Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Bishop Kelly
2. Columbia
T-3. Ridgevue
T-3. Skyview
T-3. Vallivue
6. Nampa
7. Centennial
Written by: Lucas Gebhart
The 5A Southern Idaho Conference sent four schools to the state playoffs in 2025, including Bishop Kelly, who went on to cap off its perfect season with another state championship. This year, the league welcomes Centennial, who petitioned down from 6A, and says goodbye to Emmett, who moved down to 4A due to lower enrollment numbers.
BISHOP KELLY
The Knights collected the school’s ninth state championship last fall, capping off a perfect 13-0 season.
As the Knights begin their title defense, UC Davis commit Jaxson Brady moves from his starting wide receiver position to quarterback and will have some of the best targets in the state to distribute to.
Multi-year starter and all-conference wideout Boston Huskey headlines BK’s returning receivers while incoming freshman Moses Irwin showcases BK’s depth. The freshman receiver is Idaho’s newest hot recruit, holding 13 DI offers, many of which are from Power Four Schools, before even taking his first varsity snap.
Utah commit Jack Henderson returns to BK’s defensive line while Nik Ciavocco and Jared Thiel return to the secondary with a combined 14 interceptions. Thiel’s 10 interceptions not only led the state but were twice as many as his second-place counterpart.
“We have a lot of experience returning, but each season brings new challenges and
opportunities to improve,” head coach Chris Culig said.
BK returns 29 seniors after finishing 2025 as 5A’s best scoring offense, third best scoring defense and beat its opponents by an average of over 27 points.
COLUMBIA
There’s a lot to be excited about at Columbia. The Wildcats return most key pieces from last year’s defense and all five starting offensive linemen, including Max Barnes and Brenten Thueson, two of the best at the position in Idaho.
The 6-foot-7, 250-pound Barnes is Boise State commit and along with the 6-foot-3 Thueson helped former running back Jackson Cheslack become the state’s leading rusher in 5A at over 1,400 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns.
Thueson also doubles as one of Columbia best defenders as a starting linebacker, where he totaled 83 tackles in nine games. He helped lead one of the SIC’s best defenses as the Wildcats surrendered under 20 points per game.
RIDGEVUE
After leading Ridgevue to its first winning record and the school’s first state playoff appearance, former head coach Gary Thorson accepted the head coaching vacancy at 6A Rocky Mountain, leaving Ridgevue for one of Idaho’s strongest programs.
With both its starting quarterback and running back returning, the Warhawks are hoping new head coach Kurt Taylor can keep the momentum moving forward.
“We want to build upon what the team accomplished last year and take it farther as we build a program moving forward,” Taylor said. “This team has a lot of talent, and we are excited to see what they can do.”
Quarterback Hunter Schmittel is back for his senior season after throwing for over 1,800 yards and 21 touchdowns. Ridgevue also gets senior running back Jarom Walker back after his strong junior campaign finished with a second-team all-conference honor and nearly 600 rushing yards.
“Our success will be determined by how we can implement senior leadership, and team chemistry,” Taylor said.
Taylor has over 20 years of coaching experience and has made several stops in Oregon and 3A with Payette.
VALLIVUE
Former head coach Shea McClellin quickly turned Vallivue into one of the best defensive teams in Idaho, but with the former NFL linebacker accepting Melba’s Offensive Coordinator position, Vallivue now must replace the most high-profile coaching hire it’s ever made.
Following back-to-back playoff appearances, they decided to keep it in-house, hiring Steven Myers, a three-year assistant with the program.
“We have a great core group of guys that are playing together,” Myers said.
Vallivue brings one of the state’s best defensive ends back in senior Evert Eells. Eells finished with 15.5 sacks as a junior, making him the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and one of the state’s sack leaders. The senior currently holds a DI offer from Utah Tech.
Despite its success on defense, Vallivue struggled to throw the ball last season and relied heavily on its ground game. The one-dimensional offense forced the Falcons to regress a bit from their 7-win season two years ago, but Vallivue still managed to make the state playoffs.
Former running back Onix Carson finished his senior season with nearly 1,000 rushing yards and the school will now turn to junior running back Sawyer Murphy to carry the load. Murphy was a second-team all-conference selection as a sophomore, rushing for over 500 yards.
SKYVIEW
Skyview could be the SIC’s most improved team as the Hawks return the majority of last year’s three-win team.
The Hawks are led by senior dual-threat quarterback Trevan Plew, and Lukas Henslee, who starts at running back and finished as Skyview’s second leading tackler.
Skyview’s defense also gets its leading tackler back in linebacker Tim Buchinskiy.
“We had some lessons with youth last year and expect those lessons to translate into more competitive games and more wins, head coach David Robinson said. “This group of seniors cut their teeth as juniors leading our program.”
NAMPA
New head coach Trampis Waite takes over at Nampa as the Bulldogs revamp their offense after losing all-conference quarterback, Dom Almaraz.
Waite brings plenty of coaching experience to Nampa. His coaching stops include offensive coordinator positions in Montana and Oregon before taking his first head coaching position at Bear River High in Garland, Utah, where he spent the past four seasons.
He now brings his pistol set to Nampa where he plans to lean on an experienced offensive line and a stable of running backs.
“We have been spending most of the off-season getting familiar with a new system,” he said. “As with every coaching change, there is a learning curve in learning a new offensive system. We will go through some growing pains until we get comfortable in the new system.”
CENTENNIAL
After back-to-back winless seasons, Centennial is hoping a move to 5A will help put a spark into its struggling football program.
The Patriots lost by an average of over 30 points per game and fielded a much younger and shorter roster than many of their 6A opponents.
Moving to 5A means Centennial will play more schools with two-way starters and will allow the competitive balance to better aid the school’s football rebuild.
As the defense returns eight starters, Centennial’s offensive line also bring over 40 games of varsity playing experience between Bolton Roberts, James Thompson and Brennan Peterson, which should put a spark into the Patriots running game.
“We think we have a pretty solid group up front this year on the offensive line and
we want to play to that strength,” head coach Steve Sosnowski said. “We have a group this year that is tired of the recent history of Centennial football. They are extremely hungry to go out and prove that things are changing.”
CALDWELL
Head coach Chris Boncz enters his second season as the Cougars head coach and his fifth season with the program.
As an independent program for the fifth straight season, Caldwell is allotted scheduling flexibility, allowing the program to schedule schools that are a better competitive fit, but makes the program ineligible for postseason play.
This season, Caldwell has Nampa, Centennial and Vallivue, along with 5A’s Wood River, Jerome and Mountain Home on the schedule. 4A Marsing, McCall-Donnelly and 3A New Plymouth also are on the schedule.