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Lighthouse Christian High School
School Info
Conference: Sawtooth Conference West Division
Classification: 1A D2
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Head Coach: Cory Holloway
Years as Head Coach: 2nd season
Previous Experience: 8 years as an assistant coach
Record Last Year: 12-0
State Titles: 2011, 2014
Assistant Coaches:
Jerry Andreason
John Silvers
Mike Bosma
Returning Players:
Cody Holloway (Sr, OL)
Josh Fadness (Sr QB)
Brant Bosma (Sr, RB)
Ty Giardina (Sr, RB)
Eric Silva (Jr, WR)
Connor Bosma (Jr, QB)
Returning Players with Honors:
Cody Holloway
Josh Fadness
Eric Silva
Ty Giardina
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Photo By: Steve Conner - #7 Josh Fadness
“Key Players” lost from last year:
Adam Taylor, Spencer Stephens, Spencer Griffith, Gage Silva, Gage Fairbanks, Tyler Andreason, Austin Blackwell – outgoing senior class who earned state trophies all four seasons.
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Team Preview:
Written by: Will Hoenike (@willhoenike)
Good on ya, Lighthouse Christian. Good on ya.
“Good on ya” is an Australian slang phrase used to express a job well-done. Because, let’s be honest, for the Lions’ football program, it has been a job very well-done.
The varsity football program began in 2005 with Nick Karavedas and his staff working with fifteen kids, only two of which had ever played organized, tackle football before, at a local city park in Twin Falls. They were teaching the most-basic of basics, right down to where each position lined up on the field.
Barely a decade later, the school has more than twice as many kids participating, junior high through varsity, in a program that has its own field-turf facility and three trips to the 1A Division II state championship game in the past four seasons, including a pair of state titles. John Van Vliet led the team to the championship in 2011 and Cory Holloway was the head coach of last season’s undefeated title team.
Holloway is back as the Lions’ head coach and, though he has a good group of players back from his team that defeated Wilder, 40-26, to win the title last November, he first wanted to give his appreciation to the school’s outgoing senior class.
“They were freshmen when we won our first title in school history,” Holloway said of the group of seven. “They earned state trophies all four years they played together, so to say they will be missed would be an understatement.”
But Holloway’s cupboard is hardly bare. Junior Eric Silva, a second-team All-State selection as a sophomore, returns for Lighthouse Christian. So is All-Conference offensive lineman Cody Holloway and All-Conference quarterback/linebacker Josh Fadness.
The trio is joined by key contributors Ty Giardina (RB/LB, Sr.), Brant Bosma (RB/DB, Sr.), and Connor Bosma (QB/DB, Jr.). It’s that group that Holloway hopes he can exploit for big plays on offense.
“Our team speed can stretch the field,” the reigning Sawtooth West Coach of the Year noted. “(We have to) take what the defense will give you.”
The speed should come in handy on defense as well, where Silva, Fadness and Co., will use that speed to chase down ballcarriers in the wide-open world of eight-man football. Last season, the Lions held eleven of twelve opponents under 30 points, while averaging more than 50 on offense. Only two games – a mid-season classic against district rival Carey and the state semifinal game against Council – were decided by less than ten points.
Lighthouse Christian will host three of its first four games at home in Twin Falls, including a state championship rematch against Wilder (Sept. 4) and a clash of conference heavyweights against Carey (Sept. 18). A fast start could lend itself to another deep run in the 1A Division II state playoffs.
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