‘Red Devils’ trying to make it 5 banners in 7 years

Correction: A previous version of this story did not include information about an injury suffered by Timberline quarterback Jack Brant. This story has been updated to include his season-ending injury.

POCATELLO — Several different teams spent time at the top of this season’s 6A state media football rankings. The Rigby Trojans, who spent several weeks at No. 1, were knocked down a peg, to No. 2, by the Timberline Wolves in the final poll of the season.

Now, those two teams will decide who belongs at the top in the only fitting way there is — between the white lines.

The Wolves (10-1, 4-1) will face the Trojans (10-1, 3-0), who go by the nickname the “Red Devils” once the playoffs start, Saturday afternoon at Idaho State University’s ICCU Dome in Pocatello. Kick is scheduled for 4 p.m., but being the second game of the day in the dome, the 6A championship will start after the conclusion of the 4A title game between Homedale and Kimberly, which is slated to start at 1 p.m.

Following a comparatively slow start to the season, which included close games against Woods Cross (UT) and Syracuse (UT), and a loss to 5A Bishop Kelly, head coach Armando Gonzalez has returned the team to its dominant ways.

Rigby won its three conference games by 80 combined points — though Madison kept it competitive in a 23-19 loss. And they have kept things running on all cylinders in the playoffs, beating Mountain View by two scores (42-28) and Rocky Mountain by three (40-21).

It is no secret how Gonzalez’s guys want this game played.

Offensively, they will pound the rock with senior Amani Morel, who scored six touchdowns in last week’s semifinal win, but are not afraid to let senior quarterback Jacob Flowers take over at any point.

Defensively, the Trojans have not been as consistently dominant this season as they have in recent years, but it is a ball-hawking unit capable of making big plays when they have been needed — like the Cannon Korth blocked field goal that set Rigby up for a game-winning touchdown back in August.

In all the excitement, I forgot I took a video of Rigby's game-saving blocked field goal by Cannon Korth. pic.twitter.com/m3HMgMDTkH

— Kalama Hines (@HINESight_2020) August 31, 2025

Timberline goes about things a bit differently, having asked senior quarterback Jack Brant to take on a heavy load.

Brant suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago. He was leading the team in rushing touchdowns and among the state’s passing leaders when he went down.

His top receiving target, Hudson Lewis, who had compiled more than 1,000 receiving yards on the season, has taken over as signal-caller and led the Wolves to a 23-17 victory over Coeur d’Alene Vikings last week.

The Vikings could provide a measuring stick, as one of just two teams both championship-hopeful squads have faced this season — Rigby and Timberline each beat Rocky Mountain by double-figures.

While CDA kept their semifinal showdown competitive, Rigby beat Coeur d’Alene 38-7 on Aug. 22.

All the numbers, rankings and matchups leading up to this week are for naught, however, as this game is the only 6A game left on the schedule, and the only one that matters to a pair of teams who hope to host a banner-raising.

For Rigby to win and claim its fifth blue trophy in seven years, it will need one more powerful performance from Morel and a defensive effort focused on slowing Lewis and the Timberline offense.

EastIdahoSports.com will be at the game, providing live updates. Follow along by joining the East Idaho News – Sports public Facebook group — here.