These two touchdown machines will carry their teams to state football titles
They say defense wins championships.
The old cliche is true, to an extent. But no one ever hung a state championship banner with zero points on the scoreboard.
Instead, it takes elite playmakers to bring home the hardware. And the Treasure Valley has two of those playmakers who will carry their teams to titles Saturday.
Meet them, and find all of my championship predictions, below.
5A: Rocky Mountain vs. Rigby at Madison
Jordan Erickson entered the year as one of the state’s top weapons with five Division I scholarship offers. Now he’s finally getting the chance to show it.
The senior torched defenses the last four games, racking up 666 total yards and eight touchdowns on 53 touches to lead the Grizzlies (8-0) back to the state finals.
Call him a running back. Call him a receiver. Call him whatever you like.
He’s a threat for six points every time he touches the ball. And Rocky Mountain is finding new ways to get him the ball each week.
Erickson could lead the state in rushing yards if Rocky Mountain turned around and handed it to him 20 times a night. It will do that at times. But it also weaponizes his Division I speed to exploit weaknesses and holes in formations all over the field.
“It makes it hard to cover him just because you don’t know where he’s going to be every snap,” Rocky Mountain coach Chris Culig said. “If he’s in the backfield, you can build a plan around that. But if he moves out, now you’ve got to figure out what to do.”
Erickson can go quiet at times. Defenses may think they have him bottled up — until they don’t.
He’s dominated the playoffs largely as a receiver, turning 10 catches into 375 yards and five TDs in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Only one of those touchdowns was less than 60 yards.
He even played the entire second half last week as an emergency corner after two players ahead of him went down with injuries.
“I think he might have had, oh, 5 minutes of practice,” Culig said with a laugh.
Rigby quickly built a powerhouse, a real worst-to-first story, as it knocked Highland off its perch atop the east side of the state. The defending state champ rebuilt on the fly when everyone expected the Trojans to take a step back this fall.
Instead, they can hurt teams on the ground and through the air. They lead 5A with 22 forced turnovers. And they’ve won 20 straight games.
The Trojans snapped Rocky Mountain’s 22-game winning streak last year. Now it’s time for payback with Erickson leading the way.
Rocky Mountain 30, Rigby 22
4A: Emmett vs. Skyline at Middleton
Emmett coach Rich Hargitt has played the underdog card all year long. That us-against-the-world mentality became harder and harder to believe as the Huskies kept racking up victories, won a league title and set new records as a 4A program.
But it’s appropriate this week. Skyline (11-1) owns the top offense (37.3 ppg) and defense (11.5) in 4A. It spent the final six weeks as the state’s top-ranked team. Its only loss came on the road to 5A state finalist Rigby.
“We’ve heard Skyline is just coming over to pick up their state championship trophy and we don’t belong in this game,” Hargitt said. “They’re probably right. We are definitely the Rocky Balboa in the Ivan Drago story.
“We have not been respected all year. Why start now?”
But the No. 4-ranked Huskies (10-2) own a clear path to victory. Skyline’s spread offense puts up so many points it masks the 22 turnovers it has committed, leaving the Grizzlies with a minus-7 turnover margin, tied for worst in 4A among reported teams.
Emmett will need to exploit that, throwing multiple looks at Skyline quarterback Cade Marlow, confusing him and pouncing on any mistakes.
That formula has worked for the Huskies all year long. They lead 4A with a plus-15 turnover margin while racking up 22 takeaways, the second most in 4A.
“When that stat gets elongated, you tend to win football games,” Hargitt said.
I’m 1-4 picking against the Huskies. But this magical ride has to end eventually, right?
Skyline 32, Emmett 21
3A: Homedale vs. Sugar-Salem at Middleton
Meet the second explosive playmaker who will bring his team a title, one who does his work between the tackles.
Hayden Kincheloe carried No. 2 Homedale (8-1) into its third straight state title game, running for 348 yards and four TDs last week in a rout of South Fremont.
But those jaw-dropping numbers are nothing new for the junior running back. He’s run through and around defenders all season. The only factor keeping his season numbers (1,480 rushing yards, 18 TDs) relatively in check is the frequency of Homedale’s blowout victories.
“When you get up by four scores, it’s hard to continue to run him because Hayden has proven over and over again, if he’s got a crease, he’ll take it,” Homedale coach Matt Holtry said.
Opponents know what’s coming — Kincheloe up the middle, Kincheloe to the right and Kincheloe to the left. Yet no one has proven they can stop it.
Even a lingering shoulder stinger can only convince Kincheloe to come off the field for a couple snaps.
“He’s a tough kid,” Holtry said. “He’ll carry the ball 30-plus times for you and not blink an eye. He wants more.”
He gives the Trojans the weapon they need to finally vanquish No. 1 Sugar-Salem (9-1). The Diggers beat Homedale for the past two 3A state championships, forcing a combined eight turnovers in those two games.
But this year, the two powers share a common opponent. Sugar-Salem lost to league rival South Fremont 27-21 in the regular season. Homedale brushed aside the Cougars 48-28 in a game that wasn’t that close.
Homedale 28, Sugar-Salem 20
2A: West Side vs. Firth at Madison
Defense reigns at the 2A level. No. 1-ranked West Side (11-0) is proof of that.
The defending state champs have posted five shutouts this year and are allowing just 5.5 points per game, an unheard of level of stinginess.
The Pirates rolled Firth 33-6 in Week 1. Teams change by miles over the course of the season. But don’t buy into the cliche it’s hard to beat a team twice (or three times, or four times).
West Side 22, Firth 6
1A DI: Raft River vs. Oakley at Twin Falls
Strap in for a grudge match between these two longtime Snake River Conference rivals.
Their only losses came to each other. Oakley (10-1) won a 22-8 nonconference game in Week 1, and Raft River (9-1) got revenge with a 40-38 victory Oct. 23 for the league title.
But Oakley owns the most impressive victory of the season — a 42-40 win at unanimous No. 1 Prairie.
If the Hornets can beat Prairie at its home away from home at the Kibbie Dome, they’ll take the grudge match.
Oakley 36, Raft River 29
1A DII: Carey vs. Dietrich at Twin Falls
No. 1 Carey (8-0) and No. 2 Dietrich (10-0) have been on a collision course all year. The conference rivals’ regular-season meeting never happened as the Blaine County School District shut down Carey for four weeks due to coronavirus precautions. But now we get a classic battle on the state’s biggest stage.
Carey overcame obstacles all season. Their school district imposed some of the strictest coronavirus guidelines in the state. The Panthers only played two home games. They even had a snowstorm delay their semifinal game to Monday after U.S. 95 closed.
Given all the Panthers overcame just to get to here, they won’t head home with anything less than their third state title in the past four years.
Carey 42, Dietrich 37
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 12:18 PM.
