Recap: Big weekend at the Rocky Mountain Rumble doesn’t disappoint

EASTERN IDAHO – The Rocky Mountain Rumble at the ICCU Dome in Pocatello has become a must-see, early-season favorite for football fans.

Sure, the outcomes don’t have the impact of a conference game later in the season, but bragging rights are on the line as Idaho teams face Utah and Nevada opponents and the competition is fierce over the two days.

Some highlights:

The Saturday finale between Rigby and Woods Cross (UT) wins the award for most dramatic finish so far.

The Trojans’ Cannon Korth blocked a potential game-winning field goal with 14 seconds left. The ball was picked up by Kobe Walker and returned to the 33-yard line.

Rigby had time enough for one play and Jacob Flowers tossed a perfect pass into the arms of Evan Freeman sprinting down the left side for the winning touchdown with zeros on the clock.

Rigby improves to 2-0 with the 33-27 win.

Video of winning plays posted by Derek Belnap.

Rigby TD. Posted by Derek Belnap.

Skyline and Highland with impressive wins

The Grizzlies and Rams both may be chasing state champions Hillcrest and Rigby, respectively, in their own conferences, but the Rocky Mountain Rumble was a good weekend to test themselves against out-of-state teams.

Cedric Mitchell led Highland with seven carries for 140 yards and three scores in a 35-13 victory over the Sports Leadership and Management academy out of Nevada.

The game was stopped early due to a serious injury to a SLAM player.

Skyline’s offense is still a work in progress, coach Scott Berger noted after the Grizzlies opened their season with a 9-6 win over Granger (UT).

Junior quarterbacks Cooper Thomas and John Giannini both played Saturday.

Berger said the QB competition will continue until someone separates themselves as the starter.

Let ‘em play

As noted by Kalama Hine’s Sunday column, sometimes the final score is not that important.

Sho-Ban lost to Rockland 58-0 in an 8-man showdown on Friday.

It was the first game for the Sho-Ban program since 2019. Only one current player has any experience playing organized football.

Didn’t matter.

“We may be a small community, but we’re a big family,” Sho-Ban coach Lawrence Nai told East Idaho Sports.

2A start

The eventual High Desert Conference showdown between Butte County and Grace isn’t until Oct. 24, so two weeks into the season is probably too early to gauge, but …

Grace is 2-0.

Butte County is 0-2.

The conference winner earns an automatic bid to the playoffs, so that one game is the most important of the season.

No one is celebrating or panicking after two games.

Butte County, which has reached the last two state title games, has a brutal schedule that included Kendrick, the reigning state champion, in the opener, and then Valley, which was ranked in the state media poll top 5.

The Pirates, which have been successful because they have great balance on both sides of the ball, have been outscored 122-16 in the losses.

Things won’t get much easier going forward, with every remaining team on the schedule either ranked or a playoff team from a year ago.

Grace, under first-year head coach Travis Draper, has been impressive in wins over Oakley and Raft River.

The team has given up just six points in each game, with Carter Kimball leading the team with eight tackles per game. Parker Yost is averaging 6.0 and Cooper Andersen averaging 5.5 tackles. Gavin Draper has two interceptions.

Stats and stuff

After two weeks, here are the eastern Idaho players ranked in state stats (based on schools that reported).

-Teton’s Luke Nelson is second in passing yards with 459

-Ririe’s Kolter Lewis is second in rushing with 348 yards and Nelson is third with 320 yards.

-Drew Moss of Teton is second in receiving yards with 279.

-Cedric Maxwell of Highland is second in scoring with 36 points and first in touchdowns with six.

-Ririe’s Cooper Brown leads the state with four interceptions.