Written by: Will Hoenike
Toby Lapp takes over as the head football coach at Hansen High School, his second tenure as the program’s leader, looking to replenish valuable depth after six seniors graduated off of the 2023 roster of 14 players.
In a true flip of the script, Hansen will open the season with no seniors on its 2024 roster. Instead, Lapp will lean on three key juniors, Zak Hernandez, Paul Eiman, and Benny Reichel, to help the team flip the script in terms of wins and losses. Hansen is coming off of a one-win season and has just eleven wins in the past six seasons.
Continuing with the “youth” trend, Hansen will turn to sophomore Dan Gibson as the team’s quarterback this fall and another sophomore, Grayson Denny, should see ample playing time as a receiver and defensive back. The team will work for more consistency on both sides of the ball in order to find stronger results. The Huskies put up 56 points in their lone victory over Shoshone last season. In their other seven games, they were only able to score 96 combined points.
In the Sawtooth Conference, Lapp and the players understand they’ll need more. Eight-man power Carey returns to the conference after playing the last two years in the Snake River Conference. The Sawtooth also features Camas County, who reached the state championship game, and perennial toughie Dietrich. Hansen will host both of those teams, with Dietrich making the 40-minute drive south on October 4. Two weeks later, Camas County comes to town on October 18.
The Huskies have a chance to start strong with a non-conference game against Watersprings (August 30) and a conference matchup with Richfield (September 13) in the first three weeks of the season. Both are winnable for Hansen and could set the stage for a confidence-boosting season.
Hansen’s last appearance in the 1A Division 2 (now known as 1A) state playoffs was 2020, where a win in the regular-season finale earned the team a berth in the postseason. Playing in a difficult conference with no seniors this season could make it tricky for the Huskies to get back this season but, as the old saying goes, that’s why you play the games. And even if the team doesn’t qualify for the postseason, it could gain valuable experience and confidence looking ahead to the 2025 season.