District 5 round-one recap: Highland advances; Grace, Preston, Aberdeen, Pocatello eliminated

EASTERN IDAHO — Preston and Grace both took early exits from the Idaho High School Football State Championships with losses Friday night. Pocatello and Aberdeen joined them after going down on Saturday.

Of the five District 5 teams to play in the first round of the state tournament, only the Highland Rams earned a quarterfinal spot with a victory — and they did it in impressive fashion.

Here is what happened involving D5 teams in the opening round of the state tournament:

Highland hands Lake City a beatdown

The No. 5 Rams (5-5) righted their ship during the regular season against Lake City (6-4) on Sept. 18, when they beat the Timberwolves 36-0 for their first win of the season.

Highland nearly matched that performance Saturday afternoon at Highland High School, when senior quarterback Jacob Vincent led the Rams to a 31-0 win. Vincent completed 78% of his pass attempts (14-of-18) for 164 yards and three touchdowns — two of which going to senior wideout Steele Hoopes.

RELATED | Highland gets 3 TDs from Vincent, cruises past Lake City into quarterfinals

Senior Cedric Mitchell also did his part, tallying 157 yards of total offense. And junior placekicker Bridger Hanks was perfect on the day, including a 47-yard field goal for the first points of the game.

But it was the defense that shone brightest, shutting Lake City out for the second time this season. Senior safety Brody Jones the game’s only takeaway with a second-quarter interception, to go with a sack from senior defensive end Jaxson Collard.

The Rams have now gone nine straight quarters without allowing a point, last surrendering an opponent’s score in the third quarter of their 21-18 loss to Rigby on Oct. 16.

Highland advances to take on No. 4 Eagle (6-3) Friday night at Eagle High School.

Aberdeen falls short of quarterfinals for first time in 5 years

For the first time since 2021, the Aberdeen Tigers will not play in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

The Tigers (5-5) bowed out of the tournament Friday after losing 28-14 to Grangeville (9-1) at Grangeville High School.

Grace goes down at Raft River

The Grace Grizzlies (3-7) got 197 passing yards and three touchdowns from junior quarterback Kade Kimball, to go with 230 total yards and two scores from sophomore running back Tate Stoddard. But that wasn’t enough to upset the Raft River Trojans (9-1).

Grace held an 8-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but allowed 50 points in the final 12 minutes — though the Grizzlies scored 29 of their own in an incredibly high-scoring period.

Poky stumbles up north

The Pocatello Thunder (3-7) allowed 30-plus points for just the second time in their final six games of the season Friday, going down 13-31 at Lewiston (5-5).

Junior quarterback Rhev Stucki completed 17 of his 31 pass attempts for 189 yards and two scores in the loss.

Preston drops a shootout with South Fremont

Preston (4-5) was on the road to face South Fremont (7-3) in an all-eastern Idaho showdown featuring two of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the state.

Carter Perry and Cy Hill did not disappoint, accounting for nine combined touchdowns in a 35-34 Cougar victory.

Preston’s senior signal-caller threw for 170 yards and ran for another 253 yards and four rushing scores. Perry finished the season with 1,839 yards and 16 touchdowns through the air, and another 1,148 yards and 16 scores on the ground.

Hill racked up 155 yards and a score in the air and 176 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

Rockland (9-0) and West Side (9-0) will join Highland in action this week after taking a hard-earned bye in round one.