Ever wanted to relive your football glory? The East Idaho Wolfpack have a tryout for you
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IDAHO FALLS — There is no denying that eastern Idaho is a hotbed of football talent. But what happens when today’s high school stars are done playing under the lights on Friday nights? There is one option: the East Idaho Wolfpack.
The Wolfpack, an adult football team, has been in operation since 2019, as members of the Mountain West Football League (MWFL).
Matthew Diviesti, the team’s founder and co-owner, said he played on a similar team in Colorado. Then, after moving back to Idaho, he played for the Blackfoot Anarchy then Idaho Falls Mustangs, but decided he wanted to combine his own ideas about how a team should operate with the talent pool available in this area.
“I recognized that there was talent in east Idaho, with all of these programs like Rigby and other high schools that are producing very good (players) … I felt like we could build something out, here,” Diviesti said.
In five years, the Wolfpack have won a pair of division titles — in 2022 and 2024.
Before launching into another season of spring football, the Wolfpack will hold the first of two open tryouts on Oct. 5. Participants must pay a $15 tryout fee for the event, which will begin at 4:30 p.m. at Skyline High School.
As Diviesti explained, the tryout will be similar to the NFL combine, with the athletic ability of prospective players being measure through a series of drills. There will also be a 7-on-7 scrimmage to determine players’ football skills.
Players who make the team during this fall tryout will be part of the squad that plays in a fall bowl game before carrying on to the spring tryout and season — when the Wolfpack will play against fellow MWFL teams from Idaho, Montana and Utah.
The league — and team — welcome all players 18 or older. Before the Mustangs folded in 2022, Diviesti said, they had a player in his 60s. Currently, there are some players in the league in their 50s.
And because the players are adults, many of whom have their own families, Diviesti added, the Wolfpack are as much about developing friendships and camaraderie as they are about playing football.
“We’re always constantly doing stuff together,” he said. “A lot of our guys help each other out.”
For more information about the Wolfpack or the Oct. 5 tryout, visit the team’s Facebook page — here.