3A roundup: West Side and Declo advance to the championship game with impressive semifinal wins
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POCATELLO – The 3A championship game is set after Declo and West Side survived Saturday’s semifinals.
It was a tough ending for Firth and Aberdeen, respectively, but the Cougars and Tigers each received third-place trophies.
West Side too much for Aberdeen
As competitive as the 3A division is in east Idaho, there really is just one standard.
West Side has won four of last five state titles and put itself in position to add another with Saturday’s 29-0 semifinal win over Aberdeen.
The Pirates (9-1) will face conference nemesis Declo in the 3A title game Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the ICCU Dome.
West Side jumped out to a 22-0 lead at the half against an Aberdeen team that had given up just seven points per game.
Jaden Fuller hit Cooper Millburn for the first score of the game early in the second quarter and then scampered for a 32-yard touchdown on the next possession.
Crew Sage scored from a yard out with 23 seconds left in the half to extend the lead.
Aberdeen’s defense had no answers for the West Side duo of Crew Sage and Drake Sage who combined for 31 carries and 109 yards.
It wasn’t the big plays, but a constant barrage of four and five-yard gains that tested Aberdeen’s defense. Add in the efficient passing game of Fuller, who finished 8 of 10 for 101 yards, and it proved a long night for Aberdeen (9-2), which handed West Side its lone loss of the regular season.
West Side coach Tyson Moser credited his team’s experience under the spotlight and the high expectations that come with a powerhouse program that’s expected to shine every week.
“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” Moser said. “It goes both ways. Sometimes you get a sense that the kids are a little too complacent. They’ve won too much, and I think we’ve dealt with that at some point this year. We weren’t playing very well about a month ago … Not hungry enough. These kids, these seniors, have overcome it and when you get to this point in the playoffs and you’ve been in the big game they’re just not going to buckle under pressure.”
Aberdeen was held to 101 total yards.
Declo stands in the way of another West Side title. The Hornets beat West Side 6-0 during the regular season.
Top-seeded Declo knocks out Firth
Firth entered Saturday’s semifinal against top-seeded Declo knowing the Hornets had the best defense in all of 3A, giving up a just 6.3 points per game.
The Cougars (7-3) actually topped that in the first quarter when Darrell Vasquez sprinted around the right side and dove for a 6-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
That seemed to help overcome a disastrous start when Firth turned the ball over on its first play and the Hornets were in the end zone one play later.
The 7-7 score seemed to settle the Cougars down, but unfortunately for Firth, the Declo defense was true to its reputation for the rest of the game and the offense was able to pound out yardage with its running game on the way to a 28-7 win.
Afterward, Firth coach Rigo Vasquez talked about the program’s recent success, with a talented senior class leaving with two runners-up and a third-place trophy.
“We’ve been fortunate,” he said, noting there were plenty of other teams that would love to just be playing in the state playoffs.
That fortune was evident early as Firth, still reeling from Declo’s early score, put together a 17-play drive and marched downfield to tie the game.
“It’s still a long ballgame,” Rigo Vasquez said. “Anything can happen at this point.”
But the rest of the game belonged to Declo (10-1) which controlled to tempo and Firth was unable to break through after that first score.