Follow @Idaho8Man on Twitter for updates, news and info about all things 8-Man football!

Listen to the weekly Idaho 8-Man PrepCast

Here are the top performers from this weekend's slate of Idaho 8-Man action. 

1. Tacoma Kelly, Garden Valley

The versatile senior threw for 204 yards and four touchdowns, rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown, and had 17 yards receiving and another touchdown on offense in Garden Valley's impressive, season-opening win over Dietrich.  He also had seven tackles and a sack on defense.

2. Nolan Hubbard, Deary

The sophomore came through in a big way in big moments in the Mustangs' win over neighboring rival Troy.  He threw a touchdown pass in the final two minutes to tie the game and then ran in the game-winning touchdown in overtime after Deary had lost the last two season-opening matchups against the Trojans.

3. Ryker Esplin, Mackay

The senior had a big, all-around game as the Miners celebrated their return to the field with a big win over Richfield on Friday.  Esplin carried the ball four times for 114 yards and two scores, caught three passes for 198 yards and three scores, intercepted a pass on defense, and made four tackles.

Honorable Mention:

Razor Duke (Butte County)
Troy Smith (Camas County)
Cole Olson (Cascade)
Landon Schlieper (Clearwater Valley)
Landon Stuart (Glenns Ferry)
Will Cutler (Grace)
Kaelun Jones (Horseshoe Bend)
Hunter Taylor (Kendrick)
Qwincy Hall (Lakeside)
Julian Barrows (Lapwai)
Jack Driskill (Logos)
Kofi Appiah (Mullan/St. Regis)
Max Utley (Murtaugh)
Grayson Benitez (Notus)
Zane Sherfey (Oakley)
Kai Ward (Raft River)
Wyatt Huffman (Richfield)
Ronaldo Gomez (Rimrock)
Korbin Christopherson (Timberline)
Makhai Durrett (Troy)
Josh Hardy (Valley)

Champ vs. Champ Looming

This Friday, it'll be champ-versus-champ at Boise State University as defending 1A Division 1 champion Oakley faces defending 1A Division 2 champion Kendrick.  Both teams opened the season as the unanimous top-ranked teams in their respective classifications according to the media in Idaho and both opened their seasons Friday with resounding wins.  Oakley used its balance to pound St. Joseph (UT), 66-6.  At the same time, Kendrick was using its balance to run away from Council, 66-14.  The two teams played last season, a neutral-site game in Cambridge, with Kendrick pulling out a thriller, 52-48.

Dynamic Duo

The aforementioned Mackay Miners are fielding their own football team this fall after playing under a cooperative agreement with Challis last fall and a pair of seniors, Paylen Bruley and Ryker Esplin, put on a show in front of the home fans.  Bruley completed all six of his passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns.  He also ran for 145 yards and another score.  Meanwhile, as mentioned above, Esplin scored five times on seven touches en route to the win.  For those scoring at home, that's 382 total yards for Bruley and another 312 for Esplin - 694 total yards combined between the two seniors for Mackay, which travels to Dietrich next week.

Guess Who's Back

In the second quarter of Friday's Cascade versus Idaho City football game, the scoreboard went out.  That's about all that went wrong for the 1A Division 2 Ramblers, who raced out to a 32-point first-half lead over their Division 1 opponent from Idaho City en route to a 44-14 win.  Cascade didn't play football for three years before playing a hybrid JV/Varsity schedule last fall, but announced their presence in a big way on Friday.  Senior Tyler Thurston had a hand in five touchdowns, junior Cole Olson had 194 yards from scrimmage (and threw a touchdown pass on a fake punt), senior Trevor Sayers had 15 tackles, and junior Hayden Hull added six stops to help the Ramblers beat Idaho City for the first time since 2016.  Up next - a road contest at Timberline in Weippe on Friday.