Le carries day for CdA
Gabe Le believed – and his teammates went along for the ride.
The Coeur d’Alene High senior running back packed the Vikings on his shoulders, rushing for a career-high 330 yards and six touchdowns as the Vikings held off the Lake City Timberwolves 50-34 in an outrageously thrilling State 5A football playoff opener Friday before an estimated crowd of 4,000 at Viking Field.
Coeur d’Alene (8-2) will play host to defending state champion Centennial (8-2) next Friday in the semifinals. Centennial had to go to two overtimes before topping Meridian 33-26.
In the other 5A openers, Capital (7-3) shut out Eagle 21-0 and Twin Falls (9-1) slipped past Highland 13-12.
The 5-foot-9, 194-pound Le, who packs the power of a fullback and the speed of a tailback, came within 11 yards of breaking the all-time single-game rushing record. Paul Ziegler rushed for 341 yards against Cheney in 2000. Le’s six TDs tied Ziegler for the most in one game.
Those numbers meant nothing to Le, however, following the Vikings’ second win in as many weeks over their cross-town rival.
“I said I needed to take it on my shoulders tonight,” Le said. “Somebody needed to step up on our team, so I figured it would be me. I was ready to go because they didn’t think we could do it twice (beat LC), and we did.”
Le’s TD runs began with a 1-yard plunge and concluded with a 48-yard scamper with scores from 2, 84, 13 and 5 yards thrown in in between.
LC quarterback Ben Widmyer and Le exchanged handshakes afterward. Widmyer, who passed for 157 yards and rushed for 91, threw a 16-yard TD pass to Chris Delport that gave the Timberwolves (6-4) their final lead at 34-28 with 11:51 to play.
Le scored three TDs in the final 8:21 as CdA pulled away.
“Our guys played hard. We just didn’t make as many plays as they did,” LC coach Van Troxel said. “This was a great high school football game. Again we make too many mistakes and they make fewer mistakes. We knew the winner of this one has a great opportunity to go on and do some good things. I wished it was us, but I hope they go on and win it all.”
It was a well-played game throughout.
CdA led 14-6 after the first quarter. But LC pulled even when Cole Rieben hauled in an 11-yard pass from Widmyer and Kyle Ferebee added a 2-point conversion with 40 seconds to go before halftime.
While LC took the lead three times in the second half, CdA had an answer each time. That answer was Le.
And the Timberwolves’ poorly excecuted point-after attempts caught up with them midway in the fourth quarter when CdA regained the lead for good. Le’s 13-yard run around the left side and Lyons’ point-after kick allowed the Viks to take a 35-34 lead.
CdA came up with the defensive play of the game when defensive end Joe Wolfe batted down what appeared to be a pass, but the officials ruled a lateral. As the ball bounded on the crisp grass, CdA lineman Kevin Menting had the presence of mind to pounce on the ball at LC’s 32-yard line.
Three players later, Le squirted 5 yards off right tackle for his fifth TD. LC was called for being offsides prior to the point-after kick, and CdA elected to go for two. Le had no trouble scoring as the Viks made it a two-score game with a 43-34 lead and 6:15 showing on the clock.
CdA took over on downs moments later, and on fourth-and-inches from just inside midfield, Le busted through LC’s pursuit for his final TD, a 48-yarder that accounted for the final margin with 2:08 to go.
“I’m not going to say we’re going to run the table, but I think we’ve got a big shot at state (title) now,” Le said. “I’m giving a lot of credit to Lake City because they battled that whole game. Widmyer’s a great player. He’s going places.”
CdA handed coach Shawn Amos his first win over LC in eight years last week. He had no difficulty putting the second win in perspective.
“The first one was nice, but this is the one that keeps us playing,” Amos said.