3 Idaho high school football games you should not have missed in Week 8 (10/13/2023)
Sugar-Salem made one thing clear Friday night.
It’s them and everybody else.
The No. 1 Diggers, who’ve won four out of the past five Class 3A championships, turned a highly-anticipated matchup of undefeated top-five teams into anything but with a 41-14 rout of No. 3 Teton.
“We’re not trying to prove anything to anybody other than ourselves,” Sugar-Salem coach Tyler Richins said. “But we know we have a bullseye on our back, and our kids embrace that. Not only on the field, but in the weight room every day. Our overall goal is to win a state championship and we realize there’s a process involved in that. So we really try to focus on what’s in front of us and focus on ourselves.”
It was over by halftime at 34-7. Sugar-Salem (7-0) scored 21 unanswered points to start the game - and 20 more points alone in the second quarter against the Timberwolves (6-1).
The Diggers amassed 400 yards of total offense. But for maybe the first time all season, most of it came through the air.
James Chase threw for 212 yards and a touchdown. His primary target was Josiah Bosco. He hauled in four catches for 134 yards and a score.
“James is a great quarterback and he had some tough shoes to fill,” Richins said. “But James brings a whole another dynamic to the table because he can run and throw and he showcased that tonight.
“Our mantra is we want to run the ball, but we know that going into postseason play, we’re going to have to throw the ball to win a state championship. So if teams want to stack the box and try to stop our run game, James is fully capable of taking advantage of the mismatches.”
Equally as impressive was the performance of the defense.
It forced all-state quarterback Jack Nelson into having his worst game of the season. He went just 13-of-34 for 159 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions. Ty Brown, an all-state wideout last season who has garnered interest from Weber State, Idaho and Idaho State, finished with just two catches for 10 yards.
“They’re a great offensive team who has scored a lot of points throughout the season, but defensively, we came in with a good game plan,” Richins said. “The kids executed well and played great assignment football. We were able to capitalize on some of their mistakes and that was huge for us.”
Sugar-Salem extended the state's longest winning streak to 18 games.
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KUNA STUNS NO. 2 BOISE AT ITS OWN PLACE
Even Jeff Schank had lost track.
The Kuna High School football coach didn’t think his team had lost four of five games going in. But none of that mattered Friday night.
A reeling Kavemen team walked into Dona Larsen Park and upset second-ranked Boise, 47-44. The win suddenly gives them newfound momentum heading into next week’s cross-divisional play with state playoff berths on the line.
“This hasn’t been a season where everything’s gone our way, but that doesn’t matter to these kids,” Schank said. “They’re just a gritty group. They show up to practice every day with the right attitude. They put their heads down and they go to work. So it’s a credit to them for grinding through some things that have been a little bit unfortunate. I think we’re peaking at the right time and that’s because these kids see the big picture.”
Senior tailback Austin Lattimer carried the ball 42 times for 308 yards and three touchdowns.
But none was bigger than his 2-yard touchdown plunge to give Kuna (4-4) the lead at 47-44 with 1:21 to go.
“It’s just not tonight. There’s not enough words to describe Austin Lattimer,” Schank said. “He’s a kid that has done everything this program has ever asked him to do. And he’s done it the right way.
“He’s got more heart than maybe anybody I’ve ever coached.”
His team also showed a lot of heart.
Boise (6-2) erased a 40-22 third-quarter deficit in just about 14 minutes. A Max Anderson 2-yard touchdown run with 7:22 remaining handed the Brave their first lead since the opening quarter.
But led by Lattimer, the Kavemen went 80 yards in 14 plays. They didn’t call a single pass play on the drive either. The possession took more than six minutes off the clock, too.
Casey Neff picked off Trevor Schoolfield with 38 seconds remaining to seal the stunner.
“I felt like we grew up a lot tonight as a program,” Schank said. “It got pretty sloppy. It got pretty messy. We were making some pretty silly mistakes. So to be in that situation, to have seemingly everything that could go wrong for us in the third quarter and still get it done, says a ton about the kids.”
Kuna will have to pull another upset if it wants to qualify for state, though. It will visit No. 6 Rocky Mountain next week.
Schoolfied went 14-of-29 for 261 yards, two touchdowns and the interception. Grant Spillman ran for 124 yards and a score, while Jordan McDonald secured two catches for 107 yards and a touchdown in the loss for the Brave, who still finished second in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference River Division. They can still advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2002 with a win over Centennial next Friday.
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COEUR D’ALENE MOVES WITHIN ONE WIN OF RECLAIMING 5A IEL TITLE
The Coeur d’Alene football team missed out on the postseason for the first time in 13 years last season.
But after Friday’s 34-21 win over No. 5 Post Falls, it moved to within one win of a return trip.
The Vikings (6-2) can also claim their sixth conference title in the last seven years, the North's top seed at state and a first-round byer with a win over Lewiston next week.
"I think it gives us good momentum," Coeur d'Alene coach Shawn Amos said. "The goal is to get back into the playoffs. It's one thing to talk about it, but they put the work in to help us get in a position to have that chance."
Coeur d'Alene once again rode its defense. It didn't allow any points to the 5A classification's top offense (43 points per game) until midway through the fourth quarter. And by that time the Vikings were up 28-0.
They especially held Tevin Burns in check. The 5A's leading rusher (1,417 yards) finished well below his average of 202.4 yards per game with just 51 on 27 carries.
Coeur d'Alene also came away with three turnovers, including a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown by Kolbe Coey, which iced the game with 3:05 remaining. It boats the state's top defense at 12.8 ppg.
"They've been consistently playing really good football throughout the year," Amos said about his defense. "We have some really good football players on that side of the ball."
Caden Symons tossed three touchdown passes. Kai Wheeler had six catches for 59 yards and a score. Carsen Speelman totaled 71 yards on the ground in the win for the Vkings.
Alex Shields bagged a game-high nine receptions for 129 yards for the Trojans (5-3) in the loss.
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