Coeur d’Alene senior quarterback Chad Chalich was visibly limping after Friday night’s 5A state championship game.
Despite a hairline fracture in his right foot, Chalich and the Vikings posted the school’s first back-to-back state championships in football with a 49-28 victory against Eagle at Bronco Stadium.
The reigning 5A All-Idaho Player of the Year accounted for five of Coeur d’Alene’s seven touchdowns, passing for 410 yards and running for 57 more.
“It was good during the game just because of all the adrenaline and stuff,” Chalich said of his foot. “… Our team came out and played their hardest. We had some stalled drives at the end, but we overcame them and our defense stepped up huge.”
Friday’s title was the fourth overall for the Coeur d’Alene program, adding to championship wins in 2010, 1985 and 1982. It was also just the third time since 1979 that a team has won back-to-back championships at the 5A level. Pocatello won two straight in 1989 and 1990 and Highland matched that feat in 1997 and 1998.
“Going back-to-back is something special that not many teams can have in their career,” Chalich said. “Just for our program to do it is just huge.”
Defense played a big role in Coeur d’Alene’s run to the title. The Vikings put pressure on Eagle quarterback Tanner Mangum most of the night, forcing him out of the pocket or to pass earlier than he would have liked.
Mangum, a BYU recruit, still finished 37-for-53 for 455 passing yards and two touchdowns, but he threw an uncharacteristic four interceptions, three of which were picked off by Coeur d’Alene defensive back Joe Roletto.
“Nobody’s perfect. He was bound to make a few mistakes,” Roletto said. “We just played well and capitalized on (the turnovers).”
Eagle was the first to score Friday night.
The Mustangs culminated a 14-play, 77-yard drive spanning the first and second quarters with a 3-yard touchdown run by junior running back Collin Ray. Kicker Jace Johnson connected on the point-after try to give Eagle a 7-0 lead with 11 minutes, 35 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
But it was nearly all Coeur d’Alene after that.
On third-and-10 from his own 20-yard-line, Chalich found wide receiver Bubba Duran open at about midfield. Duran caught the pass and eluded two Eagle defenders to run the rest of the way for an 80-yard score.
Roletto got the ball right back for Coeur d’Alene, intercepting Mangum at the 41-yard-line. Seven plays later, senior running back Carlos Martinez scored on a 5-yard run with 8:15 left in the second quarter.
The Vikings made it 21-7 before the break thanks to a 31-yard touchdown pass from Chalich to senior receiver Deon Watson with 59 seconds remaining.
In the second half, Eagle pulled within 28-21 with 4:29 to go in the third on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Mangum to junior receiver Austin Diffey.
The rally didn’t last long, however, as the Vikings posted three unanswered touchdowns to put the Mustangs away for good.
“I still believe that I have a great team and a great group of kids, just tonight Coeur d’Alene made more plays than we did,” Eagle coach Paul Peterson said. “… Sometimes that’s just the way sports goes.”
