Vikings, Timberwolves Set Up Match For Nil Title

Prep soccer

School officials should check the posts and crossbars on the Coeur d’Alene High soccer field’s two goals.

The home boys team hit the metal posts so often Wednesday in the first round of the North Idaho League district tournament that several observers thought the posts would collapse.

It was Lakeland that finally crumpled, though, as the Hawks put up a gallant effort before Coeur d’Alene rallied for a 2-1 victory.

The top-seeded Vikings figure that because they received more than their share of unlucky bounces, things should balance out when they play host to rival Lake City in the championship match Friday.

Lake City survived an aggressive match in the other opener, slipping past visiting Sandpoint 2-1 on penalty kicks.

Coeur d’Alene and Lake City secured automatic state berths. They’ll be playing for an all-important No. 1 seed to state, which will be held next Thursday through Saturday at Boise.

Lakeland will travel to Sandpoint to decide a third state berth Friday afternoon. Both matches will begin at 4.

They were the first high school matches for the teams. North Idaho boys teams play their regular season in the spring. Most of the players on all teams have stayed sharp by playing club ball the past two months.

At CdA, the Viks took 23 shots on goal in the first half, but had nothing to show for it after the first 45 minutes.

Lakeland broke through 6 minutes into the second half when Scott Prudence stole a ball from Viking Brett LaTourette just inside CdA’s half of the field. Prudence dribbled toward goalie Barret Schwerin, who gambled at trying to stop the Hawk when he came out nearly 30 yards in front of the goal.

Prudence used nifty footwork to dribble around Schwerin and an empty goal awaited him.

A couple more direct kicks on goal by the Viks caromed around like pinballs during the next 24 minutes before CdA tied the match.

Jared Richards took a nice pass from the corner from Joey Davis and used his left foot to scoop a shot from 5 yards out past Lakeland goalie Andrew Eachon, who committed too soon.

The game winner came at the 85-minute mark on a penalty kick. Kyle Chambers headed a corner kick that was bound for the back of the net when a Lakeland player caught the ball.

Chambers lined up 12 yards in front of Eachon and booted the ball past the diving Hawk.

CdA finished with 35 shots. Eachon, a 6-foot-3 sophomore with a wide wing span, stopped 29 attempts.

“Our goalie played awesome,” Lakeland coach Eric Von Behren said. “It’s a tough loss, but we played well. We’ll play hard (Friday).”

Chambers knew that something good would eventually come of all the opportunities.

“It was frustrating because we’re a lot better team than we showed,” Chambers said. “We just couldn’t finish. We controlled the ball well enough. I thought our team would come through in the end.”

At LC, Brent Wolf’s penalty kick lifted the Timberwolves over the Bulldogs in a sudden-death shootout.

Jonathan Aumick and Patrick Foster succeeded in shots during the kick off for Sandpoint, but it was Wolf, J.J. Barlow, Derek Houck and Connor Quinn who provided the margin for LC.

“They worked together real well,” LC coach Jim Facciano said. “They’re very team-oriented. They played the ball around, encouraged each other, helped each other, got their marks and I think their teamwork really came across. We really wanted to beat Sandpoint.”

After a scoreless first half, Barlow put LC ahead with a header from 10 yards out in the 57th minute.

Sandpoint’s Shane Thoreson tied it up with a goal that went past tentative LC goalie Brandon Bemis. The goal was disputed initially because the ball was allegedly thrown in during a substitution. But officials counted the goal.

Bemis, with a flying save, stopped a drive down the field with 15 seconds left in the game to force overtime.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Greg Lee Staff writer Correspondent Dustin Newlun contributed to this report.