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To read Part I of "Week Six Observations", click HERE.
Snake River 42, American Falls 0: When you have only 18 players total dressed for a conference game in the 3A classification, you're most likely going to have a rough time. That was just the case for American Falls. They gained a total of 116 yards on offense all night. Snake River ran it down their throats all night long. The Panthers attempted only six passes, one of which went for a TD. It's hard to know if Snake River is learning from and improving on their mistakes from the past couple of weeks: when you play a struggling team like the Beavers, things that are weak could appear to be strong and give you a false sense of security. Only time will tell.
Firth 41, Salmon 40: The Connor Montgomery show continued on Friday night in Salmon, racking up 223 yards and three touchdowns. What's crazy about this game is that Montgomery was really the only offense for the Cougars: they were going to hand the ball to him most every time and dare the Savages' defense to stop him. As for Salmon, it's hard to believe that they only have a 1-4 record despite their game against Firth. QB Jedd Tibbitts is one of the best in the area: in this game, he threw for one touchdown and rushed for three more. Salmon needs to win their final two games of the season (vs. Ririe and West Jefferson) to secure the final playoff berth from the Nuclear Conference. Whoever gets Salmon in the first round of the playoffs is going to be in for one. Firth, meanwhile, plays at North Fremont on Friday in the de facto conference championship game.
Homedale 34, Fruitland 12: Did anyone outside of Homedale see this one coming? This one sent shockwaves throughout Idaho with a clear message: the Trojans are for real when it comes to ending Fruitland's consecutive championship game appearance streak. Homedale has already clinched the regular season 3A SRV championship. The structure of the 3A bracket means that these two would clash in the semi-finals if both of them made it that far. Things just got MUCH more interesting for the 3A playoffs.
West Side 51, Malad 34: Two contrasting styles in this game. It was West Side's ground n' pound against Malad's aerial attack. The ground game won out in this one. Three Pirates' players rushed for more than 100 yards, and another came within 19 yards of joining the triple-digit club. Malad didn't have a bad game at all... if I told you that the QB threw for 330+ yards and the RB rushed for 100+, you would probably tell me that team won. It didn't happen on Friday night, despite the efforts of QB Griffin Green and RB K.C. Snyder. West Side has now hung 40+ points on five of the six teams they've played so far this year. Can they do the same against Aberdeen this week? If they can, they'll secure a playoff berth and will be in the driver's seat for the conference championship race. Malad NEEDS a win this week against Soda Springs to stay in the playoff hunt. The question is: can their defense step up and get key stops when the Dragons need them?
Aberdeen 24, Soda Springs 21: Freshman rarely get the chance to make an impact on the outcome of games. Freshman only get to play when the result is well in hand. Freshman don't have the skills built-in to play at the varsity level. I've heard these things said many times before. Freshman Joseph Lemos bucked that trend on Friday night, as he hit a 45-yard field goal in the 4th quarter, which ended up being the difference in this one. Anything over 40-yards in high school football is impressive, let alone a 45-yard FG in a huge conference game. By the way, Soda's Landon Hayes is for real. That kid can flat out play.
Idaho Falls 50, Rigby 27: It was a battle between two undefeated teams on Thursday night at Ravsten Stadium. Heading into the fourth quarter, with Rigby leading 21-20, it looked like we were in for a close finish... until the Idaho Falls offense decided to show up. The Tigers ran off 30 straight points and forced multiple interceptions to put this game out of reach against the Trojans. Idaho Falls QB A.J. Martin threw for SIX touchdowns. Rigby's Hayden Livingston threw six INTERCEPTIONS. That was the difference in the game. The Trojans now need to regroup... but they have two weeks to do so. They play host to Bonneville on Oct. 25: a game which if they win, they clinch a spot in the postseason. The Tigers play Hillcrest at Ravsten this Friday night, and with a win will officially clinch a playoff berth to the 5A state tournament.
Bonneville 26, Pocatello 21: The Indians did everything they could to thwart the Bees hopes of taking another step towards the playoffs. As the old saying goes, "close, but no cigar". After bottling up Lincoln Clayton for much of the game, Clayton broke free on a 92-yard touchdown run to help secure the win. Let's be honest here: Pocatello has had a rough season. Injuries have played a big role in that. But Bonneville struggled in this one. And with two HUGE games remaining (at Rigby and at Century), both of which are must win games, the Bees are picking a bad time to not be playing their best football.
Grangeville 49, St. Maries 0: This one is for our good friend Ted Lindsley, a big time supporter of Grangeville athletics. The Bulldogs claim another Central Idaho Conference championship with a trouncing of the Lumberjacks. Grangeville takes the first berth from the combined District 1-2 conference... and this season, it means home field advantage all the way until the Milk Bowl (should they get that far). If the playoffs were to start today, the Bulldogs would play the Marsing Huskies, a team that is coming off of a 41-6 shellacking at the hands of New Plymouth... and who, from what I'm told, lost one of their best players to a broken leg early in the game.
To read Part I of "Week Six Observations", click HERE.
Obviously, I didn't talk about every game. I live in East Idaho, which means I blog/talk mostly about East Idaho subjects/teams/games. BUT, you can give me YOUR breakdown of a particular game by posting your thoughts and analysis in the comments section below!
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