Capital football bus got lost on the way to Skyview. Even that can’t slow down the Eagles.

The Capital High football team struggled to find Skyview. But once there, the Eagles had no trouble finding the end zone.

Capital racked up 490 yards of offense Friday, including 397 through the air, and struck early and often for a 36-22 win in a key 5A SIC battle for playoff seeding.

Friday’s road game marked Capital’s first trip to Nampa’s Skyview High in program history. Not knowing the way, the Eagles’ offensive bus took a shortcut to avoid traffic and instead ended up in no-man’s land.

The detour and three-point U-turn in farmland south of Meridian made Capital 15 minutes late, forcing the Eagles to rush through pregame warmups. But it couldn’t slow down Capital’s explosive offense.

“Somebody said to take Ten Mile to avoid the traffic and you’ll run into Greenhurst,” Capital coach Todd Simis said. “Well, Greenhurst doesn’t go all the way to Ten Mile. So we ended up damn near in the Owyhees.”

[Related: 5A to 1A high school football standings]

After watching Skyview (3-3) struggle to cover the deep ball on film, Capital (4-2) went for the jugular right away. Senior quarterback Ryan Hibbs completed touchdown passes of 79, 55 and 54 yards, all in the first half. He went into halftime with 310 passing yards and four TDs before finishing the night 19-of-28 for 397 yards.

It continues Hibbs’ bounceback from a rough start to the season. After throwing four interceptions against Rocky Mountain and two more against Meridian, Hibbs has set the 5A SIC on fire. He completed 13-of-16 passes for 264 yards and three TDs last week to upend Borah, using a similar downfield passing attack.

Junior receiver Jonah Blackham said Hibbs went back to work after the slump, putting in extra time on the weekends solidifying his mechanics. Instead of rocketing passes through receivers’ chests, he’s learned to lay them up and let his receivers make plays.

“Ever since then, his balls have gotten a lot better and he is playing a lot more confident,” Blackham said.

Blackham and Alec Bindner benefited Friday. Bindner hauled in five catches for 170 yards and two TDs before a knee injury sidelined him at halftime.

Blackham finished with 11 catches for 208 yards and two TDs. The 6-4 junior specializes in hauling in jump balls. But he showed his strong hands and focus when he tipped a ball thrown to him in triple coverage with his right hand, snatched it out of the air with that same hand, and then tucked it under his right arm to break away for a 55-yard TD catch, all without using his left hand.

“I have great receivers. If I just throw it up and give them a chance, there’s a pretty good chance that they’re going to run under it and make a play,” said Hibbs, who has a grayshirt offer from Idaho.

Skyview cut the lead to eight points early in the fourth quarter on Tyler Crowe’s 11-yard TD run. But the Hawks couldn’t get any closer the rest of the way as the Eagles milked the clock and turned their defensive line loose on Skyview quarterback Wyatt Storer, sacking him seven times.

“Our D-line the last few weeks, they are playing their butts off,” Simis said. “One thing about their quarterback is he keeps his chin up when he scrambles and he sees things downfield. As the game went on, he started not seeing things downfield.”

The win keeps Capital tied for third in the 5A SIC standings with Mountain View and Eagle, while Skyview drops into sixth place with three weeks left in the regular season. The top five teams earn guaranteed playoff berths, but three at-large berths remain for teams around the state.

“We put ourselves behind the 8-ball a little bit, but we’ve just got to focus and move on to Timberline,” Skyview coach David Young said. “Every game is truly a playoff game.

“… I won’t say it’s make-or-break time, but this is where the heart of your season lies.”

First quarter

CAP — Alec Bindner 54 pass from Ryan Hibbs (Chase Miller kick), 10:59

SKY — Frank Morin 28 pass from Wyatt Storer (Drew Bingham kick), 9:05

CAP — Jonah Blackham 55 pass from Hibbs (Miller kick), 1:00

Second quarter

SKY — Mason Perrine 34 pass from Storer (Bingham kick), 3:22

CAP — Bindner 79 pass from Hibbs (Miller kick), 3:04

CAP — Blackham 21 pass from Hibbs (kick failed), 0:52

Third quarter

CAP — Miller 33 field goal, 6:48

Fourth quarter

SKY — Tyler Crowe 11 run (Storer run), 11:47

CAP — Miller 19 field goal, 7:22

CAP — Miller 24 field goal, 3:35

RUSHING — Capital: Alec Bindner 2-6, Michael Holley 1-12, Sam Sessou-Djokoto 11-30, Ryan Hibbs 16-15, Gavin Piva 3-17, Jake Jones 4-13. Skyview: Wyatt Storer 8-(-20), Tyler Crowe 19-117, Daniel Lopez 6-17.

PASSING — Capital: Hibbs 19-28-0 397. Skyview: Storer 20-33-1 238.

RECEIVING — Capital: Bindner 5-170, Holley 1-4, Piva 1-7, Alec Weber 1-8, Jonah Blackham 11-208. Skyview: Wade Carpenter 5-42, Frank Morin 1-28, Payton Smith 2-3, Crowe 6-68, Lopez 1-3, Cade Saolois 1-0, Mason Perrine 4-94.

This story was originally published September 28, 2018 at 11:08 PM.