Players to Watch
Cody Mortenson, American Falls
Josh Smith, American Falls
Bradley Belnap, Marsh Valley
Stanton Howell, Marsh Valley
Marcus Coombs, Snake River
Luke Higginson, Snake River
Written by: Christian Weaner
The South East Idaho Conference (SEIC) continues to churn out state title contenders at the 3A level year after year, and fans can expect more of the same in 2022-23.
Despite graduating some talented players from last season, both Marsh Valley and Snake River have great potential for deep playoffs runs this season and American Falls is slowly but surely improving in what should be an exciting and highly competitive conference.
Last March, Marsh Valley and Snake River went into the 3A State Tournament as the No. 1 and 3 overall seeds, respectively. After the Eagles and Panthers both lost hard-fought semifinal contests, the two SEIC rivals met for a third-place game that Marsh Valley won 45-36.
In some ways, the third-place finish was disappointing for Head Coach Kent Howell and his Eagles squad, who were 23-3 on the season. Marsh Valley won the 2021 3A State Championship and were hoping to repeat.
Now, in 2021-22, Howell is entering his third season at the helm in Arimo, and he must move forward without four of his five starters from a season ago. Despite those loses, Howell's son, Stanton, is returning for his senior season after earning First Team All-State honors as a junior.
With Stanton Howell and fellow senior guards Bradley Belnap, Alex Vaughan and Ezra Godfrey all coming back to provide veteran leadership, plus skilled sophomores Eli Hadley and Kaden Hansen taking on bigger roles, the Eagles still have the firepower to play at a fast pace and dominate opponents this season.
"After losing so many great players we are excited to see how well we can compete with a new group of boys," Kent Howell said.
Snake River, meanwhile, went 22-8 a season ago and won some huge games over quality opponents, including a 49-37 victory against 2022 3A state champion Kimberly in January.
The Panthers are led by legendary Head Coach Robert Coombs, who now enters season No. 30 at Snake River. Despite losing guard Cole Gilbert, who made Second Team All-State as a senior in 2021-22, Coombs does bring back two key contributors in Luke Higginson and Coombs' youngest son, Marcus, who is entering his sophomore year after playing on varsity as a freshman.
With that young core of talent and arguably the most seasoned coach in the entire state, no one would be surprised to see Snake River making a deep run in the state tournament again this year.
The third team in the 3A SEIC, American Falls, always has a tough task with two perennial powers like Marsh Valley and Snake River to compete with, but the Beavers have a lot of experience returning and a group of young players with big potential coming up.
American Falls and third-year Head Coach Jason Bower are hoping to build upon a 1-21 season in 2021-22.
The Beavers graduated point guard Paddy Harwood, but they bring back seniors Josh Smith and Cody Mortenson and juniors Ty Wilkinson, Beau Brower, Josh Nebeker and Wyatt Anderson. Bowers said he is also looking at underclassmen Dax Brower, Austin Adair and Zach Grig to all make an impact at the varsity level as well.
"This team is young and has some really nice talent," Bower said. "However, they are also led by some seniors that have really improved and know what it takes to improve through the year."
The keys for American Falls will be eliminating turnovers on the offensive end and outrebounding opponents on defense.