Coeur d’Alene Vikings stay on task, thump Eisenhower 52-14 in lightning-shortened contest

Coeur d’Alene had all sorts of reasons to look past Eisenhower on Friday night.

The visitors from Yakima were without starting senior quarterback Drew Kornegay. The Vikings have a huge showdown next Friday against top-ranked Highland. And it was Coeur d’Alene’s homecoming.

But the fourth-ranked Vikings did what quality teams do, taking care of business and handling the Cadets 52-14. The game was called off with 7 minutes, 39 seconds left in the fourth quarter because of lightning in the area.

“Winning games you’re supposed to win is important, too,” Vikings coach Shawn Amos said. “Our kids came in focused and ready to play. That shows a lot of maturity. They could have easily starting looking toward next week.”

Next week is the latest installment of the CdA-Highland rivalry. The teams have met numerous times in the regular season and state playoffs. They’re 1-1 in title games after Highland edged the Vikings 14-8 in last year’s championship.

“Love playing those guys,” Amos said. “That’s going to be a great measuring stick for us.”

The Vikings (4-0) took control quickly against Eisenhower (2-1). Coeur d’Alene led by three touchdowns after its first nine plays from scrimmage, and there was still 40 minutes left to play.

CdA followed up a defensive stop with the first of two first-half touchdown connections from Kale Edwards to Colbey Nosworthy. The Cadets fumbled on their next play from scrimmage and the Vikings were back in the end zone two plays later on Edwards’ 3-yard keeper.

After an Eisenhower punt, Kyle DeWitt scored on a 7-yard screen pass and it was 21-0 with 4:34 left in the opening quarter.

Kornegay separated his shoulder in last week’s win over Federal Way. He was replaced by Roberto DeLaFuente, who is listed as a wide receiver/defensive back.

DeLaFuente had just 17 yards passing in the first half, but the Cadets have relied on senior tailback Damian Pacheco in all three of their games. Pacheco, who ran for 300 yards in a season-opening win and had 31 carries last Friday, rushed for 96 yards on 18 carries in the first half.

Pacheco broke loose for a 57-yard gain to set up his 1-yard touchdown run. The Vikings responded with Nosworthy’s second TD reception to take a 31-7 lead at half.

Coeur d’Alene intercepted two passes and blocked a punt in the first 8 minutes of the third quarter. The Vikings capitalized with Shilo Morgan’s 10-yard touchdown catch and Edwards’ 12-yard scoring run for a 45-7 lead.

Edwards came out late in the third quarter and back-up quarterback Carter Friesz promptly tossed a pretty 24-yard scoring strike to Ryan Linehan to bump CdA’s lead to 52-7.

Edwards had 205 yards passing and a pair of touchdown runs. His favorite target was Nosworthy, who had five receptions for 92 yards. Morgan picked up 59 yards on seven attempts and added 36 yards on three catches.

“It’s hard to complain about a game like that, but we’ll find stuff to get better at,” Amos said. “It’s just a small margin for error against the teams we have from here on out.”

Pachecho finished with a hard-earned 118 yards on 28 carries. Drew Reyes took a short pass from DeLaFuente and turned it into a 60-yard scoring play just before the game was called off.