Written by: Will Hoenike
Coming off of a two-win campaign last season, it’s a new beginning at Wilder of the Western Idaho Conference. Longtime head coach and athletic director Kyle DalSoglio has started a new professional adventure, leaving the Wildcat football program in the hands of first-year head coach Jeremy Bailey.
This isn’t your typical two-win team, though. Plenty of skill is in place and Bailey actually has the benefit of not one, but two quarterbacks with starting experience to help the team move back toward the top of the 1A Division 1 WIC.
Kyven Gephart returns for his junior season after missing last fall with a knee injury. He started for Wilder as a freshman, giving him a full year of experience under his belt. With Gephart out last fall, talented and versatile sophomore Julian Neri moved to the quarterback position and spent a good chunk of the season there last year.
Two juniors, each with a year’s worth of experience at the quarterback spot. That’s not something you find often in Idaho high school football, especially at the 8-man level.
“If Kyven Gephart can return as the starting quarterback, that moves Julian Neri to running back and makes us more talented on the field,” said Bailey. “Defensively, we will rely heavily on the backbone of our team up the middle with Noe Anguiano at linebacker and Bryan Jove at Safety with two experienced players in Julian Neri and Isaac Rodriguez at the corners.”
Anguiano is a name that WIC football fans are likely familiar with. As a junior, the league’s coaches voted him 1st Team All-Conference at both linebacker and running back. He averaged nearly eight tackles per game and caused three fumbles on defense last year while leading the team with 472 rushing yards on offense. Another two-way standout returning for the Wildcats is Isaac Rodriguez, who rushed for 385 yards and five scores on offense and chipped in four tackles per game from his cornerback spot on defense.
The team’s offense started slow in 2022, totaling just 30 points over the first three games as players adjusted to new roles and expectations. It showed life down the stretch, averaging more than 40 points per game over the season’s final month. Where Bailey and his staff hoped to see marked improvement is on the defensive side of the ball where only one team was held beneath 40 points last season. And the coaches believe they have the pieces in place to make just such an improvement.
“We are very strong at linebacker and in the secondary on defense,” Bailey said. “We need to be a better pursuit and tackling team. We have the athletes but we need to get better in that crucial aspect.”
Seniors Bryan Jove and Julius Castro will fill roles on the back end for Wilder while two key players upfront will be seniors Juan Jimenez and Ricky Valadez on the defensive line. If the defensive front can be stout, it’ll make things easier on the linebackers and secondary to make plays behind them to limit opposing offenses.
So maybe it’s less of a new beginning and more of a growth opportunity as Wilder has a good group of players returning.
“Coach DalSoglio had some very good seasons in his fourteen years so it will be difficult to replace him,” Bailey explained. “However, I’m excited for the opportunity and I am working to build on what Coach DalSoglio did and build a strong Wilder football program for the future.”
After starting the season on the road against old rival Horseshoe Bend, the Wildcats return home to play two tough non-conference games against out-of-district foes, hosting Murtaugh on August 25 and Valley on September 1. Western Idaho Conference play begins two weeks later when the Wildcats host neighboring rival Greenleaf Friends.
Wilder is looking to return to the 1A Division 1 playoffs for the first time since 2019.