Recap: Less than a month into the season, reigning state champs continue to reign

EASTERN IDAHO – East Idaho teams won four state titles last year.

Is it too early in the season to talk about repeat winners?

Nope.

Rigby, defending 6A champion, is 3-0 with an impressive win over state rival Coeur d’Alene, and then back-to-back wins over Utah teams Woods Cross and Syracuse in dramatic fashion.

In 5A, Hillcrest is 2-0, with wins over 6A Madison and a convincing win over Bonneville in last week’s Civil War rivalry game.

Sugar-Salem continues to dominate 4A and even added a 5A win last week with a 28-14 win over former rival Shelley to improve to 3-0.

The most competitive classification last season was 3A, especially in east Idaho, where West Side held off conference foes from the South East Idaho Conference and the Nuclear Conference to win the state title.

Not much has changed this year as every team in the SEIC has at least one loss, including West Side, which fell 34-30 last week at South Fremont.

Declo knocked off Aberdeen 21-14 last week in the teams’ conference opener.

Meanwhile in the Nuclear Conference, North Fremont (3-0), Ririe (3-0) and West Jefferson (2-0) are all unbeaten.

Titans off to strong start

The 6A High Country Conference has been ruled by Rigby and Highland, which have combined to win six of the past eight state titles.

This year, Thunder Ridge is off to a 2-0 start and leads the conference in scoring (43.0 points) and defense (10.5 points).

It that sounds familiar it’s because the Titans started 2-0 last season, also with wins against Idaho Falls and Centennial, but then hit the brutal part of their schedule and lost five straight.

The next two weeks will prove a good test for the Titans as they face 5A champion Hillcrest and then 6A power Highland.

Relatively close losses to the Knights and Rams last season was the beginning of Thunder Ridge’s slide.

Coach Michael Berger said prior to the season that the focus this year was for the Titans to finish strong in close games.

Watch for that mentality the next two weeks.

Diggers keep rolling

Sugar-Salem improved to 3-0 this year and has won nine straight dating back to last season.

Over that span, Sugar-Salem has averaged nearly 41 points per game, despite turning over its roster from a year ago.

Quarterback Frank Fillmore passed for a touchdown and ran for two more scores in last week’s win over Shelley.

Speaking of win streaks, it was Star Valley (Wy) and Kimberly that last beat Sugar-Salem in back-to-back games last year before the Diggers closed out the season with six-straight wins on the way to the state title.

Next up for Sugar-Salem this year?

At Star Valley on Friday and at Kimberly next week.

Stats and stuff

Here’s a look at area players on the state top-5 leaderboard (among teams reporting stats).

-Kolter Lewis of Ririe is second in rushing with 480 yards and leads the state with seven touchdowns.

-Andrew Martin of North Fremont is fifth in rushing with 358 yards.

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

-Kaden Andersen of Bear Lake is fourth in receiving yards with 270.

-Kaine Rodriguez of Bonneville is fifth in receiving yards with 265.

-Cedric Mitchell of Highland is fifth in points with 36.

-Beau Ringel of Firth is fourth in total tackles with 32.

-Cooper Brown of Ririe is tied for the state lead in interceptions with four.