Big plays fuel Coeur d'Alene's rout of Sandpoint ... Coeur d'Alene's Symons passes for 355 yards, three touchdowns, catches one TD pass

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

COEUR d’ALENE — Senior Caden Symons is in his third season as the starting quarterback for the Coeur d’Alene Vikings — and his first season as a part-time playmaking wide receiver. 

Symons passed for 355 yards and three touchdowns on just 11 completions, and also caught his second TD pass of the year as Coeur d’Alene rolled past the Sandpoint Bulldogs 50-9 on homecoming Friday night at Viking Field. 

With coaches for Coeur d’Alene (3-2) looking for ways to get the Vikings’ other talented quarterback, junior Tannar Stern, on the field as well, sometimes Symons lines up at wide receiver.  

"It helps the team when I’m out there (at receiver) in the red zone, so I’ll go out there and catch the ball,” Symons said. 

Sandpoint (5-1) won the toss and took the ball, the idea being to keep the Viking offense off the field.  

But the Bulldogs muffed the opening kickoff, and Coeur d’Alene senior Riley Frazier recovered at the Sandpoint 17. 

“Crushes you,” Sandpoint coach Ryan Knowles said. “We talked about their tempo, and taking away their fast offense, so you take the ball first and try and get a good start on them, and then, boom! Yeah, that dug us a whole right out of the gate. One of our goals was to win the first quarter, and that did not happen.” 

Two plays later, from the 14, Stern lofted a pass into the left corner of the end zone, and Symons outjumped the Bulldog defensive back for his second receiving score of the year. 

"I just gave Tanner the signal, he threw it up and I went and got it,” Symons said. 

Coeur d’Alene gouged Sandpoint for 519 yards, with 12 of the 15 total completions for 10 or more yards. 

Junior Gibson Comstock had four receptions for 166 yards, getting behind the Bulldog secondary on scoring tosses of 68 and 55 yards from Symons in the first half. 

“Caden was pretty dialed in,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “We have a lot of good guys in different positions that can make plays, so that helps. We were just pretty sharp on both sides of the ball, and when we do that, we have a chance to be pretty good.” 

“We watched a lot of film and they (the Bulldogs) blitz a lot, so we we were just trying to beat them over the top,” Symons said. “He (Comstock) was getting back there, and I was giving it to him.” 

Ty Paulin ran for one score and caught a TD pass for Coeur d’Alene, and Maddox Lindquist had a TD catch. 

Frazier didn’t play football last year, but was a triple jumper on the Viking track team — also coached by Amos. 

“He was a 40-foot triple jumper, so we said we need you to play some football,” Amos said. “He’s still learning, but he’s playing with confidence, and made some big plays today.” 

He had a leaping interception in the second half Friday night. 

Sandpoint answered Coeur d’Alene’s first score with one of its own to pull within 8-6, Eli Taylor catching a 6-yard touchdown pass from Braden Buckhout — and withstanding a shot by Viking Ben Murray right after the catch. Murray had an interception later in the first half. 

But the Bulldogs, who totaled 217 yards, couldn’t slow down the Vikings, who scored TDs on their first three drives, five of their first six in the first half, and two of their first three in the second half. 

"They made us play on non-blitzes (too), honestly,” Knowles said. “When No. 5 (Comstock) ran by us, those weren’t blitzes. We sit back and say, OK, do we blitz every play? They do a good job mixing in screens. They’re throwing the ball 1 yard downfield and getting 50, 60 yards from it. We’ve got to tackle in space. Their athletes got it done.” 

Brock Yarbrough had nine catches for 81 yards for Sandpoint, and Jensen Sheetz ran for 82 yards on 22 carries. 

“It’s a good time for a wakeup call,” Knowles said. “We’ve been getting away with some stuff, and tonight we didn’t get away with anything.” 

Next Friday, Coeur d’Alene travels to defending Washington state 4A champion Camas, and Sandpoint is home vs. Lake City.

Sandpoint     6    3    0    0    —    9 

Coeur d’Alene     22    14    14    0    —    50 

First quarter 

Cd’A — Caden Symons 14 pass from Tannar Stern (Symons run), 11:17 

Spt — Eli Taylor 6 pass from Braden Buckhout (run failed), 7:38 

Cd’A — Gibson Comstock 68 pass from Symons (Frankie Lopez kick), 7:23 

Cd’A — Ty Paulin 10 pass from Stern (Lopez kick), 3:40 

Second quarter 

Cd’A — Comstock 55 pass from Symons (Lopez kick), 11:51 

Spt — FG Brock Yarbrough 33, 7:29. 

Cd’A — Paulin 11 run (Lopez kick), 5:12 

Third quarter 

Cd’A — Maddox Lindquist 17 pass from Symons (Lopez kick), 11:17 

Cd’A — Stern 1 run (Lopez kick), 2:56 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS  

RUSHING — Spt, Sheetz 22-82, Buckhout 4-13, Palmer 2-3, Gomez 2-7, Martin 1-(minus 3), Smith 1-3. Cd’A, Paulin 6-46, Stern 6-36, Palmgen 2-50, Symons 4-(minus 3), Lindquist 1-18, Strait 3-13, McCooey 3-1, Team 2-(minus 34). 

PASSING — Spt, Buckhout 13-23-2-112, Martin 1-1-0-6. Cd’A, Symons 11-13-0-355, Stern 3-5-0-33, Gatten 1-1-0-4, Priebe 0-1-0-0.  

RECEIVING — Spt, Yarbrough 9-81, Gomez 2-7, Schriber 1-18, Taylor 1-6, Resso 1-6. Cd’A, Comstock 4-166, Dahlin 2-50, Lindquist 2-57, Gray 2-22, Symons 1-14, Paulin 1-10, Stern 1-(minus 1), Hackett 1-70, Colburn 1-4. 

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Coeur d'Alene junior Gibson Comstock (5) hauls in one of his two first-half touchdown receptions Friday night against Sandpoint at Viking Field.