Hillcrest shows they’re no one’s ‘little brother’ in dominating Skyline to earn 5A banner

POCATELLO — A win head-to-head earlier this season plus a history of success equated to a very confident Skyline team leading up to Friday’s 5A State Championship game against conference rival Hillcrest.

According to junior linebacker Ryan Mecham, someone — or multiple someones — made comments on social media about, among other things, the Knights being Skyline’s “little brother.” That comment made its way onto a whiteboard inside the Hillcrest weight room.

“We came in prepared,” Mecham said after the game. “They thought they could beat us, they were talking a lot all over social, saying that they’re our ‘big brother.’ But we really proved what’s going on here.”

Led by a dominant defensive effort, of which Mecham was a huge part, Hillcrest smothered the Grizzlies, earning a 31-8 victory and the Knights’ first football championship since 2018.

Head coach Brennon Mossholder was confident in his team, but didn’t expect the performance they gave.

“I never in a million years thought that would be the final score,” Mossholder said. “But the way executed in all three phases was pretty dang impressive.”

Mecham wasted no time before making his first impact play of the game, when he intercepted the second pass attempt of the night from Skyline quarterback CarMyne Garcia. Barely two minutes into a game that started with a Grizzlies possession, Hillcrest had the ball in the redzone.

The Knights turned that takeaway into a 7-0 lead when quarterback Tyson Sweetwood hit wide receiver Maddox Sandoval for an eight-yard touchdown.

On the ensuing possession, head coach Scott Berger showed supreme confidence in his offense and senior QB, leaving them on the field for a fourth and 2 from their own 28-yard line. Garcia dropped a perfect over-the-shoulder pass to running back Zyan Crockett for seven yards and a new set of downs.

But six plays later, a second fourth down attempt was unsuccessful and Hillcrest once again took possession in Skyline territory. Garcia was sacked on fourth down by the player of the game — Mecham.

This time, the Grizzly defense held forcing a 33-yard Rylan Borgmann field goal.

The score sat at 10-0 until, in the closing minutes of the first half, Skyline put together a drive that seemed to change to flow of the game.

Taking over, following a perfect Borgmann punt, on their own 4-yard line, Skyline methodically marched 96 yards before Crockett crossed the goalline. The junior followed up the touchdown by crashing through the Hillcrest defense for a two-point conversion.

It appeared to be a brand new game — a 10-8 nail-biter entering halftime. But the second half was dominated by the Knights.

Things started off wrong for Skyline, who attempted an onside kick but saw the ball got to Hillcrest without a play as it failed to travel the requisite 10 yards.

Sweetwood led a short 42-yard touchdown drive, capping it off with a one-yard scoring run.

The Grizzlies were against stuffed by the Knight defense and had to punt their next possession away. Aided by an excellent leaping grab from senior wideout Mason Saunders, Sweetwood capped another drive with a short scoring run to give Hillcrest a 24-8 lead with just over a minute left in the third.

Still, Skyline didn’t feel like they were out of the game. Even after Garcia was picked off again, this time by a diving Sandoval, the Grizz made a play and took possession right back recovering a Sweetwood fumble.

Skyline began the fourth quarter trailing by 16, but with the ball in the redzone.

That was when Mecham all but iced the game for his squad.

The linebackers jumped a crossing route on the goalline and snagged his second interception of the night. This time, he was off to the races and into the open field. But a hustling Daxton Perkins ran Mecham down after 94 yards.

“It was bad. I’ve just got to unhook the trailer a little bit,” Mecham said of being chased down by the 6-foot-7, 225-pound offensive tackle.

Mossholder had another opinion of Mecham’s night, and the effort that led to it.

“Ryan is a kid that has developed over the last three years,” the coach said. “He didn’t even start for us at the beginning of this year. We challenged him to work his butt off and he did, and it paid off big tonight.”

Hillcrest put seven more points on the board anyway, when Dax Sargent scored from six yards out on the next play.

Mecham told EastIdahoNews.com after the game that he entered the night having not intercepted a pass all season. He finished his big night with two interceptions and one sack.

After the game was finish he reflected on that “little brother” comment he saw daily.

“I looked at it every day,” he said. “I looked at it and said, ‘No, they’re not (our big brother).’ I went out and proved it.”

Mossholder was a bit more subdued when discussing the Skyline comments that became bulletin board material, admitting that anytime the opponent talks negatively it adds motivation.

“But I don’t think anything can top the felling of a state championship, regardless of who it is,” he said.

He chose instead to talk about the effort of his defense:

“I can’t say enough about our defense, how they flew around in forcing those turnovers.”

Since trailing Lakeland 21-7 entering halftime of last week’s semifinals, the Hillcrest defense allowed 15 points over their final six quarters of the season.

“I knew we were playing good. I didn’t know we were playing that good,” Mossholder said upon learning of that defensive dominance.

As far as his offense, Mossholder was proud of the way it got the job done on a night when Skyline appeared to have constructed a solid defensive gameplan.

“When we needed big plays, we made them,” Mossholder said.

It wasn’t the Hillcrest offense’s most efficient night — perhaps because they were given so many short fields.

Sweetwood completed 10 of 15 pass attempts for 81 yards and one touchdown, adding 56 yards and two scores on 11 carries. Sargent contributed 54 yards and one score on his seven carries.

In a losing effort, Skyline’s Crockett made several diving catches and explosive runs, piling up 151 receiving yards on nine catches and 31 rushing yards on eight carries — including the Grizzlies’ only score.