Duenes, Morel run roughshod through Eagle as Rigby returns to football mountain top

BOISE — Rigby began the season with massive expectations. As head coach Armando Gonzalez noted, his team earned those expectations — having won three championships in five season coming into the year.

The Trojans’ 2024 expectations took a hit when they began the season with a 24-14 loss at Coeur d’Alene.

But after dominating Saturday’s second half, working around a 35-minute lighting strike delay, Rigby delivered on those expectations with a 41-21 over Eagle — the team that knocked them out of last year’s playoffs — to earn their fourth banner in six years.

All year long, it was the running back duo of Jerzey Duenes and Amani Morel, along with a stingy defense, that carried the Trojans. It was no different Saturday as Duenes, a senior, carried the ball 22 times for 191 yards and a touchdown. Morel, a junior, added 116 yards and two scores on 11 attempts.

“They carried us to this point,” Gonzalez said after the game. “Why go anywhere else?”

Duenes made his impact early, taking the ball on the first five plays of the game. He charged forward for 69 yards to set up a touchdown pass from Jake Flowers to Kasyn Thomas for the game’s first score.

Eagle kick returner Aaron Zrno nearly broke the ensuing kickoff, getting the ball out to the 37-yard line.

But a promising start to the drive was followed by a penalty and sack, by Gaige Jones, setting up an Eagle punt.

And things got even worse from there, for the Mustangs.

Tayden Outhenthapanya busted through to block the punt, and Quinn Bennett scooped the loose bal, prancing five yards into the endzone for the special teams score.

Once again, Zrbo put Eagle in good position — at the 43 — with a big return. On both returns, big runbacks were overshadowed by the fact that there was an opening for even more on both.

The Trojan defense once again held strong, forcing a punt.

After a fourth down stop, the Eagle offense put together its first productive drive of the game, leaning on senior running back Noah Burnham before finishing with a 27-yard touchdown toss from Austin Ramsey to Cole Brooks.

The game went into the halftime break with Rigby leading, 13-7.

But Zrbo was back at it quickly, opening the second half with a 92-yard kick return touchdown to give Eagle its first advantage of the day — 14-13.

Gonzalez said that the lanes were created by his kickers putting the ball in the middle of the field. “Nobody in America” wants to defend all 53 yards — the width of the field — he said. When they began forcing Zrbo to field kicks outside of the hash, his big returns stopped.

“It’s a pretty simple recipe,” Gonzalez said.

Rigby reclaimed the lead on a Morel three-yard TD run. But the Mustangs took it back on a Burnham one-yard score in the closing seconds of the third.

Morel was back to work to start the fourth quarter, busting what appeared to be a 70-yard touchdown run up the right sideline. But he was ruled to have stepped out of bounds at the Eagle 39 — for a 31-yard gain.

Then, it was announced over the Albertsons Stadium PA system that the game was being sent into a weather delay with lightning strikes spotted nearby.

For 35 minutes, players, coaches and officials were kept in locker rooms, and fans were asked to seek shelter under the stadium overhangs.

Gonzalez told the team during the break that the game was theirs, because they have worked all year to be prepared for anything — weather, difficult opponents, tough circumstances.

“Part of the ‘Red Devil’ mystique, I guess, is that we will be the most mentally and emotionally tough team at this stage of the season,” he said. “There’s a lot of talent, but it’s not about talent anymore.”

Duenes confirmed that his coach told him and his teammates that, entering the firth quarter trailing, the game was theirs for the taking.

“We went in there and we knew we were going to have to come out and fight,” Duenes said.

Three plays out of the delay, Flowers hit Parker Graham for 25 yards and his second touchdown pass of the day.

“I just knew, the longer this game went, the more it was going to tilt into our favor,” Gonzalez said.

From there, it was all Trojans. Including the go-ahead touchdown, Rigby scored 22 unanswered points in the fourth, including a 20-yard gallop from Duenes and a 30-yarder from Morel.

Morel, who played at Skyline last season, said he has grown a lot as a player in his first season as a Trojan.

“I’m proud of myself,” he said. “I’m proud of what I’ve become this season. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without God, and all my teammates and coaches who helped me get here. It’s just a blessing.”

Duenes, who directed the credit to his offensive linemen, called learning of Morel’s intent to transfer and join him in the backfield “one of the hardest things” he had to go through as a football player.

He was concerned what the move would do to his playing time, to his workload. But he quickly learned the two could be great together — unstoppable, perhaps.

Burnham, who has been near-unstoppable all season, was slowed by the Rigby defense. The senior carried the ball 30 times Saturday for an inefficient 111 yards and one score.

The goal, Gonzalez said, was to slow Eagle’s potent run game. He knew that if his defense could force the Mustangs to pass, “they would struggle,” he said.

Rigby celebrated its fourth championship in six seasons. But, as Gonzalez said after the game, it’s not about the banners and trophies. The measure of his program is growth, and the slogan he brought with him when he was named the head coach — “Sharpen the axe.”

“What’s that mean? That’s about the process,” he said. … “It’s about falling in love with that process. There’s pain along the way, but you’ve got to learn from it.”

Gonzalez knows that as much as all his players love playing football and battled for the right to play one more game, many of them will never put pads on again.

“Hopefully, they took some lessons from us,” he said.

But the future is bright for the newly crowned 2024 6A champs. Though they will lose several key players, others, like Morel and Flowers, will be back for another run next season.

Morel said after the game that the team’s three goals — to win their conference, their district and the state championship — will be the same in 2025.

“We’re going to lose some good guys,” he said. … “But, you know, we’ll be fine — our coaches have always found a way to get it done. Going into next season, we’re going to have the same mindset.