By JASON ELLIOTT
Sports writer
COEUR d’ALENE — When Coeur d’Alene gets going, it goes.
And boy, did the Vikings get moving on Friday.
Coeur d’Alene senior linebacker Ian Dahlin caught a tipped pass by junior defensive lineman Reid Ramsey, then returned the ball 65 yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring with 3:45 remaining in the third quarter for Coeur d’Alene, which rolled past the Lewiston Bengals 40-7 in a nonleague football game at Viking Field.
Dahlin also had a 4-yard touchdown reception from Tannar Stern in the second quarter for Coeur d’Alene, which led 40-0 after three quarters and forced a running clock in the fourth.
“We went on a blitz and want to give a shoutout to our defensive lineman Reid (Ramsey), No. 73,” Dahlin said. “He set that ball up for me and I caught it and just took off. Going down, I saw the ball and the touchdown, and just sprinted for my life.”
Lewiston nearly caught Dahlin at the 30-yard line, but he broke free and ran the rest of the way for the score.
“I definitely did, but just set my eyes forward,” Dahlin said. “I just wanted to keep pushing down the field.”
Lewiston was limited to 120 total yards and had four turnovers, three coming via interceptions.
“We’re a state champion team if we’re together playing like this,” Dahlin said. “Playing together, the student section is up and our teamwork is there. We’ve still got a few mistakes to correct, but we’re getting better as the season goes on.”
“Our defense played a solid game,” Coeur d’Alene coach Shawn Amos said. “We left a few points off the board early. But I love the resilience of these boys. We threw a lot of young guys to the fire against some really good teams. We thought they’d come around, and they learned a lot from those first few games.”
Coeur d’Alene opened the season at Rigby on Aug. 22, then at home on Aug. 29 against Silverton (Ore.) before school was in session. The Vikings held classes for the first time on Tuesday.
“The first week of school usually sucks,” Amos said. “They’re getting up earlier and all that stuff. But they had a good week of practice. All we asked them was to play disciplined and play with effort and stay together, and they did that. When you go 0-2, everybody’s talking about 0-2 Coeur d’Alene and these guys just buckled down and got better. I think we’ll be there in the end, I think.”
Coeur d’Alene (1-2) hosts Sunnyside (Wash.) next Friday. Lewiston (0-3) hosts Clarkston next Friday.
Coeur d’Alene senior quarterback Caden Symons threw for 124 yards and Stern, a junior, threw for four touchdowns while splitting time at quarterback and running back.
“When we’re playing with some different stuff, with the two-quarterback package and changing things up,” Amos said. “We knew that was going to take some time and still need to grow in those areas. We knew it would take a couple of weeks to see how we grew into that. And we’re getting closer and closer. Hopefully it gets harder and harder to defend as we continue to get better at it.”
Lewiston got on the board late in the fourth quarter, set up on a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, scoring with 4:45 remaining on a 36-yard pass from Blaze Hepburn to Michael Earl.
Lewiston 0 0 0 7 — 7
Coeur d’Alene 6 13 21 0 — 40
First quarter
Cd’A — Caden Symons 4 pass from Tannar Stern (kick failed), 5:14
Second quarter
Cd’A — Ian Dahlin 1 pass from Stern (pass failed), 11:23
Cd’A — Gibson Comstock 18 pass from Stern (Frankie Lopez kick), 50.3
Third quarter
Cd’A — Ty Paulin 13 run (Lopez kick), 8:38
Cd’A — Comstock 8 pass from Stern (Lopez kick), 5:07
Cd’A — Dahlin 65 interception return (Lopez kick), 3:45
Fourth quarter
Lew — Michael Earl 36 pass from Blaze Hepburn (Earl kick), 4:45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Lew, Topp 6-15, Hepburn 6-(minus 6), Rice 1-3, Casey 3-7, Rehfeldt 2-21. Cd’A, Stern 13-44, Symons 2-7, Paulin 9-65, Palmgren 3-25, Strait 3-4, McCooey 3-4.
PASSING — Lew, Hepburn 7-14-3-68. Cd’A, Stern, 7-11-0-39, Symons 12-20-0-124.
RECEIVING — Cd’A, Hackett 6-61, Comstock 4-37, Stern 2-21, Paulin 1-9, Lindquist 3-29, Dahlin 2-13, Rhea 2-9, Nelson 1(minus 5), Whitaker 1-4.
JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d’Alene senior running back Priest Palmgren breaks a big gain during the third quarter of Friday’s game against Lewiston at Viking Field.
JASON ELLIOTT/Press Coeur d’Alene junior wide receiver Gibson Comstock (5) and senior offensive lineman Rylan Peterson (54) celebrate after Comstock’s 8-yard touchdown reception the third quarter of Friday’s game at Viking Field.