Years as Head Coach
6th Season

Previous Experience
Assistant Madison High School, Assistant Bonneville High School, Assistant Skyview High School, UT

Assistant Coaches
Emmett Dougherty, Mike Jones, Davey Steele, Ike Young, Eric Rossebo, Mike Renzleman, James Oates, Carson Pancheri, Brandon Watkins, Jeremy McLean, Jason Earl

Record Last Year
7-3

State Titles
1993, 1996

Returning Players
Drew Hottinger, QB, senior
Jackson Lathen, RB, senior
Jon Mettling-Perry, OL, senior
Cylinn Samuels, OL, senior
Dayton Phillips, DB, senior
Rylen Gomez, WR, senior
Jordan Bramlett, DB, senior

Returning Players with Honors
Drew Hottinger, IEL 1st team QB
Jackson Lathen, IEL offensive POY

Key Players lost from last year
Robert Storm, NT, a great interior defensive lineman
Brayden Rice, WR, fast receiver and fantastic punt and kick returner
James White, TE, one of the most talented athletes to come through our school in years
Nate Renzelman, DE, one of the anchors or our defensive line Jared Jelinek, WR, team leader and three year starter
Logan Snarr, OL, was a physical presence in every game
Chris Ricard, QB, very physical runner
Briggs Duman, DB, a great athlete who made a lot of plays on defense
Elliot Taylor, LB, big and athletic young man who could make plays on both sidelines
Tyler Granlund, LB, a really smart defensive player
Colby Weeks, LB, smart young man who did everything he could to help our team win football games

Incoming impact players
Jayden Cobley, RB/DE, junior
Brock Thompson, LB, junior
Drew Alldredge, DB/WR, junior
Noah Carpenter, DB/WR junior
AJ Loomis, DL, junior
Jeremy Yoder, WR, junior

Written by: Lucas Gebhart

The Lewiston Bengals statically had best offense in 5A last year (41 PPG) and some within the program think it could be even better this season.

Although Lewiston loses some receivers and a few pieces of its offensive line, they didn’t need to replace their offensive engine this winter.

Lewiston returns both the conference’s best quarterback in Drew Hottinger and one of the state’s best running backs in Jackson Lathen, who was the Inland Empire League’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2022.

“The expectation is for them to be even better,” said head coach Matt Pancheri. “Our guys have worked hard in the weight room and are really pushing each other to get better.”

The big question marks sit on the other side of the ball. The Bengals lost 9 of 11 starters on defense from last season and will have to quickly rebuild with young talent. The two returning pieces (cornerback Jordan Bramlett and safety Dayton Phillips) will be key to the quick development of the defense, Pancheri said.

“We do have experienced young players though, who I am excited to see step in,” Pancheri said. “One thing that was evident at camp this summer is that we have quite a bit of speed on the defense this year.”

As is the case with most seasons, Lewiston has a heavy load of out of state schools on its schedule and there are some long road trips planned for September.

Three of their first four are against out-of-state teams and they will play a school from a different state in each of the first four weeks.

The Bengals open the year at Madison High School where they will take on Wood Cross High School out of Utah before traveling to the Treasure Valley for Week Two for a matchup at Capital. The two trips combine for about 27 hours roundtrip.

Rival Clarkston takes a trip across the bridge on September 8 before Pendleton (Oregon) comes to town on the 15th.