3 Idaho high school football games you should not have missed in Week 9 (10/20/2023)
EAGLE, Idaho - Nothing contained the excitement of Noah Burnham.
Not even his own teammates.
The Eagle High School sophomore tailback was so amped up that he inadvertently closed-line quarterback Austin Ramsey to the ground on a botched jumping high-five attempt.
A year’s worth of emotions spilled out of him and the rest of the Eagle High School football team following his game-winning two-point conversion run in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference championship game Friday night at Thunder Stadium. It not only gave the top-ranked Mustangs a 22-21 win over No. 2 Meridian and the first league title since 2016, but sweet retribution.
* WEEK 9 IDAHO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD
“I don’t even know how to word it,” said Burnham, who ran for 186 yards and two touchdowns. “Last year we got blown out, but this year we got it back in blood.”
He’s referring to last year’s 5A SIC title game debacle when Eagle (9-0) suffered one of the worst and most embarrassing losses in program history. It committed five turnovers and was shutout for the first time in 16 years in a 35-0 loss to the Warriors (6-3) no less.
So all of that was on the Mustangs’ mind in the rematch.
“The pre-game speech was all about that,” senior defensive back Tristan Walker said. “Every senior’s talking about it. Every senior was like, ‘We cannot let this happen again.
“This is a statement right here.”
One that was made loud and clear in overtime.
Trailing 21-14 and facing a fourth-and-goal from the Meridian 1-yard line with everyone in the stands knowing who Eagle was going to give the ball to, Burnham scored anyways. But instead of sending out the kicker to try and send the game into a second overtime, Eagle coach James Cluphf elected to roll the dice instead.
He trotted the offense right back onto the field.
“I just believe in my guys,” Cluphf said. “I think we have the best O-line in the state.
“They knew what was coming. We ran pretty much the same play four straight plays. I trust our guys carrying the ball and the heart that’s in their souls. They were not going to be denied.”
And the Mustangs weren’t.
Davis Harsin made sure of that.
The senior starting quarterback who is committed to Idaho State once again handed the ball off to Burnham. But the son of former Boise State and Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin - didn’t stop there. He immediately got behind him and almost single-handedly pushed Burnham for three yards into the endzone as pandemonium ensued.
“At first I thought I didn’t get in,” Burnham said. “But Davis Harsin, I don’t know what he’s on. But he picked me up and threw me in.”
Early on, it seemed like Eagle wasn’t going to need those late-game heroics.
Thanks to touchdown runs by Burnham and Ramsey, it had a 14-0 lead with 5:37 remaining in the first half. But the Warriors ended up scoring 21 unanswered points. They took their first lead of the game on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Zeke Martinez to Rylie Byington in overtime.
Martinez completed 13-of-16 passes for 95 yards and a touchdown. He added another 58 yards on the ground and a 1-yard score which tied the game up at 14-14 to begin the fourth quarter. Marco Del Rio ran for 42 yards, with most of that coming on his 18-yard gallup to put Meridian on the board late in the second quarter. The Warriors, who had won six games in a row, will still receive a first-round bye in the state playoffs that begin next week. They’ll play the winner of Post Falls and Mountain View.
Eagle, on the other hand, also gets a first-round bye in addition to being the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage through the semifinals. The Mustangs are now hoping to avoid a repeat of the 2016 season. They also finished the regular season unbeaten, only to fall in the state semifinals to Mountain View.
“We have a poster hanging up that says, ‘Eagle vs. the World,’” Walker said. “We know for a fact no one likes us. That doesn’t faze us.
“We’re here to just keep playing how we play, regardless of what the news says, regardless of what everyone else says, regardless of what these other teams say.
“We know what we’re capable of."
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COEUR D’ALENE RETURNS TO STATE WITH ANOTHER LEAGUE TITLE
The Vikings claimed their sixth 5A Inland Empire League championship in seven years with a 29-16 win over rival Lewiston.
They’ll now be the North Region's top seed at state a year after missing out on it entirely.
Coeur d’Alene (7-2) pulled away in the second half with 19 unanswered points following a 10-10 deadlock at the break.
Caden Symons got it started with a 46-yard bomb to Jamison Kizziar midway through the third quarter. He finished 20-of-28 for 250 yards and a touchdown. Symons also added a 9-yard touchdown run in the opening quarter. Kizziar, who began the season at quarterback, totaled five catches for 115 yards and a score.
The Vikings will receive a first-round bye in next week’s playoffs.
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TWIN FALLS ROUTS MINICO TO FINISH ATOP GREAT BASIN CONFERENCE
It took a minute, but the Bruins are back atop the 4A Great Basin Conference after a 49-15 rout of Minico, which was looking for the three-peat.
The surprising result gave them their first conference championship since 2018.
Twin Falls (8-1) forced four turnovers, including three in the second half alone. It was highlighted by a 22-yard pick-six from Grayson Keys.
It was all a part of a second half that saw the Bruins score 28 unanswered points to close the game.This was also their first win over the Spartans (6-3) in five years.
Twin Falls and Minico both qualified for next week’s state tournament.
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