Idaho high school football playoffs: 4 quarterfinal games you should not have missed (11/03/2023)
EAGLE, Idaho - Eagle High School came into this season with a long list of goals.
Beat Meridian. Check.
Defeat Rocky Mountain for the first time in six years. Check.
And win the first 5A Southern Idaho Conference title since 2016. Check.
But on Friday night, the No. 1 Mustangs crossed off their biggest one to date by ending the two-year title reign of Rigby in a 17-14 state quarterfinal win at Thunder Stadium.
The Trojans (6-5) beat them 37-6 in the exact same setting a year ago on their way to a third state championship in four seasons.
Eagle (10-0) will host Coeur d’Alene (8-2) next week in the state semifinals.
“It was actually the theme all week. We talked about flipping the script and taking the program to the next level,” Eagle coach James Cluphf said. “Rigby put us out three out of the last four years. They’re the cream of the crop. And we talked about us being the team that had to take them out.
“We did it and it’s definitely a monkey off our back.”
Junior defensive back Aaron Zrno set up the go-ahead score by picking off University of Montana commit Luke Flowers. Two plays later, Noah Burnham sprinted in for a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Mustangs a 17-14 advantage with 4:47 remaining.
Senior defensive back Eli Mikita then preserved the win with his interception of Flowers with 1:32 left.
Eagle led 10-0 at the break before Flowers threw a pair of touchdown passes to Koen Peck and Kade Steffler in the third quarter.
The Mustangs’ Davis Harsin hit Makeo Sneddon for a 58-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first quarter before Lucas Bookholdt drilled a 27-yard field goal right before the half.
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BLOCKED EXTRA POINT SENDS MERIDIAN TO SEMIS
The Warriors blocked Martin Connington’s game-tying extra point attempt with 2:57 remaining to hold on for a 24-23 win in a Class 5A state quarterfinal matchup.
The heads up play ended up sending them to the state semifinals for the third consecutive year.
Meridian (7-3) will visit Highland (9-1) in a regular season rematch next week.
Junior quarterback Zeke Martinez went 21-of-25 for 241 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He ran in both the game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion early in the fourth quarter.
Griffin Deere and Cole Jones were his top targets. They each had a touchdown catch and totaled more than 60 yards receiving.
Henry Nelson threw a 10-yard strike to Tyler Weaver on a fourth-and-1 to pull the Mavericks (7-4) within one before the block of their Oregon State commit kicker.
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KENDRICK PUTS UP 90 POINTS
Two weeks after putting up 112 points in their regular season finale, top-ranked Kendrick began its pursuit of a three-peat with a 90-0 annihilation of Dietrich in the Class 1A DII state quarterfinals.
The matchup was a rematch of last year’s state championship game where Kendrick (8-0) held on for a 42-34 win.
The Tigers will face the winner of Saturday's Hagerman/Mullan game.
They scored just 30 seconds into the game on a 43-yard bomb from Ty Koepp to Sawyer Hewett. And from there, the rout was on with 48 first-quarter points alone.
Kendrick scored on every possession in the first half but the last for a 78-0 lead at the break.
Koepp and Hunter Taylor had three touchdowns apiece. Koepp was 5-of-6 for 188 yards and two scores, while running another in. Taylor hauled in both of Koepp’s touchdown passes while also taking a punt 70 yards to the house.
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COEUR D'ALENE GETS REVENGE
A little more than two and a half months ago, the Vikings (8-2) saw the Grizzlies shut them out at home for just the third time in the last 19 years.
Not this time.
Their defense showed up this time around in a 24-8 Class 5A state quarterfinal win.
The Grizzlies (7-4) were only able to muster 131 yards of total offense. That averaged out to be just 2.8 yards per play. Both were season lows.
Coeur d'Alene didn't allow them to score until the opening moments of the fourth quarter.
Offensively, the Vikings rode Owen Harris. He carried the ball 38 times for 152 yards and a score. Quarterback Caden Symons completed 18-of-24 passes for 201 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
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