Vikings Make Deer Park Their First Victim, 46-7 But It Takes Cda A Half To Get Going Against The Outmanned Stags

Deer Park High School football coach Bryan Frost’s short-handed team was outmanned in every way imaginable Friday against the Coeur d’Alene Vikings.

So the final score - heavily tilted in Coeur d’Alene’s favor at 46-7 - neither surprised Frost nor concerned him.

“I thought we hit hard and played well,” smiled Frost, whose team plays in the Class A division in Washington, two rungs under the A-1 Division II classification in which Coeur d’Alene plays.

“They should beat us, they’re a lot bigger (school) than we are. We had nothing to lose. If we go play somebody that’s like a B school or smaller than us we have everything to lose. I think this is good for us. It toughens us up. I think the kids will take a lot of positives out of this.”

So what does Coeur d’Alene take from a game it should have won as handily as it did?

For starters, and perhaps most importantly, the Vikings posted their first win of the season in three tries and gave first-year coach Bill Anderson his first victory.

But Anderson, whose team led 21-7 at halftime, was anything but pleased after two quarters.

The Viks were barely perspiring when they scored two touchdowns within 5 minutes early in the first quarter.

CdA’s first possession started at the DP 39-yard-line. Mark Scates dashed 9 yards up the middle to open the scoring at 7-0 just 1:45 into the game.

The Viks’ second possession started even close to the Stags’ end zone, at the 34. Seven plays later, Ben Ziegler plunged 1 yard as the Viks took a 14-0 lead with 5:14 left in the first quarter.

That’s all the Viks would need, and that’s how they played for the rest of the first half.

DP’s gutty running back, Bob Krous, cut CdA’s lead in half at 14-7 in the opening moments of the second period when he sprinted 10 yards for what would prove to be the Stags’ lone TD. DP (0-2) gained 57 of its 89 first-half yards on the drive.

CdA played much more inspired in the second half. And after the Viks took a 31-7 lead into the fourth quarter, Anderson substituted freely.

“I was not pleased at all at half(time),” Anderson said. “I thought we were very lackadaisical after we scored the first two (touchdowns). I thought we sat back on our heels a little bit. We can’t take anybody for granted. We have to play hard and play together as a team. In the second half, when our first unit was in there, we came out and did that.”

The Viks limited DP - which was playing without standout quarterback Trevor Baker, out with a chipped bone in his back - to 23 yards in the final half. In fact, the Stags completed no passes in the game and gained just 108 yards rushing on 25 carries.

“We had a shot to win the other two (games), but it’s nice to get a win and I’m really happy we got all the kids in the ballgame,” Anderson said.

Anderson also praised the Stags.

“Their kids played very hard and they did not quit. They played hard for four quarters,” Anderson said.

CdA junior placekicker Ben Davis got things going in the second half with a 48-yard field goal, a kick that had 60-yard distance on it.

David Goodwin followed with a 1-yard TD run, Eli Daly added a 5-yard score and backup quarterback Rick Haymond capped the scoring with a 19-yard keeper.

Krous led the Stags on both sides of the ball. He gained a team-high 46 yards on 11 carries and had 15 tackles, 11 unassisted, from his linebacker position.

Coeur d’Alene 46, Deer Park 7

Deer Park 0 7 0 0 - 7

Coeur d’Alene 14 7 10 15 - 46

C-Scates 9 run (Davis kick)

C-Ziegler 1 run (Davis kick)

DP-Krous 10 run (Caruso kick)

C-Peebles 15 pass from Rook (Davis kick)

C-Davis 48 FG

C-Goodwin 1 run (Davis kick)

C-Daly 5 run (Davis kick)

C-Haymond 19 run (Spencer pass from Rook)

, DataTimes