CdA football poised to continue run

So they came up just short of a three-peat.

Nothing to be overly disappointed about if you’re a Coeur d’Alene football player. The Vikings lost to a worthy champion, Madison.

Madison wasn’t the best team Coeur d’Alene played this year, but certainly the best in Idaho.

Some say you don’t remember who finishes second but you never forget the state champs. That’s not entirely true.

CdA coach Shawn Amos and his staff will long remember the class of 2013.

Chiefly among those seniors is Reece Mahaffy, who rarely left the field this season. He, like many of the seniors off this past season’s team, will be difficult to replace.

It’s been a splendid run by the Vikings. And it should continue next year.

CdA returns 12 juniors who started and a number of others who piled up significant minutes. And they’ll fill the holes left by the seniors with either other juniors or from a promising sophomore class.

The Viks have made the playoffs seven of the last nine seasons and four in a row. In the recent span, CdA is 39-8.

Lake City, which qualified for the playoffs for a 16th straight year, should also be applauded. Coach Van Troxel did a fine job getting a team to believe and was rewarded with a season that ended in the semifinals.

Cross country

I can’t say enough about how dominating the CdA girls team was this fall. This says it all – the Vikings, who repeated as 5A State champions, set a record for fewest points scored (29).

The Vikings placed five in the top 10, led by sophomore Josie Brown, who was second (18 minutes, 13.5 seconds). Lone senior Punky Duran was fifth (18:22.7), sophomore Kara Story was sixth (18:27.1), freshman Emily Callahan was seventh (18:33.5) and sophomore Krista Story was 10th (18:43.3). Just a 29.8-second gap separated this tight pack.

They followed it up with a record-setting performance at the NXN Northwest Regional on Nov. 10 in Boise. Running under the name Pantalones Rapidos – which means fast pants – they finished with 52 points in the championship flight, 29 better than the runner-up team, to earn an all-expenses paid trip to nationals Dec. 1 in Portland.

Kara Story was 10th (18:44.4), Callahan was 14th (18:50.2), Duran 15th (18:52.1), Brown was 16th (18:53.6) and Krista Story was 27th (19:17.2). Just the top four were counted in the team score. Still, just 32.8 seconds separated the pack.

“All my girls were in the top 20. That’s never happened before at this meet,” said CdA coach Cathy Compton, who, technically, isn’t coaching the post-state team because it’s considered a club team.

By state rule, Compton is only allowed to talk to two athletes at a time during practice. She’s fully invested nonetheless.

“They just ran the way they run,” Compton said. “They hope to carry that through to nationals. They’re not going to just have fun. They want to get on the awards podium.”

As far as the high school team is concerned, the Viks should be on the top of the awards stand again next fall.

CdA is ranked 11th in the nation in the National High School Coaches Association poll and 18th in the Milesplit rankings.

Soccer

The Post Falls boys (17-1-1) didn’t allow a goal en route to capturing the 5A State championship.

Junior standout Timmy Mueller summed up the season aptly.

“This is the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” he said. “It beats any club win. It was just us and we did it as a team. It makes going to summer workouts at 6 in the morning well worth it.”

The Lake City and Post Falls girls met in an all-Inland Empire League state final and things couldn’t be decided during 80 minutes of scoreless play.

Nor could a winner be determined in two 10-minute overtimes. It took penalty kicks and LC prevailed.

Both teams played well enough to win.

LC coach Matt Ruchti explained how his team made a late-season turnaround.

“Still to this day – and my group of players would agree – we still haven’t played well,” Ruchti said minutes after the title match. “That’s a unique thing coming into a state tournament. It’s a talented group, it’s an interesting group and the sky’s the limit for them as far as what they can achieve.”

Volleyball

Lewiston, fielding one of the youngest teams in the tournament without a senior on its roster, captured its first 5A State title.

In 3A, Priest River finished runner-up. It’s the first state trophy for the Spartans, who were making their fifth state trip in six seasons under coach Katie Bodecker.