Vikings Stumble At Home East Valley Rolls To 28-0 Lead To Send Cda To Its Second Loss

Somebody apparently forgot to tell the East Valley Knights they were playing in a season-opening high school football game Friday night.

The Knights were beyond midseason form - at least in the first half. It was more like postseason shape as East Valley rolled over the Coeur d’Alene Vikings 41-19 at Viking Field.

East Valley used all of its weapons in a four-touchdown first half. So much for first-game jitters and costly mistakes.

And the Knights earned high praise from their veteran coach.

“That’s as good a first opening-night half performance that any of my kids have ever had,”said EV coach Jim Clements, whose team went into halftime leading 28-0. “There wasn’t much to talk about at halftime really. They did a great job.”

There was plenty to chat about, though, in the home locker room. And the Vikings were apparently all ears as they came out emotionally charged in the third quarter.

CdA found its missing offense, posting three touchdowns in the third period to tighten the gap to 35-19.

But the trench was too deep for Coeur d’Alene, as EV running back Charles VanNote scored his second touchdown and the Knights’ final TD on a 53-yard scamper. The score provided the final margin with 6:27 remaining.

“I’ve got to take my hat off to Coeur d’Alene because they never quit,” said Clements, who guided CdA to the State A-1 Division I championship in 1985, his lone season in the Lake City. He resigned and took the job at Pullman before landing at EV six years ago.

“They gave us a scare in the second half, and they played hard the whole ballgame,” Clements added.

It’s the second consecutive year that CdA has opened 0-2 under Coach Bill Anderson.

Anderson was nearly beyond words to describe the Viks’ poor start Friday.

“I was disappointed as heck with the first half. We’re a better football team than that,” Anderson said. “I have no idea, none whatsoever, no answer (for what happened). We had a good week of practice, we’ve got better kids than that.

“We went in and squared things up (at halftime), but we did the same things in the second half that we were trying to do in the first half. We can’t spot them 21 points in the first quarter.”

Two CdA fumbles helped East Valley get rolling.

Jon Anderson recovered a poor pitch exchange by CdA at the Vikings’ 32-yard line. Seven plays later, quarterback Brian Lamarche hit wide receiver Trevor Eastman on a 16-yard post play for a touchdown. That play would be one that EV would go to often.

The Knights got the ball back almost immediately when Viks quarterback Nick Rook pitched the ball on an option play but no running back was in position to take the pitch. Paul Shogren recovered the ball for East Valley.

A 9-yard TD run by VanNote moments later and a two-point conversion put EV ahead 14-0 with 4:49 left in the opening quarter.

On CdA’s next possession, EV stopped the Viks on fourth-and-one at the CdA 44.

Two plays later, bulldozing Tristan Beeman galloped 38 yards untouched up the middle to put the Knights in front 21-0 with 1:56 to go in the quarter.

Eastman and Lamarche connected again on a 9-yard scoring strike in the second quarter to complete the first-half scoring.

How dominating was EV in the first half? The Knights posted 226 yards of total offense to CdA’s 27. And CdA didn’t record a first down until there were 32 seconds remaining before intermission.

CdA will seek its first victory of the season next Friday in a road game against Deer Park, a Class A school in Washington, north of Spokane. The Viks recorded their first victory last season against Deer Park.

East Valley 41, Coeur d’Alene 19

East Valley 21 7 7 6 41

Coeur d’Alene 0 0 19 0 19

E-Eastman 16 pass from Lamarche( pass failed) E-Beeman 38 run( Pratt kick) C-B. Davis 27 pass from Rook( B. Davis kick) E-Eastman 51 pass from Lamarche( Pratt kick) C-B. Davis 34 pass from Rook( kick failed) E-VanNote 9 run( Locklin run) E-Eastman 9 pass from Lamarche( Pratt kick) C-Peebles 25 pass from Rook( pass failed) E-VanNote 53 run( kick failed)

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: Changed in the Spokane edition.