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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Viks get defensive

Contrary to popular belief, the Coeur d’Alene High football team can’t win without its defense.

Perhaps it has appeared as though the Vikings needed few contributions from the defense this fall. There was a time early in the season when CdA’s best defense was probably its offense.

That had more to do with the fact that CdA had to replace eight of 11 starters coming into the 2004 season – and most of the replacements were first-year varsity players.

For the Vikings (9-2) to capture the third state title in school history, the defense must pull its weight when CdA takes on Twin Falls (10-1) in the State 5A final Friday evening at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.

Had CdA’s defense not stepped up in a 28-21 overtime victory over defending state champ Centennial last week, the Viks’ season could well have ended last Friday.

“Our defense has been overshadowed at times,” CdA coach Shawn Amos said. “The key is guys have made big plays when we needed them. There was the interception at Lewiston, the fumble recovery (playoff against Lake City) and the sack at the end against Centennial.”

But because CdA fields an average-size defense, defensive coordinator Ron Nelson knew the Viks couldn’t sit back and play base schemes and hope to be successful.

“We’re undersized in places, but we think speed is better than size anyway,” Amos said. “We have good athletes across the board. We’re not having to hide anyone on defense.”

To make up for their lack of size, however, the Viks decided they had to be a blitzing team – early, often and in between. The defense has 32.5 sacks through 11 games.

“There’s no doubt that the offense has taken a big load off of us all year,” Nelson said.

“Going into the season, we were afraid that teams would line up and just try to pound it at us because we’re not very big up front. We knew we didn’t have a real physical presence on the field.”

The Viks had a number of players of equal caliber. So in an effort to keep the freshest bodies on the field, CdA has played about 15-18 players on defense, including as many as nine linemen.

It’s not a no-name defense. It’s a many-names defense.

The stat sheet bears that out. Sixteen players have 15 or more tackles, nine with 35 or more.

Junior middle linebacker Trevor Leaf leads with 100. Senior lineman Kevin Menting has a team-high five sacks.

“We are what we are,” Nelson said. “We expanded our blitz package and we’ve tried to add something new each week, something tailor-made for the opponent.”

For example, the backside blitz last week. As it turned out, Gabe Le was charging on such a blitz in overtime when he popped Centennial quarterback Kevin Pond from behind, forcing a fumble that teammate Mike Taylor recovered to secure the win.

Leaf didn’t know where he figured in CdA’s plans going into the season.

“I wasn’t even sure I’d start,” Leaf said. “There was a senior ahead of me at the start of the year. Then they moved him to offense.” Leaf has made the most of his opportunity.

Another Vik who has taken advantage of an opportunity has been senior linebacker Joe Wolfe. He went into summer camp penciled in as a fifth lineman, but was moved to linebacker in preseason practices.

Wolfe was in Centennial’s backfield so often that one would have thought he had the Patriots’ play calls piped into his helmet.

“When the defense has played well it’s evident because the whole team plays well,” Wolfe said.

“The last couple of weeks the defense has played well. We want to carry that into the title game. If we can shut down the run we should do well.”

If it goes according to script, several players will play roles in the defense’s success.

“We don’t have any stars really,” Amos said. “But we have a lot of kids who have played well.”

If that happens for one more game, then CdA will bring a state-title banner home to be hung up in the gym.