Written by: Will Hoenike
Head coach Corry Hatch and the 1A North Gem Cowboys may simultaneously be the most known and most unknown commodity in all of 1A 8-man football this year.
Known because Hatch makes no attempt to hide what he plans to do when his team has the football.
“As a team we run the ball. Last season we ran 403 times for 2520 yards with 29 touchdowns. That’s 6.3 yards per carry,” Hatch said. “This is our identity and what we will continue to do. We run the triple option and will stay the course. This scheme fits our players and has given us an identity we are proud of.”
First down or fourth down, playing against Grace Junior High or the Green Bay Packers. If North Gem is on the field, they’re probably going to run the ball.
Unknown because of one of the great X-factors in all of 8-man football: depth. The Cowboys had just nine players on their roster last year and graduated dependable two-way lineman Evan O’Brian. And, perhaps more importantly, North Gem didn’t have a single freshman on its roster last season. Depth will be a significant unknown for the Cowboys in 2024.
The good news is the team returns one of the elite 1-2 punches in the entire classification in senior quarterback Rusty Hatch and junior fullback Craig Yost. Both ran for over 1,000 yards last season and combined for 22 rushing touchdowns and has two of the three starting offensive linemen in front of them returning in senior Ryver Hayden and junior Hayden Frandsen. Fellow seniors Luke Rindlisbaker and Kamaka Miller will also see time up front to lead the way for Hatch and Yost. The Cowboys also return senior Lukky Welker, who added four rushing touchdowns last season, as an additional offensive weapon.
Consistently getting the ball up and down the field will be critical to North Gem’s playoff hopes in 2024. In the team’s five wins, it averaged just over 41 points per game. In its four losses, that number dipped to just 16 points per game.
“We were 5-4 last year and ended in a tie for second in the League. We were a solid team. I think we will be able to be a dang good team. We should be able to fluid day one,” Hatch said. “The returning boys have run this offense and defensive scheme for their whole careers. They should take a huge step here. I think we are a team on the cusp of being really good.”
The defensive lineup for North Gem consists of the same players as the offense. Hatch and Yost combined to make over 200 tackles from their linebacker positions last fall. Rindlisbaker and Welker, who both wrestle during the winter, are sure tacklers who will also be counted on to solidify the Cowboy defense.
Rockland and Mackay represented the Rocky Mountain Conference in the 1A Division 2 (now known simply as 1A) state playoffs last season. Hatch believes his team has what it takes to challenge for one of those two spots. A wild card in the conference is newcomer Challis, which petitioned down from 1A Division 1 (now known as 2A) to compete in the smaller classification despite a substantially-higher overall enrollment than everyone else in the conference, including nearly three times the size of North Gem (119-43, per the Idaho High School Activities Association’s published enrollment numbers), but Hatch and his squad will be ready on gameday.
The Cowboys will also host a pair of solid non-conference foes as both Castleford (August 30) and Garden Valley (September 20) will make the trip to Bancroft to face North Gem. The following week, on September 27, the Cowboys open up conference play on the road against Challis.
“It will be a tight race,” Hatch concluded. “We could all have losses in league play.”