Written by: Brandon Baney
Mountain Home has struggled to find its footing on the gridiron over the past 15 years. Whether it was competing in District 3’s Southern Idaho Conference, or more recently, the Great Basin Conference in District 4, the Tigers haven’t been able to gain traction.
In fact, the seniors on this year’s team were preparing for preschool the last time Mountain Home posted a winning record. The Tigers went 9-2 in 2008, and advanced to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs that year.
But since that ’08 season, Mountain Home has often been a team that shows promise and tantalizes with potential. Usually due to a combination of bad luck/injuries/lack of depth, or sometimes all three, the potential has gone unrealized.
So a complete rebuild from the ground up is needed. And first-year head coach Ben Rayfield has been selected by Mountain Home officials as the architecht.
Rayfield’s no stranger to the area, though. He graduated from Ben Eielson High School in Alaska, located on the Eielson Air Force Base. Right after graduation, though, Rayfield’s father was assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base.
After a career playing linebacker for Mayville State University in North Dakota, Rayfield returned to the Magic Valley, and eight years ago, starting coaching at Mountain Home. In his eight years with the Tigers, Rayfield’s done it all: he’s been a junior high football coach, a varsity coordinator, an assistant coach on Brent Keener’s girls basketball staff, and a baseball and softball coach in the spring.
Rayfield admits that rebuilding and restoring the program won’t be easy. He’s not even sure what this year’s team will look like. “Since it’s Year Zero, we are still discovering our offensive and defensive identity daily,” he said. “We are constantly looking for ways to put our players in the best position to succeed.”
So the question this year is: how quickly can Mountain Home’s players learn the new schemes? There may be some on-the-job training required, which is tough in a quality league like the Great Basin Conference.
Junior Cash Wiley earned second team All-Conference honors a year ago at running back, although Rayfield said that Wiley is such a talented athlete, he’s not sure where he’ll line up yet. Junior Tristan Abrego is expected to quarterback the offense, while seniors Devin Maier and Izaak Krohn will lead up front on the offensive line.
All of the aforementioned players will be needed on defense as well. Abrego will play in the secondary, Maier and Krohn on the defensive line, and Wiley, like on offense, may play all over.
Ultimately, Rayfield said Mountain Home’s fortunes this year will be tied to how his players respond to adversity. “I want our players to grow in confidence and purpose and be able to completely be themselves,” he concluded.