He leads the state in rushing. He unveiled a new weapon in Eagle’s win over Owyhee
Eagle knew. Owyhee knew. Everyone in the stadium knew where the ball was going Friday night.
But no one could stop Eagle senior Noah Burnham.
The state’s leading rusher strapped the Mustangs on his back again, running for 177 yards and three touchdowns to lead Eagle to a 34-20 victory at Owyhee. The win moved Eagle (6-0, 3-0) one win away from clinching a fourth straight 6A SIC River Division title.
“He’s flat-out the best football player in the state, and everybody knows that,” Eagle coach James Cluphf said.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that every team knows that he’s getting the ball. They load up, and they game-plan for him. We know that when we come in each week that they’re going to be keyed up on him in some way or another. And for him to be able to come in, week in, week out, and produce like he does — we’re not afraid to keep feeding him.”
The second-ranked Mustangs fed Burnham early and often Friday, and he didn’t let them down. Eagle scored touchdowns on its first four possessions as Burnham quickly wore down the Owyhee (5-1, 2-1) defense. He even showcased his arm, hitting Aiden Kindrick for a 49-yard touchdown on a halfback pass as the entire Storm defense rushed to Burnham.
“We practiced it all week, and he was about to cut it. He was on his last straw,” a beaming Burnham said, motioning toward Cluphf. “He didn’t believe in me. But I threw a dart, and it was on the money.”
But his most critical run came on the opening play of the fourth quarter. Owyhee’s run-heavy offense milked nearly all of the third-quarter clock, limiting Eagle to just two offensive snaps. But Burnham provided a spark when he rounded the left edge and broke 58 yards down Eagle’s sideline.
Five plays later, he plowed up the middle for his third and final touchdown, restoring the two-touchdown lead Owyhee could never dig out of.
“He’s a playmaker,” Owyhee coach Jason Burton said. “You got to give kudos to them. They made plays.
“You can’t just say, ‘We need to tackle better.’ Well, that guy is pretty good and is going to go play college football. So it’s kind of hard to just say, ‘Go tackle him.’”
Owyhee finished the night with 303 yards of offense and held the ball for 17:43 of the 24 minutes in the second half. But Eagle forced the Storm to slowly march down the field while trailing and made a pair of goal-line stops.
Luke Mikita (10 tackles) broke up a pass to Parker Leaf in the corner of the end zone on fourth-and-goal with 3 seconds left before halftime. And Jeremiah Minnett (14 tackles) broke through the line to stuff Owyhee’s Ryan Brekke on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 2:28 left in the game.
“Our game plan coming into the week was to stop the run, because we know they’re a run-first team,” Eagle senior linebacker Jaxson LeBeau said. “We didn’t do a very good job of that at first. But I feel like we got really gritty once they got inside the 10, inside the red zone.
“With our backs against the wall, that’s when we got big and stopped them.”
The victory puts Eagle firmly in control of the race for the 6A SIC River Division title, which comes with a first-round playoff bye and a spot in the conference title game. A win at Kuna next week or a victory over Borah clinches the division title as Eagle already holds head-to-head victories over Mountain View (3-3, 2-1) and Owyhee.
“I feel like we’ve proved that we are the best in the division,” LeBeau said. “This is our division, and we’re ready to take it back. We didn’t get that district ‘ship last year, but we’re ready to take it back this year.”
Ellis Stanley led Owyhee with 133 rushing yards, including a 70-yard touchdown run. And quarterback Colin Foy finished 15-for-24 with 130 yards while running for his own score.
Owyhee closes the season with back-to-back road trips to Boise and Mountain View. While Friday’s loss all but knocks the Storm out of the division title race, Burton said Owyhee has plenty left to play for.
“We’re trying to get to the playoffs and host a playoff game,” Burton said. “We’ve never done that for Owyhee. So everything we want is in front of us.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 12:00 AM.
