio 22 pass from Prka (Jolly kick), 4:23

Fourth quarter

Cd’A — Cameren Cope 59 pass from Prka (Jolly kick), 6:42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — PF, Gondo 21-79, Pearse 7-24, Hauser 6-53, McLeod 16-29. Cd’A, Prka 9-37, Crawford 2-5, Giulio 5-100, Elstad 4-23.

PASSING — PF, Pearse 10-22-1-94. Cd’A, Prka 15-20-0-278.

RECEIVING — PF, Rodriguez 2-34, Hauser 3-19, Lee 1-3, Burton 1-4, Curlee 2-34, Gondo 1-0. Cd’A, Crawford 4-28, Brown 2-26, Nosworthy 2-82, Elstad 3-50, Giulio 1-22, Cope 2-65, Cummings 1-5.