Prep football: Idaho powers flex muscle against out-of-state Rumble competition
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POCATELLO — There is no denying that Coeur d’Alene, Highland and Rigby are among the state’s elite high school football programs. That trio showed out this weekend, dominating the competition at the Rocky Mountain Rumble.
The Rumble, organized by former Highland football head coach Gino Mariani, pits Idaho’s top football teams against schools from Alaska, California, Nevada and Utah during a two-day event at Idaho State University’s ICCU Dome.
This year’s installment saw the Coeur d’Alene Vikings beat the Shadow Ridge (NV) Mustangs, 31-7, Friday afternoon. Then, on Saturday afternoon, the Highland Rams bested the Carson (NV) Senators 22-7. And finally, the weekend finished with the Rigby Trojans topping the Wasatch (UT) Wasps 48-27.
Shadow Ridge had been 1-0 and the No. 8-ranked team in Nevada — a few spots ahead of the the reigning state champ Legacy Longhorns, who lost to Highland a week prior. Carson had been 2-0 and actually moved up in the Nevada state rankings (via Max Preps) with their loss to the Rams. Wasatch was 1-1 before their loss to the Trojans.
Rigby head coach Armando Gonzalez said after the game that he was pleased with his team’ improvement, coming off a loss in Coeur d’Alene one week earlier, but needs to see more if his team is going to compete for a state 6A title.
“Right now, the truth is, we’re an undisciplined football team that has a lot of talent,” he said. “We’ve got to fix that, or we’re not going to go very far down the stretch.”
Highland, who came alive late to leave Las Vegas with a big season-open victory over Legacy, did so again, scoring 15 points in the closing minutes of their Rumble victory.
“It definitely wasn’t pretty,” said Nick Sorrell, head coach of the reigning Idaho 6A state champs after the game. “But we preach being a fourth-quarter, second-half team all the way through the summer and through fall camp, and you look at the last two games we’ve won the game in the fourth quarter. We don’t give up, even when things are really tough and we’re shooting ourselves in the foot, they’re finding a way.”
Also taking part in the Rumble was Mountain View, who beat Wood Cross (UT) 24-21. Teton, Skyline and Kimberly each loss their Rumble games — 35-7 to Soldotna (AK), 26-20 to Morgan (UT) and 28-14 to Sutter Union (CA), respectively.
Sugar-Salem was originally slated to play Sutter Union but was removed from the schedule last month. They instead improved to 2-0 behind a 41-6 beatdown at Snake River.
Along with CDA (who entered the week as the state’s top-ranked 6A team), Highland (No. 4) and Rigby (No. 5), Idaho’s top five teams entering Week 1 was rounded out by Rocky Mountain (No. 2) and Eagle (No. 3).
Rocky Mountain beat Kuna, 53-14, in Homedale, while Eagle went into Meridian and came away with a 28-13 victory.
So, while fellow Idaho football powers impressed during the first full-slate weekend, Coeur d’Alene, Highland and Rigby did so while sending teams back to neighboring states with wounds to lick.
