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1. Ethan Howard (Clark Fork)

With his team down 20 with less than nine minutes to go and a playoff berth on the line, the senior quarterback led a frantic rally, throwing four touchdowns (including the game-tying toss with just ten seconds left) in the final frame as Clark Fork completed the largest comeback in school history, beating Lakeside, 44-42, to clinch a berth in the 1A Division 2 playoffs.

2. Troy Smith (Camas County)

In the Mushers' big win over Dietrich, which clinched the 1A Division 2 Sawtooth Conference title, the senior rushed for 246 yards and five touchdowns to help his team jump to a big early lead.  His eleven tackles on defense helped Camas County hold on to that lead, too, as the team enters the state playoffs as the top  seed out of District 4.

3. Jr. Benites (Murtaugh)

In the 1A Division 1 race in District 4, there are three guaranteed playoff spots.  Murtaugh needed a win over Lighthouse Christian to ensure an automatic bid and senior two-way standout Jr. Benites did his part with 31 carries for 302 yards and seven touchdowns as the Red Devils defeated the Lions to earn an automatic spot in the Division 1 playoffs.

Honorable Mention

Boston Anderson (Butte County)
Bass Myers (Clearwater Valley)
Dahlton Bingham (Council)
Bryce Sterling (Glenns Ferry)
Alex Asher (Hagerman)
Connor Weddle (Kamiah)
Ty Koepp (Kendrick)
Qwincy Hall (Lakeside)
Ahlius Yearout (Lapwai)
Gage Crow (Lewis County)
Johnny Millenkamp (Lighthouse Christian)
Jack Driskill (Logos)
Taysen Bruley (Mackay)
John Pruitt (Mullan/St. Regis)
Grayson Benitez (Notus)
Isaac Cranney (Oakley)
Ben Johnson (Potlatch)
Noah Behler (Prairie)
Devin Scott (Richfield)
Abe Held (Rockland)
Korbin Christopherson (Timberline)
Makhi Durrett (Troy)
Josh Hardy (Valley)

Another Near Miss

The brackets are set and, for the second year in a row, fans in Cottonwood are wondering, "What if?"  The 1A Division 1 bracket has a set number of automatic qualifiers and a set number of at-large teams in the field.  The at-larges, as we've discussed several times, are determined by a mathematical formula by the website MaxPreps and, just like last season, the 5-3 Prairie Pirates are the top-rated team (according to the MaxPreps formula) to miss the playoffs while two teams rated below them, Notus and Idaho City, received automatic bids out of District 3.  Last year, Prairie stayed home while a lower-rated Idaho City received an automatic bid.  If you go back to 2021, Wilder of District 3 was 5-3 but left out of the playoffs by the MaxPreps computers in favor of four teams with lesser win/loss records - Grace, Wallace, Clearwater Valley, and Murtaugh - which led to the addition of more automatic qualifiers (and fewer at-large bids) to balance the number of teams per district to reach the postseason.

Patience is a Virtue

While an assortment of Trogdens and Balls garnered most of the attention the past few years for the 1A Division 2 Mullan/St. Regis Tigers, John Pruitt and Kofi Appiah waited their turn and filled critical roles for Tiger teams that went 23-7, claiming three North Star titles, over the past three years.  This year, the pair stepped to the forefront as seniors.  Pruitt ran for 1,027 yards and 16 touchdowns and added 559 yards and ten touchdowns receiving on offense while making over 100 tackles on defense.  Appiah ran for over 600 yards and 13 scores while adding two more touchdown receptions as well (it should be noted that there was another Trogden, Alex, who was off to a great start this season before being injured.)  End result - another eight-win season (8-1), another North Star title (6-0 conference), and another playoff berth for Mullan/St. Regis.

Fast Risers

Logos' win over Prairie on Friday completed a perfect regular season for the 1A Division 1 Knights at 8-0 overall, 7-0 in the Whitepine League.  If you're curious how that compares to say, four years ago, it doesn't, because Logos didn't have varsity football four years ago.  This is just the third year as a varsity program.  In its first two seasons, the small school located in Moscow went 3-6 and 3-6 so this season is a big step forward for the players, who, overwhelmingly, have been in the Logos system since grade school.  The Knights will graduate eight seniors off of this year's team, including Idaho Player of the Year candidate Jack Driskill, but head coach Nick Holloway has over 30 players on the roster, so there is depth to replenish the graduates.