Rigby spoils Rocky Mountain football’s perfect season. ‘They just pushed us around’
The Rocky Mountain High football team dominated every team it faced this fall, posting blowout victories week after week and looking unstoppable.
Then came Rigby.
The Trojans knocked off No. 1-ranked Rocky Mountain 21-18 on its home field Friday night, spoiling the Grizzlies’ perfect season in the 6A state semifinals with a physical running game.
Rigby (10-1) racked up 318 of its 376 yards on the ground. The Trojans averaged 6 yards on 53 carries against the 6A classification’s top run defense (74 yards per game). And it held the ball for 30 of the game’s 48 minutes, sidelining the state’s top offense.
“They just pushed us around,” Rocky Mountain coach Scott Criner said. “That hadn’t happened this year.”
Rocky Mountain (10-1) trailed only once all season, and it never trailed after the first quarter until Friday night. But the Grizzlies quickly found themselves in a battle against Rigby, which mounted a 12-play, 76-yard scoring drive on its first possession to tie the game at 7-7.
It set the tone for the night as Rigby methodically worked the ball down the field. Even when Rocky Mountain managed to force a fourth down, Rigby refused to punt, and the Trojans converted 4-of-6 fourth downs to sap the Grizzlies’ morale.
“In these types of games, you’re gonna take some risks,” Rigby coach Armando Gonzalez said. “Could they backfire? No doubt. But you’re not going to win championships if you don’t take some risks. And we feel like we can run the ball effectively enough to where those aren’t as much of a risk.”
A trio of weapons battered Rocky Mountain all night. Junior running back Amani Morel ran for 169 yards and a touchdown. Senior running back Jerzey Duenes added 100 yards and two scores. And quarterback Jacob Flowers delivered several back-breaking runs on third and fourth downs, finishing with 60 yards.
Gonzalez credited his offensive line, which he said grew by miles in the offseason.
“Our offensive line, I told them, if we win a state championship, it’s going to be because of you guys, not the backs,” Gonzalez said. “We have some great backs. But our offensive line, they stepped up to it.”
Rocky Mountain threatened to make a dramatic comeback when it stuffed Duenes on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 2:11 left. Matthew McLeod, Hayden Gunlock and Cole Bucher combined for the momentum-swinging stop. But the Grizzlies could get just a single first down before turning the ball over on downs with 36 seconds left.
RIGBY VS. EAGLE FOR 6A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
The victory sends Rigby back to the state finals for the fifth time in the past six years. It will face Eagle (10-1) — a 28-14 winner over Coeur d’Alene — at 2 p.m. Saturday on the blue turf at Albertsons Stadium.
Another road trip won’t bother Rigby, though. The Trojans are 8-1 on the road in the playoffs since 2019. The lone loss came at Eagle in last year’s quarterfinals.
Rigby played just three home games this season as it sought out-of-state competition in Utah and at the Northwest Showdown at Rocky Mountain in September.
“We were tested. We went all over the place,” Gonzalez said. “ … I tell the kids we love traveling because you actually get to spend more time doing football with them than when we’re at home.”
ROCKY MOUNTAIN’S SEASON ENDS
At least eight players with Division I offers propelled the Grizzlies to a perfect regular season and a 6A Southern Idaho Conference title. But the dream season came to an end Friday.
“It’s the best team I’ve ever coached,” Criner said. “It’s the best group of kids and their commitment that I’ve ever coached.
“You talk about 90-some kids showing up at 5:50 in the morning on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday — that’s unbelievable. You just don’t see that.”
Rocky Mountain running back Taeshaun Reese opened the game with a 70-yard touchdown run on the fourth play from scrimmage, and he added a 1-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter to make it a three-point game. He finished with 76 yards on four carries, and caught two passes for 26 yards.
Quarterback Austin Rovig finished 12-for-23 for 162 yards and an interception. And Drew Byrd hauled in three catches for 68 yards.
Rocky Mountain finished the night with 299 yards of offense. But it only ran 40 plays while Rigby took 67 offensive snaps.
This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 11:52 PM.
