PREP BOYS SOCCER: Coeur d'Alene wins second straight district title ... Lake City awaits play-in fate

By JASON ELLIOTT 

Sports writer 

COEUR d’ALENE — Even when things got tight in the final seconds, Coeur d’Alene senior goalkeeper Grant Johnson knew his team was going to find a way. 

That was the goal after all at the start of the season. 

Coeur d’Alene junior forward Rowan Wyatt scored in the 19th minute for the Vikings, who held off a late Lake City rally for a 1-0 win in the 6A District 1 championship match at Viking Field on Tuesday. 

“I had trust in our defense and that we’d been in these kinds of situations before,” Johnson said. “It feels good, and it was based on our expectations. We set the goal this year to go out and win state. Winning last year, it was a start. And we’re going to go to Idaho Falls to finish it.” 

Coeur d’Alene outshot Lake City 17-13 in the match, but the Timberwolves had three shots late to even the game that Johnson fought off.” 

“We find a way to create a lot of chances,” Coeur d’Alene coach Robbie Harmelink said. “We talk about sacrificing and dying for the badge, and Rowan found himself in the right place at the right time.” 

Coeur d’Alene (13-0-1) is the top-ranked team in the 6A rankings by MaxPreps, which are used to seed the state tournament starting next Thursday at Hillcrest High in Ammon. 

Lake City (8-7) is ranked ninth by MaxPreps, and will find out today if they’ll advance to a play-in match this Saturday.

“It was unfortunate that we missed a penalty kick, but our boys took the No. 1 team in the state down to the wire,” Lake City coach Chaz Donovan said. “They played outstanding today, and I couldn’t be more proud of their effort and resilience.” 

Coeur d’Alene has allowed seven goals this season. 

“Going into this year, we knew we were going to have a talented team,” Harmelink said. “But we knew the only way we were going to have that potential was that everyone was going to have to buy into that it’s going to take a team of 22 or 23 guys. There were some guys that didn’t see minutes tonight, but they’re as bought into this game as those guys on the field. From 23 to 1 on our roster, it’s earned from each one of them for the months and months of hard work they put in together.” 

Johnson had 13 saves for Coeur d'Alene.

“It’s a blessing to have Grant all four years,” Harmelink said. “He’s contributed every year and with another clean sheet, he’s moved into one of the top goalkeepers in school history. He give us such peace and confidence back there that there’s someone that knows what he’s doing. He’s had a heck of a season, and he’s made some amazing saves. It’s all four of the guys in the back that have helped him too. We’ve got a lot of confidence in our keeper and our defense.” 

Coeur d’Alene lost in a state play-in match 2-1 to Boise last season after winning the district title.

“For the past week, we’ve said that the job isn’t finished,” Harmelink said. “We set a lofty goal of competing for state. We recognize it, and we should be competing for that every year. We’re just going to take it one game at a time. We can’t guarantee anything other than the game in front of us.” 

“Our expectations are high,” Johnson said. “But our expectations that we have on ourselves are even higher, so we’ll get ready to go and play each match.” 

First half — 1, Cd’A, Rowan Wyatt (unassisted), 19:00. Second half — none. 

Shots on goal — LC 13, Cd’A 17. 

Saves — LC, Sebastian Guitron 16; Cd’A, Grant Johnson 13. 

Sandpoint 8 

Lakeland 0

SANDPOINT — The third-seeded Hawks fell shot to the top-seeded Bulldogs in the 5A Region 1 championship match at War Memorial Field. 

Lakeland (7-7) is ranked seventh by MaxPreps, which is used to seed the state tournament. The Hawks will find out today if they will advance to a state play-in match this Saturday. Sandpoint, the top ranked team in 5A, advances to state starting next Thursday at the Field of Dreams Complex in Ponderay. 

Junior Pax Longanecker recorded a hat trick for Sandpoint (13-1-2). 

First half — 1, SPT, Wesley Drube (Pax Longanecker), 6:00. 2, SPT, Longanecker (Colton Dickinson), 10:00. 3, SPT, Adrian Torres (Drube), 13:00. 4, SPT, Longanecker (penalty kick), 19:00. 5, SPT, Torres (Longanecker), 26:00. Second half — 6, SPT, Landon Brinkmeier (penalty kick), 55:00. 7, SPT, Longanecker (unassisted), 58:00. 8, SPT, Dixon Reed (unassisted, free kick), 66:00. 

Shots on goal — LL 1, Spt 15. 

Saves — LL, Eli Cantu 7; Spt, Landon Brinkmeier 1. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d'Alene junior Isaac Lowder and Lake City's Leo Rubio battle for possession during the second half of Tuesday's 6A District 1 soccer championship match at Viking Field.