3 Idaho high school football games you should not have missed in opening round of state playoffs (10/27/2023)
BOISE - Cameron Andersen had to stop and think for a second.
The Burley High School football coach was also holding back tears.
It was hard to blame him.
He was trying to somehow put into words just how much the last two years with Gatlin Bair has truly meant. The highest-rated prospect in Idaho history played his final high school game after a 48-12 loss to Bishop Kelly Friday night in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs at Nick Ysursa Field.
“I knew that there was not much we could do to make him a better football player. But I’m thankful for the opportunity to be able to coach him and work with him in areas that I think you’ll see in his life going forward,” Andersen said. “The kid carries a burden. I just wish everyone understood who he was and understood that if every kid was built like that kid, this world would be a really good place.”
It wasn’t the season anyone envisioned for the four-star and 35th-ranked recruit in the country. Especially, when it started out so promising.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder committed to Boise State on Aug. 5 and less than a month later, made his unofficial debut on the Blue Turf. Bair hauled in six catches for 201 yards and two touchdowns in a 65-30 rout of Vallivue in the inaugural “Battle in Boise” at Albertsons Stadium on Sept. 1. More importantly, the Bobcats left with a 2-0 record.
But the following week against Shelley, everything changed.
Bair injured his shoulder on the third play of the game and didn’t return in a 47-14 defeat. He then missed the next two games. Burley lost both of them without him, including a 39-point defeat to rival Minico at home no less.
Bair had to endure a 59-7 shellacking to the very same Bishop Kelly team in his return on Sept. 29. The Bobcats ended up losing five games in a row and were 2-5 with just two weeks remaining in the regular season.
“He had every ability to just call it a season and prepare for college. But it never even came up,” Andersen said. “When people would reference that, when doctors or anyone else would reference that, it was laughable for him. Because he’s a competitor and he loves his teammates.
“People say a lot of things about all the circumstances of where he ended up, but his family made a choice to have a new beginning. And he fell in love with his surroundings and his teammates. He was an amazing model of consistency and what that looks like.”
So Bair helped the Bobcats (4-6) close the season out with back-to-back wins. It allowed them to just sneak into the playoffs as the second-to-last team in. They were hoping to use the postseason as a restart.
And early Friday, it looked like that could be a possibility.
Burley answered the Knights’ opening 3-play scoring drive, with one of its own that nearly took the rest of the first quarter. The Bobcats capped a 14-play, 68-yard drive, which lasted 10 minutes and 14 seconds, with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Mack Jensen to Bair.
“He’s the fastest human we’ve ever seen play football,” Bishop Kelly coach Chris Culig said. “So, I respect and appreciate someone’s ability like that. It’s like going against someone who’s so dominant that you’re just like, ‘Wow.’”
Photo by Julian Jenkins, SBLive Sports
But Bishop Kelly (10-0) quickly took control of the game from there. A 13-yard touchdown run by Peter Minnaert, who finished with 143 yards and two scores on just eight carries, a blocked punt for a touchdown from Will Sachse and a Joe Stroschein’s 23-yard fumble return, suddenly made it a 28-6 game midway through the second quarter.
The Knights continued to pour it on. An 18-yard touchdown pass from Ben Avella to Alex Sullivan, his second of the game, midway through the fourth quarter made it 48-6, forcing a running clock mercy rule.
But the only time Bair came out of the game was after a 49-yard touchdown grab down the sideline a few moments later. It ended up being his final play.
“It was apropos that he was able to score,” Andersen said.
Bair then took off his helmet and stood on the sideline in silence. Several teammates came up to chat. But his stoic look hardly wavered even as time ran out on maybe the greatest high school football player in Idaho history.
And it ended not in front of thousands of people or the hundreds of college scouts who attended his games over the years, but in a half-empty stadium.
His final stat-line read six catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
“I just don’t know that a lot of people understand the weight that kid carries,” Andersen said. “Everyone can drop a ball and be fine. Gatlin can’t. Everyone can go the wrong way. Gatlin can’t. People miss tackles, but Gatlin does, everyone knows.”
He ends his storied career with 208 receptions, 3,468 yards and 54 touchdowns. Bair will almost assuredly be named to his third straight all-state team. The Class 4A and Gatorade player of the year awards are both possibilities, as well.
But that’s not what Andersen is going to remember the most about Bair. He moved over from Kimberly last year and completely revitalized a long-struggling program.
Burley hadn’t made state in 13 years prior to Bair's arrival. Now, the Bobcats are coming off consecutive seasons with postseason appearances and top-5 offenses.
“We’ll be able to tell stories and model his work ethic for years and years to come,” Andersen said. “We made sure that as many kids from the youth all the way up, got to witness him and see how he worked and see how he acted.
“We’re going to build this program into something great. But you have to have cornerstones, and he’s ours.”
Bair will now graduate early in December before going on a two-year LDS mission. He’s planning on starting his Boise State career in the spring of 2025.
“It’s hard for me to be more proud than I am right now,” Andersen said. “He’s the most consistent human that I’ve ever been involved with.”
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OWYHEE PICKS UP FIRST-EVER PLAYOFF WIN
The Storm staved off Boise for a 28-21 overtime win during the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.
It gave the Storm (8-2) the first postseason victory in program history. They’ll visit Highland (8-2) next week in a quarterfinal matchup.
The Brave (7-3) rallied back from a 14-point deficit with a little more than nine minutes remaining to force the extra period. Owyhee got the ball first and scored on a 14-yard catch by Aidan Joye, which was his second of the game. It then stuffed Boise three consecutive times from the 1-yard line, including on fourth and goal when the snap was botched.
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EMMETT UPSETS MINICO AFTER MISSED EXTRA POINT
After eight different lead changes and overtime, a missed extra point gave the 10th-seeded Huskies a thrilling 34-33 upset of the Spartans in the opening round of the Class 4A state tournament.
Emmett (7-3) will play No. 2 Bishop Kelly in next week’s quarterfinal round.
Quinten Smith had a 70-yard touchdown for the Huskies, who won a playoff game for the first time since 2020.
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