Finally, Vikings end famine

With 1:48 left in Friday’s key Inland Empire League high school football game between Lake City and Coeur d’Alene, an already gusty breeze suddenly picked up about 10 knots coming out of the east.

Some kind of quirky weather phenomena?

Nope, just the effect of 1,200 CdA fans, players and coaches collectively exhaling in relief when Vikings defensive back Tom Bjornson intercepted a pass, ending a frantic Lake City drive and preserving a 28-21 CdA lead.

And that relief turned to pandemonium seconds later when running back Kevin Ah-Hi took a handoff from quarterback Max Lyons and sprinted 67 yards to give the Vikings a 35-21 victory at CdA’s Viking Field, snapping an 11-game losing streak to their crosstown rivals.

CdA’s sideline began a wild celebration while Ah-Hi was still completing his clinching run.

“We worked long and hard for this,” CdA coach Shawn Amos said. “LC’s a great football team. We knew going in it was going to be a battle and it was. Our defense came up with some big stops. It was just a great game between two great teams.”

The win gives the Viks (7-2 overall, 3-0 5A North, 3-2 IEL) the right to host a first-round state playoff game. That game will be next Friday beginning at 7 p.m. The opponent? The Lake City Timberwolves (6-3, 2-1, 4-2). The winner of that first-round game will be the host school in the second round.

“That’s the only bad thing about this,” Amos said of the victory. “We only get one night to enjoy it and then it’s back to work.”

Bjornson’s interception was huge. Beginning from his own 8-yard line and down by a touchdown, LC quarterback Ben Widmyer completed two quick passes to move the T-Wolves to the 48.

Following an incompletion, Widmyer found Chris Lakey down the right sideline for a short gain and then gained 7 yards on a keeper. That gave LC a first-and-10 at the CdA 34.

But when Widmyer scrambled and tried to find a receiver in the end zone, Bjornson stepped in front and made the catch.

“We pretty much knew we had to stay deep,” Bjornson said. “When Widmyer gets out of the pocket, we know we have to cover our receivers. That was the best thing in the world. It’s going to be a great game next week.”

The Vikings struck first and quickly, scoring on their first possession.

Starting on their own 27, CdA drove to the LC 47. But a 5-yard loss and an incomplete pass pushed the Viks back to their own 48.

CdA quarterback Max Lyons faked a pitch, rolled to his right and hit wide receiver Kyle Jerald in stride over the middle.

Jerald, who had a step on his defender, sprinted untouched for the score.

In fact, the combination of Lyons to Jerald was pretty much the entire CdA offense in the first half. The Viks had 159 yards in total offense while Jerald had four catches for 111 yards.

LC was able to move the ball against the Viks’ defense, gaining 258 yards in the first half, but CdA’s defense held when it needed to. The T-Wolves saw one drive end on a fumble and another died on the CdA 5 when a Widmyer fourth-down pass was broken up in the end zone.

LC finally got a break when CdA’s Jake Hall fumbled a punt return at the Viks’ 31-yard line. Five plays later, Widmyer found receiver Chris Delport open deep down the right sideline. Widmyer’s pass was perfectly thrown and Delport hauled it in to make it 7-7.

CdA responded immediately, completing a six-play, 76-yard drive. The Viks got 33 of those yards on a Jerald reception and then were helped by a personal foul call when receiver Kyle Mills was hit late following an incompletion in the end zone.

Three plays after the penalty, Gabe Le’s 14-yard run gave CdA a 14-7 lead at the half.

LC knotted it up on its opening possession of the second half on a 6-yard Widmyer run, but the Viks made it 28-14 on a 17-yard pass from Lyons to Kyle Mills late in the third quarter and a 1-yard run by Le to open the fourth.

LC again cut it to 28-21 with 5:09 to go. Facing a fourth-and-15 from the Viks’ 36, Widmyer scrambled and hit Delport in the right corner of the end zone.

And the T-Wolves would get one final chance, forcing CdA to punt and setting up Bjornson’s final heroics.

Ah-Hi, who had only 9 yards rushing in the first half, went wild after the break. The junior finished with 208 yards on 14 carries. Le tacked on 89.

“We knew it would be a foot race,” he said. “At halftime, we knew we’d have to put something together and we came out pretty fired up.”

Lyons also had a good game for CdA, throwing for 140 yards.

Widmyer had an impressive outing, running for 92 yards and completing 20 of 36 passes for 306 yards, but the T-Wolves were hurt by two lost fumbles and Bjornson’s interception.