Sophomore helps carry on tradition of Trojan success; continues family tradition along the way
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RIGBY — The Rigby football program has developed a reputation for excellence. Under coach Armando Gonzalez, the Trojans have won four of the last six state championships.
Part of that recent run off success has been the name Adolpho.
Many eastern Idaho football fans may remember quarterback Tiger Adolpho, who drove Rigby to the 2021 state title. Many of those same fans may remember his younger brother Tucson, a linebacker on that 2021 team who returned to win his second championship in 2022.
This season, among the boys who held Rigby’s dominating defense together from within was Irie Adolpho — the youngest of three brothers.
VIDEO : Irie Adolpho’s sophomore season highlights
As a sophomore, Irie manned the middle of the defensive line. The starting nose tackle understood from the beginning that his job wasn’t take reap glory by way of quarterback sacks and tackles for loss, his job was to eat up blocks and free space for his teammates to make those plays.
Anyone who watched their share of Rigby games this season saw how capable he was of doing exactly that. And sure, he would have loved to have made more of a statistical impact, but for him, it has always been about winning.
“I just create gaps for others when I can,” Irie told EastIdahoNews.com. “Knowing that I’m just going to be getting eaten by two people frustrates me, but if we get that win it’s nothing but good vibes.”
Even being blocked by two, and sometimes three, on most every down, the youngster still found a way to make a few plays. In the state championship game alone, he recorded three tackles for loss as the Trojans bottled up one of the best running teams in the state, Eagle, in the second half.
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Now, Irie has matched his oldest brother, Tiger who is currently a member of the Weber State football team, with one ring. And his goal is to match Tucson with No. 2 next season.
The Adolpho football lineage is deep. The brothers’ father, Rick, played at Rick’s College. And their grandfather, Wally Molifua, played at BYU.
Now, all three have been parts of three Rigby state titles, and Irie can see, several years down the road, sitting around with his brothers comparing championship rings.
“It’s exciting, to have a state championship ring like them,” Irie said. “I’m super-proud. Those two have been the main ones pushing me to become who I am.”
Despite his already have found a way to influence his team’s victories, Irie has plans to do even more when football returns next fall.
Following one week off to enjoy some rest, and Thanksgiving break with his family, Irie has returned to the lab. He is back in the gym, as are all next season’s returning Trojans.
But Irie is also working on his skillset on the offensive side of the ball. His goal is to become as integral a part of the Rigby offensive line as he already has been on the defensive line.
At 6-foot, 250 pounds and growing, Irie understands the amount of work it will take to achieve the level of fitness it will take to be an ironman player — play on both sides of the ball. But he is ready to put in that work.
“It takes a lot of work, yeah, but I fell in love with it and really haven’t lost that love working day in and day out,” he said.
Irie considers it an “honor” to play for “truly amazing” coaches, the best in the state, in his opinion. The way he sees it, his job is to make himself the best player he can be and give everything he has to his team, and let those coaches decide how to best use him and his talents.
That worked out this year for Irie’s close friend and teammate, Feki Pouha, who last week was named the 6A District 5-6 Football Player of the Year playing linemen on both sides of the ball.
With the individual success, Irie believes, the team success will come.
He said that his team will need to trust its coaches next season, and lean into “the process” those coaches have laid out in order to win another state crown. He expects they will have the same goals “Coach G” has put before his teams in years past.
“Beating the team up north (Madison), winning our district and winning in the playoffs. … If we hit our goals it’s just, have fun from there,” Irie said.