Written by: Lucas Gebhart
The line between making and missing the state playoffs is oftentimes razor thin.
They didn’t know it at the time, but an early September overtime loss to Kuna, a game most at Borah High will tell you the Lions should have won, could have landed Borah in the state playoffs. But on the last week of the season, Kuna snuck in and Borah was sent home.
It wasn’t the way they wanted it to end.
“This team seems to have a chip on their shoulder about missing the playoffs from last season,” said head coach JQ Kenyon. “They have taken the responsibility on their own to say they don’t want that to ever happen again. Overall the team seems motivated to prove themselves and earn all respect that may be given to them.”
In order to get back to the state playoffs, Borah is going to have to rely on some new faces at football’s most high profile positions. Their strength will be in the trenches.
Parker Rushton, Borah’s all-time leading rusher, is gone. So is last year’s leading receiver (Trace Freeman) and three-year starting quarterback Korbin McCarney.
But coming back is one of the best linemen in the conference in Trevor McKenna. The Boise State commit received all-conference honors on both sides of the ball last year.
Jon Creon along with Austin Flaherty round out what could be one of the better defensive lines in the SIC. Couple that with a healthy secondary and this Borah defense is looking pretty good.
“We have a much more experienced secondary and this should be a huge improvement from last year,” Kenyon said. “Senior Elisio Lopez, our leading interceptions returner from last year, now has more experience under his belt and should be able to help the guys that have less experience in the secondary as we are changing up coverages.”
The thing that could help Borah the most this season is some key players are now available.
Junior Ryan Lopez and senior Jevon Nelson are both coming back from injury and should make for more quick improvements in the secondary.
Nelson is also expected to play a large role in the offensive backfield alongside Jacob Detwiler, who is expected to take over at quarterback.
“No one has a bigger role to fill then Jacob Detwiler,” Kenyon said. “He is more than ready to step up to the challenge and is eager to show what he has.”