Ah-Hi all right in Vikings’ win

Any questions about the condition of Coeur d’Alene High School running back Kevin Ah-Hi’s right knee were quickly answered Friday.

In fact, it took just all of 14 seconds to show that it is fully recovered.

That’s good news for the Vikings, but it made for a long night for the Lakeland Hawks.

Fueled by Ah-Hi’s 86-yard kickoff return to open the game, CdA (5-1) cruised to a 41-7 Inland Empire League football victory over Lakeland (2-4) at Rathdrum’s Corbit Field.

“Everyone did their jobs and made me look good,” Ah-Hi said of the return. “Everybody made their blocks and it just opened up. And that really got us going.”

Ah-Hi, who tweaked his right knee early in the season, indicated that it is at full strength and it showed.

Behind some nice blocking by his offensive line, the senior gained 135 yards on 20 carries and scored four touchdowns before sitting out the last 1 1/2 quarters.

He might have padded those totals but, at times, had a hard time keeping his footing on cut-back moves on what he said was a very slick field.

“He (Ah-Hi) has to learn that sometimes 5 or 6 (yards) is enough,” said CdA head coach Shawn Amos. “He doesn’t always have to hit a home run all of the time.

“He did start us off pretty well, though,” Amos added with a grin.

Three of Ah-Hi’s scores came in the first half and, combined with a 4-yard Jake Hall to Jason Valois touchdown pass, gave the Vikings a 27-0 halftime lead.

Amos pointed out that a lot of the credit for that lead had to be given to his defense which held Lakeland to just 62 yards in total offense and four first downs in the first half.

“I thought defensively we played really well tonight,” he said. “Offensively, we need to look at some film. I think there are some things we can clean up.”

Hall also had a good first half for the Vikings. The senior quarterback completed his first five passes for 106 yards was 7 of 10 for 139 yards. He finished with 12 of 17 completions for 201 yards.

CdA dashed any hopes for a Lakeland comeback with a score on its opening drive of the second half.

Viks safety Clint Perry, after a poor snap on a Hawks punt attempt from the CdA 43, got his hand on the ball.

The ball bounced all the way back to the Lakeland 33 where the Vikings took over.

Five plays later, Ah-Hi dove in from the 2 to make it 34-0.

Lakeland got its only score with just 3:08 left in the game.

The Hawks’ Josh Wuest recovered a CdA fumble at the Lakeland 49-yard line.

On the next play, senior running back Kelly See broke off left tackle for a 40-yard gain down to the CdA 10.

But See was thrown for a 4-yard loss on the next play, setting up a second-and-goal from the 14.

Hawks quarterback Jack Vanderlinden found tight end Bubba Bartlett in the left flat. Bartlett appeared to be bottled up near the 5-yard line, but he carried a couple of Vikings defenders with him into the end zone.

Hall and Ah-Hi combined for 341 of CdA’s 402 total yards.

Lakeland was led by junior Chase Roberts who had 59 yards on 13 carries and senior Tyler Beck who had 45 yards on 10 carries.