Week 2 playoff edition: State semifinal berths on the line
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The first week of playoff football is in the books and 15 area teams are headed into the second round.
Here’s a first look at this week’s matchups.
6A
Rigby comes off a bye and will host North No. 2 seed Post Falls on Friday at 7 p.m.
Post Falls (7-3) is the second-place team out of the Inland Empire League behind Coeur d’Alene and is one of the highest scoring teams in the division at 30.4 points.
The Trojans put up 49 points in last week’s win over Borah.
Rigby (8-1) has won eight straight since a season-opening loss at Coeur d’Alene and has scored 105 points over its past two games.
Madison (9-1) knocked off Capital 42-7 in last week’s postseason opener.
The Bobcats’ lone loss came against conference foe and rival Rigby and they’ll get another good test this week when they travel to Eagle.
Eagle (7-2) is the West’s No. 2 seed and comes off a bye week. The team’s only in-state loss was to No. 1 Rocky Mountain two weeks ago.
Eagle led the Southern Idaho Conference River in scoring at 31.1 points.
5A
The top three teams from the High Country Conference advanced to the second round.
Top seed Skyline had little trouble with Nampa and will face a Twin Falls team that finished second in the Great Basin Conference and beat Lewiston 31-9 last week.
Skyline has a history of success playing in (formerly) Holt Arena and will host the Bruins at 3 p.m. Saturday in the (current) ICCU Dome in Pocatello.
The Grizzlies (8-2) have won seven straight since Sept. 13 when they lost to Madison by a point after missing a late 2-point conversion.
Hillcrest, which finished second to Skyline in the conference, is back in the playoff hunt after reaching the state championship game a year ago.
The Knights host conference foe Blackfoot on Friday at 7 p.m.
Hillcrest beat the Broncos 33-13 during the regular season as Tyson Sweetwood passed for two TDs and Titan Larsen, Porter Collins and Dax Sargent each ran for a score.
4A
Top-seeded and perennial power Sugar-Salem comes off a bye and will play Snake River on Friday at 8:15 p.m. in the ICCU Dome.
The Diggers (6-2) should be well rested for the postseason after playing just one game in the past three weeks.
After a slow start, Snake River (6-4) won the South East Idaho Conference and won six of its past seven games, including a 17-15 win last week over McCall-Donnelly.
American Falls, seeded 11th upset No. 6 seed Moscow in last week’s opener and will hit the road again, this time facing No. 3 Weiser on Saturday at 1 p.m.
American Falls (6-4) was second behind Snake River in the South East Idaho Conference and sports one of the top scoring defenses in the division, giving up 14.2 points. Weiser averages nearly 40 points.
3A
East Idaho has dominated the 3A ranks this season, but this week’s games will thin out the bracket as North Fremont is at Aberdeen and Ririe is at West Side.
The Huskies (6-3) were shut out 29-0 by Aberdeen during the regular season, but beat West Jefferson twice over the past two weeks to earn a playoff spot and a playoff win to get to the second round.
Aberdeen (8-1) actually has four shutouts this season and handled Priest River 42-14 in last week’s playoff opener.
Ririe (7-2) hosted its first playoff game last week and came away with a win over Marsing.
The Bulldogs face third-seeded West side on Friday at 6 p.m. The Pirates (8-1) took care of business last week against Malad, winning the opening-round game 43-0.
West Side’s lone loss was to No. 1 Declo 6-0.
Firth (6-2) won the Nuclear Conference and had a bye last week. The fifth-seeded Cougars will play at No. 4 Grangeville at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Grangeville (6-3) won the Central Idaho League.
2A
Butte County is the No. 1 seed and hosts No. 8 Rimrock Thursday at 5 p.m.
The Pirates (7-1) and Rimrock (6-2) each had byes to open the playoffs, so both will be rejuvenated for the postseason as Butte County looks for a repeat state title after winning its first (1A D1) crown last year.
1A
Rockland (5-3) won the Rocky Mountain Conference and faces a Tri-Valley team (9-1) that is seeded third and comes off a 42-20 win over North Gem.
Tri-Valley’s defense is among the best in 1A at 18 points allowed per game.