‘He is the cheat code.’ Borah’s Bolt puts up another monster game to knock off Capital.
Borah High football coach Jason Burton has run out of ways to describe Austin Bolt.
So after the senior receiver-turned-quarterback carried Borah to a 42-35 win Thursday over rival Capital, Burton made a video game analogy.
“He’s amazing,” Burton said. “He is the cheat code. Absolutely, he is.”
Bolt put up numbers normally only seen in a video game at Dona Larsen Park, running the ball 44 times for 289 yards and six TDs. But that only begins to describe his night.
The three-star recruit with offers from Boise State and Utah State also completed 8-of-13 passes for 61 yards, finishing with 350 of Borah’s 420 yards of offense.
He scored every one of the Lions’ six touchdowns and added a two-point run, racking up 38 points.
He even outgained the entire Capital offense (244 total yards) by himself, played all but two snaps as the Lions’ safety, averaged 24 yards on kickoff returns and pinned Capital at its own 5-yard line with his only punt.
“Just watching someone with that big of a will to win, and the fight in him, it’s amazing,” said Borah senior running back and linebacker Cameron Pruitt, who has known Bolt since kindergarten. “... I have no clue where it comes from. It’s just all him. It’s just in his heart. He hates to lose, and he will do anything to win for his team.”
With the game on the line and Capital (3-3) threatening to rally in the fourth quarter, Borah (4-2) called Bolt’s number over and over again. He finished the game with 15 straight carries, turning those 15 consecutive carries into two touchdown runs and an eight-play, clock-killing final drive.
Bolt said Borah offensive coordinator Kevin McCarthy told him to forget about handing it off late in the game. The right read in Borah’s option offense was just keeping the ball in Bolt’s hands.
“McCarthy saw it in my eyes, and he said: ‘We are just going to give it to you. Do your thing and get us a first down,’ ” Bolt said.
Bolt started that 15-carry streak with arguably the most important run of the night. Facing fourth-and-12, he dropped back to pass and rolled to his right. Finding no one open, he broke back to his left, slipped through an arm tackle and weaved his way to a 15-yard gain and a first down.
Two plays later, he punched in a 1-yard TD run to stretch Borah’s lead to 14 points, a lead Capital never could erase despite scoring touchdowns on each of its final three drives.
“When it comes down to it, that is just the best guy in the state making plays,” Burton said. “All credit goes to him.”
The win allowed Borah to turn the table on its traditional rival. Capital had owned the series the past two decades, winning 14 in a row at one point. But Thursday’s victory follows Borah’s 42-27 victory over Capital in the first round of last year’s 5A state playoffs, marking the first time the Lions have won back-to-back games against Capital since 1995 and 1996.
Borah is now 3-3 against the Eagles since 2015.
“A lot of people in the community say … ‘Nice job winning last year. We didn’t really think this was a rivalry,’ ” Burton said. “Well, now it’s a rivalry.”
The win also bolsters Borah’s postseason fate. Four wins all but guarantees the Lions a playoff berth with three games left. It also gives them the inside track on a home playoff game and keeps them in the hunt for a first-round bye.
The top four teams in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference host their first playoff game. The top two teams get a bye into the quarterfinals.
Borah won its first playoff game since 1995 last fall. But the Lions came into the year with little expectations, finishing sixth in a preseason coaches poll in the 10-team 5A SIC after heavy graduation losses.
Bolt is one of just three returning starters from last year’s history-making team. But he said the Lions long ago grew tired of predictions of their demise.
“All these kids had a little chip on their shoulders to prove themselves that this is still our team,” Bolt said. “We are still going to go out and compete. We are not going to give up.”
Borah 42, Capital 35
Borah | 7 | 6 | 15 | 14 | — | 42 |
Capital | 14 | 0 | 7 | 14 | — | 35 |
First quarter
CAP — Cooper Leaf 5 fumble return (Terrell Lawson kick), 8:05
BOR — Austin Bolt 2 run (Josh Rausch kick), 4:33
CAP — Justus Del Rio 9 pass from Carson Bohning (Lawson kick), 0:48
Second quarter
BOR — Bolt 12 run (kick blocked), 6:07
Third quarter
BOR — Bolt 47 run (Bolt run), 10:14
BOR — Bolt 7 run (Rausch kick), 8:05
CAP — Jake Jones 1 run (Lawson kick), 4:39
Fourth quarter
BOR — Bolt 1 run (Rausch kick), 9:07
CAP — Jackson Reed 30 pass from Bohning (Lawson kick), 7:06
BOR — Bolt 56 run (Rausch kick), 5:40
CAP — Jonah Blackham 10 pass from Bohning (Lawson kick), 3:21
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Capital: Carson Bohning 5-26, Justus Del Rio 2-1, Hayden Picard 2-3, Jake Jones 19-75, Sean Holstein 1-(-30). Borah: Cameron Pruitt 9-73, Austin Bolt 44-289, Tyler Phimmasone 4-10, Josh Rausch 1-(-13).
PASSING — Capital: Bohning 17-22-1 169. Borah: Bolt 8-13-0 61.
RECEIVING — Capital: Del Rio 4-18, Jonah Blackham 6-63, Kody Walk 1-9, Gabe Bacon 1-3, Jake Jones 1-11, Jackson Reed 4-65. Borah: Austin Baker 1-9, Dylan Gardner 1-15, Brady Toth 1-19, Pruitt 4-7, Phimmasone 1-11.
This story was originally published October 3, 2019 at 10:26 PM.
