Viks bury Hawks

In high school football’s version of rock/paper/scissors, speed always tops size.

Smaller but fleet-footed Coeur d’Alene turned a slow start into a late sprint from bigger Lakeland as the Vikings celebrated homecoming with a 35-14 victory Friday in a non-league game at Viking Field before an estimated crowd of 2,000.

Although the final margin ended up being comfortable for the 5A Vikings, the first half was anything but as the 4A Hawks went toe to toe with CdA. The Vikings took a 14-0 lead into halftime, but the score could have been tighter.

The speedy Vikings (4-1) struck fast when wide receiver Calvin Peterson threw a 59-yard flea flicker to Nate Bligh on the second play, giving CdA first-and-goal at Lakeland’s 7-yard line. Running back Cody Spencer scored on the next play.

After a failed point-after attempt, CdA led 6-0 just 1:05 into the game.

Lakeland’s first offensive series was typical clock-chewing Hawks football. Lakeland (3-2) used 14 plays to move from its 24 to CdA’s 6 before settling for a field-goal attempt. But the kick from 22 yards out was blocked.

The Hawks wouldn’t drive that deep into CdA territory until late in the third quarter.

CdA scored with 2:53 to go before intermission when quarterback Shea Vucinich connected with tight end Justin Greene on a 6-yard TD pass. The Vikings got back the missed extra point from earlier when Vucinich drilled a pass to his other tight end, Brandon Welch, for a two-point conversion.

The Vikings essentially put the game away with two more TDs to open the second half. Vucinich tossed a 32-yard TD pass to Peterson and the QB followed with a 14-yard TD toss to Bligh that extended CdA’s lead to 28-0 with 2:07 left in the third quarter.

What pleased CdA coach Shawn Amos the most was how his team came out ready to play, especially considering the biggest game of the year is looming next week.

“It was a good start and our kids came out focused,” Amos said. “I was a little disappointed in some of the undisciplined stuff we did that we need to clean up. We may have thought this was an emotional game (homecoming), but next week’s going to be a little bit more emotional.”

Amos was alluding to the faceoff against No. 1-ranked Lake City (4-0), which had a bye Friday. The game between the city rivals will be at CdA.

Perhaps displaying some of the grit of its coach, Lakeland fought back with a late touchdown in the third quarter and a final score late in the fourth, as the Hawks didn’t allow the game to get out of hand.

“I thought we played well enough in the first half to be right with them,” Lakeland coach Tim Kiefer said. “I just thought we made some silly mistakes coverage wise.

“I thought we were hitting right with them; I thought we were physical. The second half, I just don’t think we came out and played as physical as we did in the first (half).”

Lakeland is home next Friday against Post Falls (3-1) in the Battle of the Rathdrum Prairie. Post Falls, in its first year in 5A, had no problem with visiting 4A Moscow on Friday, winning 28-12.