Eagle vs Highland – @ Eagle Friday 7:00pm
Watch the game live!

Eagle Mustangs
Record – 9-1
Power Ranking – 102.17

Highland Rams
Record – 10-0
Power Ranking – 107.00

Highland

The last time Highland played Eagle in the state tournament the year was 2008. Highland pounded their way through the playoffs, destroying everyone in their way, including the Mustangs, defeating them 28-7 in the championship game. The closest Highland has been back since then was an appearance in the semi-finals in 2009 where they got embarrassed by Capital 38-3 at BSU.

The Rams are a proud and storied program. They have a long history of producing great teams and athletes. The past couple of seasons have been training grounds for the team we see this year, a team that has beaten schools from four different states along the way.

The Rams will beat you with the run or they will beat you in the air. The look at what the defense gives them and they take it. Their own defense is stifling and unmoving. They are the complete package.

Eagle

I was there two weeks ago when Eagle was handed their first loss of the season by Mt View, 37-16. I was there last weekend when Eagle opened up a can of “last week was a fluke and we’re gonna prove it” all over Lake City, destroying them by a score of 58-7.

What a difference a year makes. Last year the Mustangs were beaten in the first round by Rocky Mt, 70-42 , robbed of their chance to defend their miracle state title they won in 2009, where they beat Capital with a surprise 2-pt conversion in the closing minutes. This year, led by senior phenom, Tanner Mangum, the Mustangs have put spent the entire season distancing themselves from almost every other football team in Idaho. The roster has names that will be appearing on D1 uniforms in the next couple of years, maybe even NFL jerseys a few more after that.

As CDA sits atop the upper bracket, methodically rolling over opponent after opponent, Eagle is forced to grind it out in the trenches of the lower half, where the reward for last week’s victory over Lake City, 58-7, is the opportunity to do battle with the undefeated Highland Rams this week.

I like the Eagle Mustangs. I really do. But for most of the year, I strayed from the general consensus of the state media voters and cast my weekly ballot for CDA, then Highland, THEN Eagle. This is the week where I will finally be proven a fool or a prophet.

There are two undefeated teams in the 5A classification heading in to this weekend and when it is over, both will be in the championship game at Holt Arena next weekend.

Highland over Eagle in what could be the game of decade 42-38