PREP BOYS SOCCER: Coeur d'Alene forces deciding game for district title

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

COEUR d’ALENE — The Coeur d’Alene Vikings were upset over the upset on Wednesday night, and did something about it on Saturday.  

Junior midfielder Brett Johnson scored twice in a five-minute span in the first half, and Coeur d’Alene scored three first-half goals en route to a 5-0 victory in Game 2 to even the best-of-3 series for the 6A District 1 title at the Irma Anderl Soccer Complex at Lake City. 

"We were pretty down after that loss (on Wednesday),” Johnson said. “We rallied; we didn’t want this to be the last game for our seniors. We just had to lock in more.” 

The deciding Game 3 is Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Viking Field. The winner advances to a state play-in match next Saturday in Lewiston against the sixth-place finisher from District 3 (Boise area).

Last week, Lake City (8-6-1) scored two first-half goals and held off Coeur d’Alene 2-1 at Coeur d’Alene High’s Viking Field. 

On Saturday, Coeur d’Alene (9-4-1) controlled the run of play. 

"It was both mental, and tactics,” Coeur d’Alene coach Robbie Harmelink said of the adjustments from Game 1. “To be honest, we came in not at our top gear on Wednesday night. Wednesday night was a wake-up call. It definitely was an upset to us; we were super upset and coming into today, we realized we had to be at top gear. We can’t be complacent because of regular season results; we have to put the effort today and I’m super happy with my team.” 

Coeur d’Alene beat Lake City 2-1 and 4-0 during the regular season.

Sophomore Blake Wise opened the scoring for Coeur d’Alene midway through the first half, with a blast from some 25 yards out. 

Johnson scored on a left-footed shot in the box three minutes later. Then, in the 28th minute, Johnson headed a ball through a crowd of defenders to make it 3-0. 

“My midfield played phenomenal,” Harmelink said. “Brett was super industrious, not only in regards to his offensive contributions, but also his defensive work were great as well.” 

Junior Mason Taylor made it 4-0 midway through the second half on a left-footed drive from some 25 yards out on top. Junior Jacob Shaporda punched in a rebound in the final minutes to close out the scoring.  

First half — 1, Cd’A, Blake Wise (Ethan Luna), 20:00. 2, Cd’A, Brett Johnson (unassisted), 23:00. 3, Cd’A, Johnson (Wise), 28:00. Second half — 4, Cd’A, Mason Taylor (unassisted), 59:00. 5, Jacob Shaporda (Blake Baune), 77:00. 

Shots on goal — Cd’A 7, LC 4. 

Saves — Cd’A, Grant Johnson 4, Orion Burns 0; LC, Lukas Ruchti 2. 

Sandpoint 5

Lakeland 0

SANDPOINT — The top-seeded Bulldogs (12-3-2) advanced to the 5A Region 1 championship match against either Moscow or Lewiston with the semifinal victory over the Hawks (6-9-1) at War Memorial Field.

No other information was available.

Grangeville 10 

St. Maries 2 

ST. MARIES — The host Lumberjacks closed out the regular season with the Intermountain League loss to the Bulldogs at PotlatchDeltic Field. 

Junior Trace Chatigny scored both goals for St. Maries (0-12-0, 0-10-0 IML). 

For Grangeville (2-10, 2-8), Colten Larsen scored four goals. 

St. Maries will be the sixth seed and will play the No. 3 seed on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at The Fields at Real Life in Post Falls in the first round of the 4A District 1 tournament. 

First half — 1, Grange, Lander Tackett, 4:00. 2, Grange, Noah Rodriguez, 8:00. 3, Grange, Colten Larsen, 13:00. 4, Grange, Cobe Nadiger, 40:00. Second half — 5, Grange, Wyatt Dennis, 41:00. 6, Grange, Tayden Nuxoll, 50:00. 7, Grange, Colt McColloch, 55: 8, SM, Trace Chatigny, 58:00. 9, Grange, Larsen, 63:00. 10, Grange, Larsen, 66:00. 11, Grange, Larsen, 71:00. 12, SM, Chatigny, 75:00. 

Shots on goal — Grange 26, SM 3. 

Saves — Grange, Colt McColloch 0, Ryan Newson 1; SM, Caleb Baskin 14. 

    MARK NELKE/Press Isaac Lowder of Coeur d'Alene rises in a crowd to play a ball against Lake City on Saturday at Lake City in Game 2 of a best-of-3 series for the 6A District 1 boys soccer title.