Notebook: Upsets, playoff positioning, polls. It’s all here
Published at
Here’s a look at what’s happening on the field as we start to move into conference play.
Titans facing tougher schedule
After opening the season with two wins, Thunder Ridge has hit the toughest part of its schedule and suffered losses to Hillcrest and Highland.
Last week’s 37-27 loss to the Rams puts the Titans (2-2, 0-1) in a precarious spot in the conference with Highland, Madison and Rigby combining for a 14-1 record.
The Titans host unbeaten Madison this week.
Speaking of the 6A High Country Conference …
Highland will host Pocatello in a nonconference matchup that never fails to disappoint as one of the area’s top rivalry games.
Looking ahead two weeks and the Rams face Rigby in a game that could determine the conference title and playoff positioning. Unbeaten Madison will have a say in how the conference race plays out, but for now, don’t expect Highland to overlook the rival Thunder, who are 3-1.
Bounce back time for the Knights
A year ago, Hillcrest breezed through the season unbeaten and rolled all the way to the 4A championship game.
Friday’s loss to Skyline means the Knights (2-2, 1-1) will have to find a way to regroup with back-to-back conference game coming up.
“We’re right back into it with two conference games and Shelley gave us all we could handle last year so I would expect nothing different this year,” Hillcrest coach Brennon Mossholder said, noting he’s liked what he’s seen from the team through four games.
“I like how we fly around to the football,” he said. “We have a lot of athletes. Obviously, tonight (against Skyline) penalties hurt us … We were too penalized tonight and we have to coach them better in practice so that doesn’t happen, but if there’s one area for improvement it would probably be that. I like the spot we’re in as we get ready to turn the clock to October.”
Sugar-Salem starts new streak
One look at the 4A standings and 3-2 jumps out. That’s Sugar-Salem’s record after the Diggers suffered their second consecutive loss.
To put that in perspective, Sugar-Salem had won 25 straight games before losing two weeks ago to Star Valley (WY).
Friday it was a 17-14 loss to Kimberly that featured a wild fourth quarter.
The Diggers, who are typically among the highest scoring teams in 4A, led 7-0 entering the fourth quarter before Kimberly tied it up. The Bulldogs took the lead on another scoring pass with 8:52 left.
Sugar-Salem’s Jack Gardner hit Hank Carter for a 42-yard touchdown with 2:14 left to tie the game at 14-14.
That was enough time for the Bulldogs to put together a 12-play, 67-yard drive down into Diggers’ territory where Eduardo Paz nailed a 30-yard field goal as time expired.
The last time Sugar-Salem lost two games in a row was in 2021 when the Diggers opened the season with losses to Morgan (UT) and Shelley.
They won the next eight games to advance to the state title game where they lost in overtime to Weiser.
Sugar-Salem has a bye this week.
Aberdeen’s defense continues to shine
The Tigers shut down a potent Ririe rushing attack last week and get a week off for a bye before facing another Nuclear Conference foe in North Fremont.
How’s this for a matchup?
The Huskies average more than 42 points per game and give up just 9.5. The only team better in 3A at scoring defense is Aberdeen at 8.0.
Coaches’ polls
Last week’s poll had Sugar-Salem No. 2 behind Homedale. How far do the Diggers drop this week?
In 3A, coaches had West Side No. 1, but Aberdeen and North Fremont, at No. 2 and 3, respectively, each received a fist-place vote. Will they receive more votes this week?