Bengals bottled up

COEUR D’ALENE — The Lewiston Bengals football team was out of sync and outmatched in its regular-season finale against 5A Inland Empire League foe Coeur d’Alene on Friday night. The Bengals fell 38-7.

Lewiston came in averaging over 300 yards a game on the ground. During the first half, it was evident that the Vikings were aware of the Bengals’ ability to run the ball. Cruz Hepburn, the No. 1 rusher in the state, was limited to 17 yards on eight carries.

“We’re going to have to go out and be more physical and see what problems were caused,” Lewiston coach Matt Pancheri said. “We’re going to have to go and try to fix it, the first half was rough.”

On Lewiston’s opening drive, quarterback Jace McKarcher gashed the Vikings’ defense for a 53-yard run. But after that big gain, Coeur d’Alene refused to let the Bengals get their run game going. The Vikings’ front seven held Lewiston to 3.1 yards per carry in the first half.

The Bengals had opportunities to capitalize on Coeur d’Alene mistakes, including several botched snaps. One of those was a snap that went over the head of Coeur d’Alene’s punter, but he managed to pick it up and get the punt away.

Lewiston still had solid field position with an opportunity to score, but wasn’t able to convert.

“When we had opportunities, we just couldn’t close the deal,” Pancheri said. “We weren’t ready to play in the first half. We’re going to come back Monday and play them again.”

Coeur d’Alene’s win over Lewiston, combined with Post Falls’ victory against Lake City, created a three-way tie atop the league. To break it, Lewiston, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene will face off in a Kansas tiebreaker at 6 p.m. Monday at Bear Field in Moscow.

No matter the outcome, the Bengals are assured of a spot in the Idaho Class 5A playoffs.

Coeur d’Alene had its fair share of penalties that Lewiston failed to capitalize on. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter when Lewiston took advantage of the Vikings’ mistakes. Coeur d’Alene got called for roughing the passer and an unsportsmanlike penalty that led to a 20-yard McKarcher touchdown run. The quarterback finished the game strong with 18 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown.

The Bengals secondary was outmatched against the Vikings’ receivers.

Lewiston hasn’t played a lot of pass-happy teams this year.

“This was the biggest test our secondary faced this year,” Pancheri said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and do a better job getting ready for them.”

After a fumbled kickoff in the first quarter by Lewiston, Vikings quarterback Brayden Bengtson hit wide receiver Isaiah Griffin on a screen play. Griffin outran and juked several Lewiston defensive backs on a 41-yard trot to the end zone to put Coeur d’Alene up 17-0.

Bengtson got cooking early in the first half, completing his first 13 passes. His lone incompletion in the first half was a throwaway. He finished the first half with over 200 passing yards with three touchdowns and a rushing score.

Lewiston 0 0 0 7—7

Coeur d’Alene 24 7 7 0—38

First Quarter

CDA — Brayden Bengtson 22 field goal

CDA — Gunner Giulio 2 run (Bengtson kick)

Second Quarter

CDA — Isaiah Griffin 40 pass from Bengtson (Bengtson kick).

CDA — Griffin 18 pass from Bengtson (Bengtson kick)

CDA — Colton Farrar 12 pass from Bengtson (Bengtson kick)

Third Quarter

CDA — Rob Collier 60 run (Bengtson kick)

Fourth Quarter

Lewiston — McKarcher 20 run (Thor Kessinger kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Lewiston: Jace McKarcher 18-107, Shaw 10-30, Hepburn 8-17. Coeur d’Alene: Rob Collier 9-89, Gunner Giulio 7-45.

PASSING — Lewiston: McKarcher 2-11-1-12. Coeur d’Alene: Bengtson 18-24-286-0.

RECEIVING — Lewiston: Braydon rice 1-10, Cruz Hepburn 1-2. Coeur d’Alene: Griffin 7-106, Jacob Wuolle 3-64, Colton Farrar 2-18, Caleb short 3-20.

Pixley may be contacted at tpixley@lmtribune.com, (208) 848-2268 or on Twitter @TreebTalks.