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West Side High School
School Info
Conference: 2A South East Idaho Conference
Classification: 2A
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Head Coach: Tyson Moser
Years as Head Coach: 9th Season
Previous Experience: Assistant coach at West Side – 9 years
Record Last Year: 5-4
State Titles: 1980, 1983, 2004, 2010, 2014
Assistant Coaches:
Tyler Brown
Wayne Henderson
Coby Crozier
Kyler Austin
Kasey Fredrickson
Zayne Fredrickson
Josh Blaisedell
Neil Fuller
Lyle Henderson
Craig Buttars
Returning Players:
Jake Moser, RB/LB, 11
Jack Moser, OL/DL, 11
Chevey Wolfley, OL/DL, 12
Jordan Meek, OL, 12
Armando Monado, OL/DL, 10
Enoch Ward, RB/LB 11
Stockton Brown, QB/DB 11
Dillon Lemmon, DB/WR 12
Dillon Robinson, DB/WR 11
Key Players lost from last year:
Tate Buttars, RB
Branson Hatch, RB
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Team Preview:
Written by: Matt Harris
Deep playoff runs and smash mouth football.
Anytime you play West Side, you know you’re being challenged by a run-oriented, physical, playoff-caliber team. And while the Pirates playoff runs in the last two seasons were stopped unusually early, the maroon-clad squad in southeastern Idaho is looking to return to form.
Tyson Moser returns to the sidelines for his ninth season leading the Pirates. He’s now been with the program for 17 years and three state championship teams along the way. The coach would love to add banner number four to the school’s gymnasium in Dayton, but he’ll have to help the team overcome inexperience to achieve that goal.
“We will be very young this year with only four seniors,” he said, “But I look forward to watching our young team develop.” Moser noted that this is what he was most excited about regarding this year’s squad.
New leaders will find their way to the forefront too, as running backs Branson Hatch and Tate Buttars have both graduated.
“Tate was a big play maker for us and Branson was a key player that will be missed because of his leadership,” the coach said.
Waiting in the wings and looking to burst forth this season are junior running backs Jake Moser and Enoch Ward. They will see quite a few carries between the two of them. Orchestrating the offense will be junior quarterback Stockton Brown. He’ll have some weapons to work with on the outside in senior wideout Dillon Lemmon and junior wide receiver Dillon Robinson.
Quite a few players return to the offensive line for West Side this season, including seniors Chevey Wolfley and Jordan Meek along with junior Jack Moser and sophomore Armando Monado. Having that returning experience on the line should help the Pirates as they mature as a football team.
Moser hopes that they can put it all together and work cohesively as a unit quickly.
“We have a good group of returning skill players,” he said. “We do need to finish our drives with points though.”
A lot of faces on the offense will also appear on defense for the Pirates. Wolfley, Monado, and Jack Moser will look to anchor the defensive line for West Side. Behind them, the duo of Jake Moser and Enoch Ward will lead the linebacking corps. In the secondary, expect to see the trio of Brown, Lemmon, and Robinson locking down opposing wide receivers.
“We’ve got a very good linebacker group returning,” the head coach said. “Creating more turnovers is an area that we need to improve on, however.”
With so many players playing key roles on both sides of the football, it will be imperative that the Pirates don’t get bit by the injury bug. But they all know this – that’s daily life in 11-man football in the 2A classification.
“Staying healthy and avoiding mishaps is our X-factor this year,” Moser added.
West Side has some intriguing and challenging games on their schedule this year. They will have to play well right out of the gates. The Pirates begin on Aug. 25 when they host the Firth Cougars in a game that has always tended to be a nail-biter. West Side then hits the road for two straight games, at Rich, Utah on Sept. 1 and at Marsh Valley on Sept. 8.
After a bye week on Sept. 15, the Pirates open their conference schedule with two consecutive home games. They face Soda Springs on Sept. 22 followed by a date on Sept. 29 with the defending conference champions, the Bear Lake Bears. West Side then goes on the road to take on Aberdeen in another challenging game on Oct. 6.
The Pirates then round out their regular season schedule with a non-conference home game against a well-coached and playoff-caliber Declo team on Oct. 13, followed by the finale against conference-foe and rival Malad on Oct. 19.
“All of our home games are going to be very tough this year,” Moser said.
A lot of West Side’s success this season will be determined on not only how they develop, but how quickly they do. With the coaching staff that Moser has at his side, know that the Pirates always mean business and they will always compete.
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