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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Coeur d’Alene buries West Linn in prep football

Coeur d’Alene was ahead by 21 points when it took possession at its 36-yard line with just 22 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Run out the clock and take a comfortable lead into halftime? Not even a consideration for the Vikings’ quick-strike offense. Two plays later, Reece Mahaffy hauled in a pass from Gunnar Amos, slipped a tackle and finished off a 51-yard scoring play, Coeur d’Alene’s fourth touchdown of the quarter.

The Vikings, who rolled up nearly 400 total yards in the first half, went on to rout visiting West Linn (Ore.) 58-20 Friday night. Coeur d’Alene, the two-time defending Idaho 5A state football champions, won its 23rd straight game. The Lions, a playoff qualifier last year in Oregon’s 6A classification, dropped to 0-1.

“That’s what I was thinking (running out the clock) when I was going out but with the no-huddle anything can happen and you can strike so quickly,” Amos said. “It actually helped us that they went to that prevent defense. Reece made a great play.”

Coeur d’Alene (2-0) built on the momentum from Mahaffy’s touchdown with a flurry of scores in the third quarter. It started with Amos flipping a pass in the left flat to Addison Johnson and the speedy junior receiver did the rest, sprinting 66 yards for a touchdown.

Starting quarterback Andy Kallien was sacked and left with an ankle injury on West Linn’s next series. The Vikings were back in the end zone quickly on another Amos-to-Johnson connection.

It went from bad to worse for the Lions. Coeur d’Alene swarmed the punter after a botched long snap and the recovery in the end zone gave the Vikings a 55-6 lead. In breaking open a game that looked like it would be competitive early in the second quarter, CdA scored seven touchdowns in 13 minutes, 30 seconds of playing time.

“I was pretty happy with the tempo we played at. We made huge strides from last week (a 40-36 win over Skyview),” said Vikings coach Shawn Amos, Gunnar’s father, who pointed out improved snaps from center Cameron Dominguez “allowed our offense to flow.”

CdA’s starters departed midway through the third quarter. Amos passed for 362 yards and five touchdowns, three to Johnson. Amos added a pair of touchdown runs, including a 60-yarder in the second quarter that boosted Coeur d’Alene’s lead to 20-6.

Johnson finished with five receptions for 163 yards, more than atoning for his fumble inside the Lions’ 5-yard line late in the first quarter. Jackson Carlson had five catches for 77 yards.

“We started off all right, executing pretty good,” first-year West Linn coach Mike Fanger said. “Their team speed is exceptional and they do a lot of really good things. We got behind the 8-ball early and boy, when they get going it snowballs.”