Stern showing ... Senior quarterback accounts for four touchdowns as Coeur d'Alene handles Lakeland in opener

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

RATHDRUM — Sans its main conductor, the Coeur d’Alene machine was in tune to start the season on Friday night.

Senior quarterback Tannar Stern completed 14 of 17 attempts for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for another 103 yards and two scores as the Vikings beat the Lakeland Hawks 35-10 in the nonleague high school football opener for both at Corbit Field.

“We were really dialed in tonight,” Stern said. “To finally get out here and play was a lot of fun. It was super exciting. All the work we put in throughout the summer showed up today."

Coeur d’Alene drove right down the field in the first, scoring less than 2 minutes into the game on a 9-yard screen pass from Stern to Ben Murray.

“First series was a great way to get started,” said Coeur d’Alene associate head coach Vinny Lupinacci, who is leading the team as head coach Shawn Amos serves a two-game suspension for the Vikings using an illegal JV-only-eligible player during the state playoffs in 2025. “We had a big kickoff return to the 50 and to score in a few plays really eased the nerves a little bit. It’s really a testament to our staff. It was a little weird without our leader here, but they did a good job of setting the tone for our players.”

Stern capped the Vikings' scoring on a 65-yard run down the sideline to put Coeur d’Alene ahead 35-3 with 1:04 remaining in the third.

“He’s probably one of the top quarterbacks I’ve seen here at Lakeland in the last four or five years,” fifth-year Lakeland coach Mike Schroeder said. “The Hillcrest guy has been pretty good the last couple of years. He’s a man among boys, right? He really helps them a lot.”

“That’s the area where he’s grown so much,” Lupinacci said of Stern. “He’s always been a great athlete and really physical. What he’s doing now as a quarterback, delivering the ball on time and making good decisions and good reads. He’s taken a ton of strides in that area and did a great job tonight.”

Coeur d’Alene forced a fumble on Lakeland’s second play from scrimmage, then recovered another fumble on the Hawks’ second possession.

“We got outclassed in the first quarter and a half,” Schroeder said. “Shame on me. My forecast was off a little bit. I believed in some things that I might have believed in too much. But I’ll rectify that real quick with the coaches. Our kids were ready to play physically and athletically. But mentally, showing humility, we’ll talk about it and fix some of those things.”

Lakeland senior tailback Griffin Tamagni ran for 109 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown run with 5:47 remaining.

“Our strategy in the first couple of offensive series, we were not ready to execute,” Schroeder said. “We were going to get into the ‘I’ and try to establish some things at the line of scrimmage, and quite frankly, it backfired and it took us too long to recover.”

“Defensively, we knew that they’re a really physical team,” Lupinacci said. “We knew we had to match their physicality. To pop the ball out a couple of times was really nice, but we did a good job of pursuing them and getting them out of their power running game early. We had 11 hats to the ball and did a great job.”

Coeur d’Alene travels to Silverton (Ore.) next Friday.

“It’s always nice to start with a win,” Lupinacci said. “We’ve definitely got some things to clean up with the penalties and that. Now, we’ll get to take a nice long bus trip to a team that won a state title last year. We’ll enjoy this now, but we’ll have our hands full next week.”

Lakeland visits Lake City for its second straight game against a 6A Inland Empire League opponent.

“We knew that going in it was going to be tough,” Schroeder said. “We upgraded our schedule, and it shows. We’re playing one of the better teams in the state and we’re a 5A program. But I think we’ll be OK. It just took us too long to catch up in the game.”

Coeur d’Alene    14    14    7    0    —    35

Lakeland    0    0    3    7    —    10

First quarter

Cd’A — Ben Murray 6 pass from Tannar Stern (Frankie Lopez kick), 10:16

Cd’A — Cruz Paulin 25 pass from Stern (Lopez kick), 6:52

Second quarter

Cd’A — Stern 3 run (Lopez kick), 9:52

Cd’A — Murray 4 run (Lopez kick), :16

Third quarter

LL — FG Parker Sterling 30, 1:22

Cd’A — Stern 65 run (Lopez kick), 1:04

Fourth quarter 

LL — Griffin Tamagni 25 run (Sterling kick), 5:47

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Cd’A, Murray 3-23, Stern 9-103, Paulin 2-4, Strait 3-24, Lindquist 1-9, McCoey 2-19, Coleman 1-2. LL, Tamagni 19-108, Bligh 9-17, Boardman 1-0, Young 2-4, Burke 2-3, Bevacqua 1-0.

PASSING — Cd’A, Stern 14-17-0-128, Gatten 1-3-1-20. LL, Bligh, 11-18-0-127, Lukey 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — Cd’A, Schillinger 2-28, Whittaker 1-22, Lindquist 3-19, Murray 2-14, Hackett 1-8, Paulin 3-32, Strait 1-8, Nitti 3-26, McCoey 1-9, Comstock 1-6. LL, Boardman 2-11, Bevacqua 1-7, Adams 3-29, Clark 1-12, Couper 1-21, Tamagni 3-39, Young 1-2, Burke 2-11.

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene junior wide receiver Logan Nitti fights for extra yards during the second quarter of Friday's nonleague football game against Lakeland at Corbit Field in Rathdrum.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene senior running back Oliver Strait runs through a Lakeland tackle during the first quarter of Friday's game in Rathdrum.