District 5 quarterfinal recap: Rockland, West Side defend home field; Highland gets revenge upset

EASTERN IDAHO — The Rockland Bulldogs, West Side Pirates and Highland Rams all guaranteed themselves state trophies with quarterfinal wins last week.

The Idaho High School Football State Championship field has been whittled down to four schools in each classification with just two weeks left in the season. Three of the 24 remaining teams will be representing District 5.

Here is what happened involving D5 teams in the quarterfinal round:

Bulldogs bombard Castleford

The No. 2 Rockland Bulldogs (10-0) continued their dominance on both sides of the ball Friday, putting up 60-plus points for the ninth time this season while holding their opposition to fewer than 20 for the ninth time.

RELATED | Bulldogs batter Castleford to secure spot in state semis

Senior quarterback Xavier Parrish threw for 323 yards and seven touchdowns, and ran for another 71 yards and one score, leading Rockland to a 62-14 victory over the No. 7 Wolves (8-2).

Parrish’s fellow seniors, Zach Permann and Ty Woodworth, both did their part to push the Bulldogs one win closer to the program’s first-ever state title.

Permann compiled 212 yards of total offense and one touchdown, while Woodworth led a solid defensive effort, recording nine tackles.

Rockland will host No. 3 Carey (9-1) in this week’s semifinal round, with a spot in the championship game on the line.

West Side wallops Ririe

The top-seeded Pirates (10-0) secured a spot in the semifinals for the 10th year in a row Friday night, beating the No. 11 Bulldogs (5-6) 53-20.

RELATED | West Side back in the semis after second-half eruption against Ririe

West Side took a modest 20-7 lead into the halftime break, but saw that cut in half when Ririe senior Camden Stosich returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown.

From there, though, the Pirates scored touchdowns on four consecutive possessions, putting 26 points on the board in less than seven minutes.

As he has so many times in his three seasons as a starter, All-State running back Drake Sage led the way, rushing for 173 yards and four touchdowns, and adding a pick-six. But he got some help from sophomore quarterback Bronco Moser and the West Side passing game, which produced 106 yards and three touchdowns.

West Side is now just two wins from claiming its sixth state championship in eight seasons. The Pirates will host No. 5 Grangeville (10-1) this week.

Highland gets payback at Eagle

The No. 5 Rams (6-5) started their season back in August with a 33-28 loss to the No. 4 Eagle Mustangs (6-4).

While speaking with EastIdahoSports.com recently, however, Highland head coach Nick Sorrell said that his team is not even close to the same squad it was on Aug. 21.

The Rams proved their coach right Friday, beating the Mustangs 28-14 at Eagle High School to earn a spot in the state semis for the first time since winning the title in 2023.

Defensively, Highland has been one of the top squads in the state for two months. After allowing 93 points in its first three games, the Ram defense has held opponents to 67 total points in eight games since — and 14 in the last three.

Seniors Landon Summers and Jaxson Collard each recorded a sack in the win.

While some things have changed in Highland over the last two months, others have remained the same for the past three years.

Senior running back Cedric Mitchell was a monster once again, rushing for 220 yards and two touchdowns, and adding another 30 yards receiving.

The big performance pushed Mitchell over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season, giving him 1,115 yards, to go with 13 touchdowns. He is also second on the team with 388 receiving yards.

Mitchell is third in rushing yards among all 6A players, behind Eagle’s Bowen Blackburn (1,201) and Lake City’s Brayden Van Leuven (1,306).

Highland will visit the top-seeded Coeur d’Alene Vikings (10-0) this week.