Warriors edge Wampus Cats
All that can be said about the 1A Division II state football opener Saturday between Kootenai and Clark Fork is: “What a game.”
The Warriors and junior quarterback Kolten Willms went up big early and the visiting Wampus Cats and senior quarterback Mike Martin came storming back with 40 points in the fourth quarter.
When it was over, heavily favored Kootenai somehow held on for a 58-54 victory at Harrison.
The win sends the Warriors (8-1) to Riggins on Saturday to take on Salmon River at noon PST. Run-happy Salmon River (9-1), which has a nine-game winning streak, advanced with a 52-30 victory over Garden Valley.
Willms, who rushed 12 times for 241 yards and five touchdowns – and for good measure threw a couple of late touchdowns that ended up making the difference – was obviously more than just a little bit relieved as he and his teammates walked off the field.
“I’m just so glad it’s over right now,” said Willms, who credited his offensive line for opening the holes that sprung him time and time again. “And we get to move on to the next round.
“It’s probably one of my best games, I’d have to say – Coach called some running plays, and I did my best.”
After leading 8-6 at the end of the first quarter, Clark Fork watched Kootenai reel off 28 straight and lead 34-8 early in the third quarter.
Wampus Cat senior quarterback Mike Martin, 13 of 29 for 94 yards and one touchdown to that point, suddenly got hot, throwing four touchdowns over the next 12 minutes. The last one, a 19-yarder to senior wide receiver Drew Wilkinson, pulled Clark Fork to within 42-36 with 7:24 left in the game.
But the game swung again, and Willms’ TD strikes of 65 and 15 yards, separated by a Martin fumble – the only turnover of the game – had the Warriors back in front at 58-36.
Martin, who finished 27 of 58 for 410 yards and eight touchdowns, threw his last three – two to Wilkinson, who ended up with four – in the final 3 minutes, but the Wampus Cats ran out of time.
Kootenai coach Doug Napierala, happy his team was through to the second round after falling to underdog Mullan in last season’s state opener, commented on Clark Fork’s effort late in the game.
“I tell you what – they are good,” Napierala said. “Martin is one heck of a passer and his receivers were catching some balls for him tonight.
“They got a momentum swing, and they rolled it – it’s lucky we had the lead that we did have.”
Napierala also lamented his team propensity for drawing flags. The Warriors were penalized 12 times for 124 yards.
“Penalties are going to kill us – it’s stupid,” he said. “We’ve got to be smart, you know, I mean we can’t hurt ourselves – we stalled two drives because of penalties, offensively. Defensively, we kept drives alive for them because of penalties.”
Clark Fork coach Brian Arthun, who said his pride for his team outweighed his disappointment, ranked the contest among the finest.
“It’s got to be up there, I mean it’s just got to be considered one of the best I’ve ever been a part of,” Arthun said. “I’m sure the fans got a good game out of it.
“It’s one of those things where you’ve got to hand it to Kootenai – Coach Napierala does a heck of a job with those guys and they came out fired up … unfortunately, we just came out on the short end of it.”
Understandably, there was no shortage of emotion.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a team than I am of these guys tonight,” said Arthun, whose team finished 6-3. “These guys have the heart of champions. We were down big-time at half, and even through the game, and we kept on bouncing back, and kept on bouncing back.
“The resiliency and never-say-die spirit of these guys, I’ll always remember.”
“In other State 1A Division I playoff action Troy breezed to a 60-22 victory over Wallace. No details were available.