‘Being the bigger man.’ Nampa Christian wins OT battle for state title
Most of Nampa Christian’s 17 seniors have been playing football together since the seventh grade.
They found the perfect way to cap off that run.
The sixth-ranked Trojans upended top-ranked Ririe 36-30 in overtime to claim the 3A state championship Saturday at Middleton High School.
It was just the second state championship in program history for the Trojans. Nampa Christian won its other state title in 1981 — years before its coach was born.
“We talked all year, from last spring, about being fifth-quarter strong and that showed right there … that we’re just a good football team,” Nampa Christian coach Daniel Jenkins said. “That’s just what we practiced. That’s what we preached all season, all week, and it was good to see it come to life in overtime.”
Nampa Christian (9-2) led 30-22 after senior running back Ian Johnson’s 2-yard touchdown run with 10:01 remaining in the fourth quarter.
But Ririe (11-1) orchestrated an 80-yard, 16-play drive that took nearly nine minutes off the clock, polishing it off with a 1-yard touchdown run from senior running back Kolter Lewis. Lewis then ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 30-all with 1:25 to play.
The Trojans attempted to give senior kicker Dylan O’Brien a shot at the game-winning field goal, reaching the Ririe 26-yard line with 3 seconds to go. But O’Brien’s 46-yard kick ended up wide left, setting up the overtime showdown.
Ririe won the coin toss and elected to start on defense.
Nampa Christian’s overtime drive, which started on the 10-yard line, went backward on its first two plays after a false start and a 2-yard rushing loss.
But the Trojans would not be denied, getting a 17-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Pete Dice to O’Brien. Nampa Christian’s conversion pass failed, putting the game in the defense’s hands.
While Lewis finished the game with 195 yards on 40 carries, he couldn’t deliver the overtime win for the Bulldogs. The Trojans bottled him up on all four rushing attempts, eventually pushing him out at the 3-yard line on fourth-and-goal from the 7.
That set off the celebration.
“Those teams that just try to pound the ball, it’s just about going down and filling and just being the bigger man and trying to hit them harder than they hit us,” said Johnson, who also plays safety.
Nampa Christian entered halftime trailing 22-16, but Johnson gave the Trojans just the boost they needed.
On Nampa Christian’s first play of the second half, Johnson broke through multiple tackles and ran down the right sideline for a 53-yard touchdown run and a 23-22 advantage. He then scored on the 2-yard run at the start of the fourth, and finished with 154 rushing yards on 16 carries.
Dice completed 12-of-18 passes for 106 yards and also ran for 7 yards and a score. Sophomore Mason Mills added a 70-yard kick return for a score in the second quarter. O’Brien led the receiving game with five catches for 49 yards while nailing a 32-yard field goal just before the halftime buzzer.
Despite giving up 291 yards on the ground to Ririe, Nampa Christian limited the Bulldogs to just two pass completions for 18 yards.
“Us playing all the way from seventh grade all the way up until now has built up that connection,” Dice said. “We can make things click and be able to be state champs.”
1A: CAREY 40, TRI-VALLEY 20
Once Stockton Sears saw open field in front of him, he was gone.
Carey’s senior running back rushed for 292 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Panthers to back-to-back state championships with a victory over Tri-Valley on Saturday at Middleton High School. It marked the ninth state title in program history for the Panthers.
Sears averaged 14.6 yards per carry, reaching the end zone on runs of 39, 6, 60, 77 and 48 yards.
“I think that we had a game plan for him to run the ball,” Tri-Valley coach Tyler Waggoner said. “But there towards the second half, we started getting beaten other ways. So I think our keys were we went a little bit away from him, and then he busted some on us.”
Carey finished with 370 yards on the ground and 467 total yards while holding the Titans to 195 total yards.
Tri-Valley (9-3) scored first Saturday on an 11-yard pass in the end zone from senior quarterback Jace Waggoner to senior Gage George. It would be the first of three touchdown connections for the pair as the Titans took a 14-0 lead with 4:41 left in the second quarter.
George finished with three receptions for 38 yards and added 10 carries for 31 yards. Waggoner went 6-for-11 through the air for 74 yards and three TDs with one interception, and senior fullback Eli Noah led the ground game with 16 carries for 66 yards.
But Sears scored twice for Carey to knot the game at 14-all before halftime, and then scored two more TDs in the third quarter to give the Panthers a 26-14 advantage with 3:19 remaining in the third.
The Titans didn’t give up hope, making it a one-score game — 26-20 with 28 seconds to go in the third quarter — on Waggoner’s 24-yard pass to George.
But Sears closed the door on Tri-Valley’s comeback attempt with a 48-yard TD run with 8:31 on the clock, and quarterback Jonah Saili connected with older brother and tight end Gabe Saili on a 43-yard touchdown pass with 5:09 left for the final margin.
Jonah Saili went 5-for-10 passing for 97 yards without an interception as the Panthers (11-1) went wire-to-wire as the No. 1-ranked team in state media poll.
This story was originally published November 22, 2025 at 7:07 PM.
