3A SRV football preview: Deep conference will challenge Homedale’s three-year reign
Homedale has ruled the 3A Snake River Valley with an iron fist in recent years, winning 15 straight conference games and three straight league titles.
The Trojans finished first in a preseason coaches’ poll this summer. But only barely, a warning that staying on top of arguably the 3A classification’s toughest league is never guaranteed.
Weiser returns its best team in years. McCall-Donnelly fields a dangerous mix of explosive players and beefy linemen. And Fruitland always looms as a threat.
We broke down each team’s top players and story lines to get you ready for the upcoming season.
1. HOMEDALE TROJANS
Last season: 8-2, 5-0 3A SRV
Playoffs: Lost to Sugar-Salem 34-28 in OT in finals
Coach: Matt Holtry, 13th season
Career record: 82-37
Base offense (coordinator): Spread (Holtry)
Base defense (coordinator): 4-2-5 (Tony Uranga)
Key players: Hayden Kincheloe, sr., RB; Willie White, sr., LB; Willy Haun, sr., OL/DL
The Trojans reached the state championship game each of the past three years. And they won’t have to do much rebuilding to challenge again, returning 17 starters (10 offense, seven defense), including the state’s reigning 3A All-Idaho Player of the Year in Kincheloe.
No one has found a way to stop Kincheloe. And opponents will face plenty of other headaches as Homedale also returns its starting quarterback (junior Jaxon Dines), a second-team All-Idaho wide receiver (junior Mason Strong) and its leading tackler (White).
Holtry said to watch out for a more dynamic passing game this year, one that should make the Trojans more balanced offensively. It would also make their run back to the finals even more difficult to stop.
2. WEISER WOLVERINES
Last season: 5-5, 3-2 3A SRV
Playoffs: Lost to Sugar-Salem 34-8 in quarterfinals
Coach: Tom Harrison, fourth season
Career record: 268-83
Base offense (coordinator): Spread (Harrison)
Base defense (coordinator): 4-3 (Jason Bruce)
Key players: Brett Spencer, sr., QB; Rylee Willet, sr., OL/MLB; Willy Shirts, sr., RB/DE; Jack Burke, sr., RB/WR
The Wolverines have won a playoff game each of the past two seasons. But this could be the year Weiser makes a deep postseason run, with 13 returning starters (seven offense, six defense).
Spencer holds an offer from Idaho and returns for his third year as the starting quarterback. The dual-threat QB alone makes Weiser dangerous. But he’ll line up alongside Burke and Shirts, a pair of first-team all-conference running backs, giving the Wolverines a potent ground game.
Weiser will remain young in a couple of key spots on the offensive line. But all the veteran talent has it eyeing a run at a conference title and a season that extends into November.
3. MCCALL-DONNELLY VANDALS
Last season: 3-3, 2-2 3A SRV
Playoffs: Did not qualify
Coach: Lee Leslie, seventh season
Career record: 76-32
Base offense (coordinator): Spread (Leslie)
Base defense (coordinator): 4-2-5 (BJ Sorensen)
Key players: DJ Green, sr., RB/WR/DB; Carter Johnson, sr., RB/WR/OLB; Andrew Carmon, sr., WR
The Vandals head into Year 2 back at the 3A level ready to make some waves.
Green, a four-year starter and the 3A All-Idaho Boys Basketball Player of the Year, remains one of the most explosive players in the state. He will have the ball in his hands all over the field, including as a dangerous kick returner.
Sophomore Josh Sorensen steps in under center, and he’ll have plenty of weapons to work with. But Leslie said the position he’s most excited about is the offensive line, which returns five junior starters. That same group won the tug-of-war challenge at the Potato Bowl 7-on-7 tournament and finished second in the lineman challenge. They’ll also anchor the defensive line, the strength of that unit.
4. FRUITLAND GRIZZLIES
Last season: 6-2, 3-1 3A SRV
Playoffs: Lost to Weiser 42-0 in first round
Coach: Ryan Tracy, ninth season
Career record: 64-22
Base offense (coordinator): Wing-T (Tracy)
Base defense (coordinator): 4-4 (Nic Jayo)
Key players: Luke Barinaga, jr., QB; Ki Warner, sr., OL/DL; Parker Barnes, jr., TE/DL
Heavy graduation losses leave the Grizzlies with just four returning starters on both sides of the ball. But that hides all the returning talent coming back, as a host of young players cut their teeth last season.
Barinaga returns at quarterback after starting as a sophomore. Tracy said he’ll have plenty of receiving options, including Barnes, a 6-4, 235-pound tight end whose athleticism forced Fruitland to move him off the offensive line.
The Grizzlies have plenty of depth at skill positions. But the offensive and defensive lines remain unproven at the varsity level. And in Fruitland’s vaunted Wing-T, the offensive line makes everything else possible.
5. PAYETTE PIRATES
Last season: 3-5, 1-4 3A SRV
Playoffs: Did not qualify
Coach: Kip Crofts, fifth season
Career record: 33-58
Base offense (coordinator): Spread (Tracey Bratcher)
Base defense (coordinator): 4-2-5 (Aaron Mott)
Key players: Abe Rodriguez, jr., QB; Zander Allen, sr., WR; Chris Mott, sr., TE/OL/DL/LB; Martin Ceballos, jr., WR/DB/K
Crofts said the Pirates have set a goal of making the state playoffs. And for the first time in years, that may be possible.
Payette forfeited its entire conference schedule in 2018 because of low turnout. But the Pirates turned a corner last season, snapping a 22-game conference losing streak and posting their best record since 2012, when they went 5-5.
Fourteen starters (nine offense, five defense) return as Payette builds off that momentum. That includes a first-team all-conference wide receiver in Allen (12 TDs in 2020) and a second-team all-conference quarterback in Rodriguez.
The SRV remains loaded, making any climb up the standings tough. But there’s hope in Payette for the first time in a long time.
6. PARMA PANTHERS
Last season: 0-9, 0-5 3A SRV
Playoffs: Did not qualify
Coach: Cassidy Kotte, first season
Career record: 9-17
Base offense (coordinator): Pistol Wing-T (Kotte)
Base defense (coordinator): 3-3-5 (Alex Willson)
Key players: Stetson Pinz, sr., QB; Tate Oberg, sr., C/MLB; Ryan Simar, sr., OL/LB; Colt Murdock, sr., H-back/S
Kotte, a former Nampa Christian coach, steps in as the Panthers’ fourth head coach in the past four years. The program has fallen on hard times with that instability, going 8-36 since last making the playoffs in 2015.
But Willson, the school’s athletic director, remains on staff to provide continuity. And Kotte said he’s impressed with the Panthers’ desire and work ethic this summer.
The program received a boost with the return of Pinz at quarterback after injuries sidelined him the past two years. Murdock stands poised as his top playmaker as a hybrid slot receiver and H-back. But varsity experience remains in short supply with just two returning starters on both sides of the ball — offensive and defensive linemen Oberg and Sean Wilhite.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 3:54 PM.
