Ririe runs away with 38-14 conference win at North Fremont
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ASHTON – The craziness among 3A teams in eastern Idaho continues.
But in a good way.
The Nuclear Conference should be well represented when the state playoff bracket is released after next week, and that bracket is going to include Ririe.
Based on a No. 5 ranking by MaxPreps and their conference record, the Bulldogs likely already had their postseason ticket punched, but they spiced things up a bit with a convincing 38-14 win Friday at North Fremont.
The victory puts Ririe (5-2, 2-1) in sole possession of second place in the conference with the regular-season finale next week against Salmon, which is winless in conference.
It was a typical Bulldog performance as the brutal running game kept the Huskies defense on its toes all night.
Rafe Newton ran for 128 yards and two scores, and Kolter Lewis accounted for 96 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and even added a touchdown reception as the Bulldogs snuck in a pass play with seven seconds left in the half.
“All year we’ve had Kolter and Rafe competing with each other for yardage and it’s tough when you can run one kid to the right who has 780 yards and run a kid to the left who has 830 yards,” Ririe coach Josh Huntsman said of his team’s dual threat backfield. “We knew they were going to try to take away one of them, and if they were going to take away one, we were going to run the other.”
That was the case Friday as Newton scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter and Lewis scampered for a 10-yard score early in the second quarter.
North Fremont (4-3, 1-2) responded with a rushing touchdown by Andrew Martin in the second quarter, but the Lewis touchdown catch from Breylon Moon with seven second left in the half proved too much to overcome.
Martin busted loose for a 53-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, but the Ririe defense was otherwise solid and held down the Huskies run game.
The loss was the second in a row for North Fremont, but the Huskies shouldn’t have any issues with a playoff bid based on a No. 6 ranking by MaxPreps.
They’ll face a West Jefferson team next week that is also 1-2 in conference and 4-3 overall and has its sights set on a playoff berth.
The two 3A conferences in east Idaho are loaded, with the top seven ranked teams on MaxPreps all from the Nuclear and South East Idaho Conference.
Even so, Huntsman noted, the Bulldogs have seemingly been the underdogs all season. Friday’s win could change that.
A strong finish with a win over Salmon next week should put Ririe in position to host a playoff game for the first time in program history.
But the underdog theme might linger. At least as a motivational tool.
“They wanted to come out and prove they can play football too,” Huntsman said. “Ririe’s been down for a long time and this is a good group of kids and they have done a fantastic job bringing Ririe football to prominence.”