Inches decided 3A state title. Sugar-Salem got another ring. Homedale got more heartbreak
It didn’t come down to overtime or a two-point conversion this time. But the 3A state championship still came down to a matter of inches.
Nursing a five-point lead with 3 minutes left, Sugar-Salem stuffed Homedale on 4th-and-2 at the Diggers’ 12-yard line to seal a 20-15 victory Saturday at Middleton High.
Sugar-Salem juniors Ammon Lee and Tate Cutler combined to stop Homedale’s Trenton Fisher inches shy of the first down. Officials needed to bring out the sticks for a measurement, but it confirmed what Sugar-Salem hoped for and every Homedale fan feared — it was short.
“Right on that play, when we stopped them, I just broke down,” Cutler said. “That was it for me. It felt really good coming from last year, coming back and winning this game.”
The late stand and a few key first downs wrapped up the first undefeated season in Sugar-Salem (11-0) history and added to the Diggers’ dynasty. The Eastern Idaho power has won four of the past five 3A state championships. All four of those championship victories came against Homedale.
“We have such a great respect for what they’re doing at Homedale,” Sugar-Salem coach Tyler Richins said. “You don’t get to this game as often as these two teams do without something special going on. Coach (Matt) Holtry and his group at Homedale, they are a tough test, no matter what.”
Homedale (10-2) pushed Sugar-Salem to the brink Saturday. Jaxon Dines exploited broken coverage with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Danny Lomeli with 4:26 left in the third quarter. And then Homedale executed a fake extra point to perfection with a Dillon Fine-to-Jeffery Layne pass for a 15-14 lead.
That marked just the third time Sugar-Salem trailed all season, and it was the first time the Diggers trailed after the first quarter. But Sugar-Salem answered with a 12-play, 63-yard drive capped by quarterback Daniel Neal’s 1-yard sneak to retake the lead with 6:42 left in the fourth quarter.
Neal carried the Diggers offensively, finishing 12-for-18 for 156 yards and two TDs. He also ran for 76 yards and a score. But it was Sugar-Salem’s defense that rode to the rescue over and over again, holding Homedale to just seven points on five trips inside the red zone.
The Diggers’ defense didn’t allow any yards after Cutler fumbled the game’s opening kickoff at the 20-yard line. It then stripped Fisher as he tried to drive the pile into the end zone in the second quarter. And it pressured Homedale quarterback Jaxon Dines into an errant fourth-down throw into the end zone just before halftime to force another turnover on downs.
“I’m so proud of our defense,” Neal said. “(Defensive linemen) Kort Summers and Andrew Chase were in there just plugging it up. We’ve seen that all year on scout team. We couldn’t run the ball all year when we do scout. It just showed out there. Those guys have been busting their butts all year.”
HOMEDALE TAKES SECOND AGAIN
Saturday marked another heartbreaking loss for the Trojans in the state championship game and another at the hands of Sugar-Salem. Homedale’s season has ended with a loss to the Diggers five years in a row, including in the semifinals last year.
“You get so close and to come up short, it hurts,” Holtry said. “But that’s life. You’ve got two choices. You can feel like you’ve failed and stop trying and give up. Or you can pick yourself off the ground and find ways to continue to get better, like we always have, and keep working toward your goal.”
Dines finished the afternoon 9-for-16 for 142 yards and two TDs. And Fisher ran for 102 yards on 28 carries.
Holtry pointed to all the success Homedale’s senior class earned the past four years. They went 42-5. They won a league title each season. And they won three state runner-up trophies and a third-place trophy.
“I’m super proud of these seniors,” Holtry said. “They’ve accomplished a lot. They’ve won a lot of football games over their careers. The reality is they’ve gotten that much closer to getting the thing done. And so they’ve set the stage for all the kids coming after them, for sure.”
Combined with losses from Meridian (5A) and Bishop Kelly (4A), the Homedale loss made it the first season without at least one state football champion from District Three since 2011.
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 6:22 PM.
