What rebuilding year? Emmett football rallies to clinch another state playoff berth
The Emmett High football program set all kinds of firsts the past two years.
The Huskies added another one to the list Friday.
Emmett rallied in the fourth quarter to edge Vallivue 21-20, clinching the Huskies a 4A state playoff berth for the third straight year — a first in program history.
“From where this program was, with these kids coming along and helping build it, it’s just absolutely amazing,” Emmett coach Rich Hargitt said. “It’s our kids. Our kids just play their tails off.”
The Huskies (6-2, 3-1 4A SIC) mounted another fourth-quarter rally to make history Friday. Vallivue (4-4, 3-2) broke a 14-14 tie with Tyson Fox’s 10-yard touchdown run with 8:44 left. But Lucas Briscoe and Ryder Scheibe combined to stop 4A’s leading rusher on the two-point conversion, prompting Hargitt to think, “We’ve got them right where we want them,” he said.
Senior quarterback Dakota Perry proved him right, engineering a seven-play, 59-yard drive for the game-winning score. He scrambled to his right before finding Joe Lummus for a 30-yard completion back across the field on the drive’s key play. That set Ry Fullerton up for a 3-yard TD run on the next snap, and Tucker Welling kicked his third PAT for the final margin.
“Man, our team just doesn’t give up,” Perry said. “I hope we keep on going like this in the playoffs.”
The victory clinches Emmett a second-place finish in the 4A SIC and guarantees the Huskies will host a first-round playoff game in two weeks.
The two-time defending league champs entered the season with limited outside expectations. Only a handful of starters returned from the past two years, and Perry had to replace two-time All-Idaho quarterback Caden Young.
But the senior is no caretaker. He has set a school record for single-season passing touchdowns, a record he extended to 29 with two more throws Friday. He finished 9-for-15 for 134 yards.
“I think he and I both had a little bit of a chip on our shoulder,” Hargitt said. “Because all the talk about we can’t win now, it’s an insult to what we’re trying to do. We’re not trying to build it for a one-hit wonder. We’re trying to build a program that can represent him in 4A.”
But just like last season, Vallivue and Emmett came down to two-point conversions. The Falcons edged Vallivue 8-7 a year ago after converting a fourth-quarter try. But Emmett stopped Vallivue twice Friday, stops that sent the Huskies to the playoffs.
Hargitt said the team prepared all week to never see a point-after kick. And it paid off Friday.
“We can’t get our heads down after they score. And that happens a lot,” Briscoe said. “... Everyone’s just got to do their job. They can’t do anyone else’s. They’ve got to depend on the other guy next to them.”
EMMETT LEADERS
Fullerton ran for 125 yards and a touchdown, pushing him past the 1,000-yard mark for the season.
Stevie Howe hauled in two more TD catches, giving him 16 on the season.
VALLIVUE LEADERS
Fox ran for 124 yards and two TDs, and he threw an 11-yard score to Brock Wilson on a halfback pass.
Koa Maio added 98 more yards as part of the Falcons’ two-headed attack.
UP NEXT
Emmett: The Huskies close the regular season next week at Ridgevue (1-6, 0-4). They will not learn who they host in the playoffs until after next week’s game.
Vallivue: The Falcons host Boise (2-6) next week with a chance to boost their odds for an at-large berth in the 4A playoffs.
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 10:43 PM.
