From title contenders to playoff experiments, 6 small-school football storylines this fall
The Treasure Valley’s 5A and 4A football programs often take up all the headlines. But the small schools in the area continue to challenge for state titles year in and year out.
This fall could turn into a banner year, with legit state title contenders at the 3A, 2A and 1A levels. But that’s not all to watch out for this season.
Here are the top storylines to follow from the Boise area’s small-school programs.
CAN HOMEDALE BREAK THROUGH?
The Trojans ended Fruitland’s dominance in the Snake River Valley last fall, reaching the state championship game for the first time since 1997. But Homedale’s perfect season came to an end when Sugar-Salem stuffed the Trojans on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 8 seconds left.
Homedale brings back another loaded team to make a run at its first championship at the 3A level. Coaches in the Snake River Valley voted Homedale the unanimous league favorite entering the season, with seven starters back on both sides of the ball, including All-Idaho quarterback Daniel Uranga (second team), and All-Idaho linebackers Spencer Fisher (first team) and Jake Collett (second team).
Uranga lost two of his top weapons, running back Mason Kincheloe and receiver Carson Brown, to graduation. But with him back at the head of Homedale’s pistol offense, expectations remain high.
“This kid has a dynamic arm,” Parma coach Daniel Jenkins said. “I like how he commands the field and spreads the ball around. He’s a smart kid. He really commands his offense when he’s out there.”
Sugar-Salem still looms on the eastern side of the state. The Diggers return five All-Idaho players themselves, including reigning player of the year and quarterback Tanner Harris.
MORE RPI-SEEDED PLAYOFFS
Idaho used a computer formula to seed its 2A football playoffs for the first time last fall. After a successful maiden voyage, the 3As also will use RPI rankings for their 2019 playoffs.
All 3A teams still qualify for the playoffs based on their conference finish. The rankings don’t come into play until the quarterfinals, when the RPI seeds all teams left No. 1 through No. 8 for matchups.
The rankings popularized by college basketball weight a team’s winning percentage, the winning percentage of its opponents and the winning percentage of its opponents’ opponents into a single score to rank every team in the state.
Margin of victory is not a factor.
The state’s five conference champions are guaranteed a bye into the quarterfinals under the new system. The remaining six teams that qualified for the playoffs face off in the first round. Computer rankings do not factor into those matchups to save on travel costs.
The 2A classification ranked its quarterfinalists No. 1 through No. 8 last year. Instead of any of the four undefeated teams meeting in the quarterfinals or earlier, all four advanced to the semifinals, drawing positive reviews from coaches.
Idaho previously used brackets drawn before the season for the 3A and 2A playoffs, often leading to matchups between two state title contenders early in the postseason.
The 5A, 4A and 1A classifications still will use predetermined brackets this fall as Idaho tests the new playoff system.
WILL THE FORFEITS CONTINUE?
Dwindling participation and mounting injuries caught up with two Treasure Valley programs last fall, forcing Payette to forfeit its entire 3A conference schedule and Nampa Christian to turn down a 2A playoff bid.
Nampa Christian coach Cassidy Kotte said his program grew in the offseason. He has 37 players in practice, up from the low 30s last fall, thanks to 11 freshmen and 13 sophomores. Those classes are packed with talent as Kotte said he could start five or six sophomores, including quarterback Landon Cheney.
As long as Nampa Christian can avoid another outbreak of season-ending injuries, it should finish the season.
“I’d love to have over 40 (players),” Kotte said. “But to me, that’s a good percentage. We’ve actually come up. We’ve got kids who want to be a part of the program. It’s exciting.”
Meanwhile, Payette finds itself worrying about turnout again. Pirates coach Kip Crofts said he has about 30 players in camp after starting last season with 40. After a bond to rebuild Payette High failed in March, Crofts said six two-way players moved out of the district, leaving him with just three seniors.
Payette starts the year without a JV team thanks to a roster filled with freshmen and sophomores. But Crofts, a state championship-winning coach at Meridian, has spent the offseason and training camp focused on building leaders for a program that is 5-45 in the past six years.
“These kids we have, they are working really hard,” Crofts said. “We’ll start two to three kids who never played varsity before, and two to three that never finished playing eighth-grade football before. But we are trying to build something strong here for a good foundation.”
THE RISE OF MCCALL-DONNELLY
When coach Lee Leslie arrived in McCall five years ago, the Vandals had won just one of their previous 17 games. Since then, he’s led McCall-Donnelly to the playoffs each year, won a share of three straight league titles and led the Vandals to their first playoff win since 2004.
But the best could still be ahead as McCall-Donnelly returns 10 starters on offense and nine on defense from a 7-3 team. Senior quarterback Pete Knudson leads the group, and he’ll have a first-team All-Idaho receiver to throw to in Noah Ormsby and a second-team linebacker backing him up in Tuff Bentz.
The Vandals enter the season as the clear favorites in the 2A Western Idaho Conference, but Melba and Cole Valley Christian loom as threats. Melba returns the two leading rushers in its Wing-T attack, Easton Bunnel and Scotty Martinez. Bunnell was a first-team all-league pick on both sides of the ball.
Meanwhile, Cole Valley Christian brings back explosive playmaker Obi Gee, a first-team all-conference running back the past two years.
1A WIC A TWO-TEAM RACE AGAIN
Reigning league champ Idaho City finished second to Wilder in the preseason coaches’ poll by a single point. So the two are likely in for another battle for conference supremacy after Idaho City took last year’s crown on a tiebreaker.
Wilder returns one of the state’s top quarterback and receiver duos in seniors Pablo Martinez and Norman Gonzalez, a second-team All-Idaho pick and the conference’s offensive player of the year. The Wildcats finished a last-second interception short of reaching the state finals a year ago but must replace 13 seniors.
Meanwhile, Idaho City brings back the 1A WIC’s defensive player of the year in defensive end Drew Pawek. The Wildcats lost first-team all-conference running back Jake Sharp to graduation, but another first-ream running back returns in speedster Juan McFarlane. He’ll team with junior Trayton Nelson to give Idaho City another two-headed rushing attack.
GARDEN VALLEY A 1A CONTENDER
The Wolverines haven’t won a playoff game since 2012 or a state title since 1990. But they enter 2019 as a legitimate 8-man contender and the unanimous favorite in the 1A Division II Long Pin Conference thanks to a bounty of returning talent.
Quarterback Corban Fields and receiver Covy Kelly broke out as sophomores last year and return to lead an explosive spread offense with seven starters returning. Fields threw for 2,061 yards and 29 TDs after serving as the backup for the opening three games. Meanwhile, Kelly earned first-team All-Idaho honors after racking up 60 catches for 1,159 yards and 19 TDs. He is also the state’s reigning 1A Division II basketball player of the year.
“(Kelly is) an extremely great athlete that can play any position on the field,” Council coach Cole Cooper said. “He is a threat to score every time his hands are on the ball.”
Perennial power Salmon River enters a new era after head coach Charlie Shepherd resigned after 11 seasons. It also must replace running back Canyon Harper, a three-time, first-team All-Idaho selection, and Randy McClure, a first-teamer at three positions last year.
But Salmon River still returns a senior quarterback in Ethan Shepherd and its entire offensive line, so it remains the top threat to the Wolverines.
