CdA electrifying
Vikings win 31-0 after game called in 3rd quarter
It was a game dominated by flash. Well, part of a game, anyway.
Coeur d’Alene needed just more than 30 minutes of actual playing time to stonewall Moses Lake in a nonleague high school clash Friday night. The Vikings rolled up a 31-0 lead over the visiting Chiefs before the game was called at 5:58 of the third quarter because of lightning in the vicinity.
The game was delayed for 1 hour, 15 minutes in the first quarter when lightning was spotted to the west of the stadium, and as the weather disturbances moved to the north and grew closer to Coeur d’Alene High, fans were asked to leave the metal bleachers for their safety.
When attention wasn’t centered on the skies over North Idaho, the Vikings put on a show of offensive prowess and flexed a good deal of defensive skill.
First-year starting quarterback Chad Chalich was impressive in his debut, running for a pair of touchdowns and throwing for two more.
“This was Chad’s first game as our quarterback, but we’ve had our eye on him for a long time,” Vikings head coach Shawn Amos said. “He lives near me and we’ve been watching him, so we knew what we were getting. He’s been preparing himself to be a Coeur d’Alene Viking for quite a while.”
The junior showed poise in the pocket, a strong and accurate down-field arm and a sense for when to tuck the ball under his arm and take off on his own.
On the Vikings’ second possession of the game, Chalich drove his team 57 yards in just five plays, finding Jake Matheson on a slant pattern over the middle, which the senior cut back to the outside for a 31-yard pass and run for a touchdown. The team added a two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead.
After the Vikings blocked a Moses Lake punt inside the 20 and took possession at the Chiefs’ 23, Chalich found senior Matt Lambert between the safeties for his second career touchdown pass with 5:47 left in the first quarter.
Chalich found Matheson again in the second quarter, this time streaking down the left sideline. The senior caught the ball in midstride for a 55-yard gain. Chalich dashed the remaining 9 yards for the touchdown on a keeper.
Equally impressive was the Coeur d’Alene defense, which smothered Moses Lake’s ground game and grounded its passing attack.
Viking defenders routinely beat their Moses Lake counterparts off the ball and blitzing linebackers kept pressure on quarterback Kyler Moats – when they weren’t sacking him for losses.
The Chiefs struggled at times with their center snap. Moats struggled with low snaps all night, which did not help him against the Vikings’ pass rush. A bad snap on a third-quarter punt resulted in a Coeur d’Alene safety.
“We’ll have to look at the film to see just exactly what was going on, but I was pleased with the way our line played,” Amos said. “We have some very quick kids.”