Prep football: Weekly notebook
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Sugar-Salem just keeps rolling along
The Diggers ran their win streak to 23 straight with a 65-0 win at Timberlake.
Sugar-Salem put the game out of reach early, taking a 41-0 lead at the half.
The offense racked up nearly 400 yards of offense while the defense stifled Timberlake, holding the Tigers to just 64 total yards.
Quarterback Jack Gardner finished 8 for 10 for 173 yards passing and four touchdowns for the Diggers.
Jack Fleming, Kimball Tonks and Dawson McInelly all topped 50 yards rushing with McInelly scoring twice and also adding a receiving touchdown.
Highland impressive in season-opening win
The new-look Rams had an impressive opener, rallying to defeat Nevada state champion Legacy 21-13.
Highland, without a single starter from last year’s state champion team, scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
Quarterback Keaton Belnap, a transfer from Marsh Valley, tossed touchdown passes to Cedric Mitchell and Zaydin Alo and finished with 134 yards through the air and another 63 yards rushing. Jett Richards also ran for a score.
Sophomore Malakai Mitchell led Highland with nine tackles and junior Hunter Burrell finished eight tackles.
Highland takes on Carson (NEV) Saturday in the Rocky Mountain Rumble at ICCU Arena.
Coeur d’Alene takes down Rigby
In what could be a playoff preview, Coeur d’Alene, No. 1 in the 6A state preseason poll, defeated Rigby 24-14.
Rigby, tied for third in the preseason poll, trailed early but got on the board when Jake Flowers hit Bryson Youngstrom for a 25-yard touchdown in the second quarter to cut the early Vikings lead to 14-7.
Coeur d’Alene took advantage of three interceptions, but Rigby pulled within 21-14 on Amani Morel’s 6-yard run with 8:35 left.
The Trojans would get no closer.
Look ahead
There are a couple of interesting matchups this week.
–In a rematch of the 2A 2020 and 2021 state title games, Firth and West Side will play.
The Pirates and Cougars have traditionally met in the first game of the season, but West Side has dominated the series, winning every year since 2016.
Firth already has a win under its belt having defeated New Plymouth 45-0 on Friday.
–The Rocky Mountain Rumble returns to Pocatello this week as Idaho teams play teams from California, Utah, Nevada and Alaska on Friday and Saturday at the ICCU Arena.
Area teams are on the schedule for Saturday as Skyline takes on the Morgan Trojans (UT) at 10:30 a.m., followed by Highland playing the Carson Senators (NV) at 1:30 p.m. Teton faces the Soldotna Stars (Alaska) at 4:30 p.m. and Rigby plays Wasatch (UT) in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m.
–Coming off a 4A state title game appearance, Hillcrest makes its season debut at Madison on Friday.
Madison, which rolled over Bonneville in last week’s season opener, returns a solid group of seniors while the Knights will have plenty of new faces after graduating 30 seniors.