Having grabbed the school's first conference football title since 1968, the Minico Spartans (7-3) dominated the top picks of the 2005 Fourth District All-Conference football team in the Great Basin Conference West.
Wood River High School's resurgent football team (4-6) coached by Mike Glenn nailed down five first-team picks while Minico and second-place Burley (4-5) claimed nine apiece and Jerome (0-9) had three. But Minico captured two out of three of the top post-season honors.
Minico's senior running back Dale Sayles bounced back from an injury-riddled junior season to win the "Offensive Player of the Year," award. Sayles rushed for 163 yards and scored four touchdowns in Minico's 55-20 road victory over defending Great Basin king Burley that clinched the Spartans' 2005 title.
Tenth-year Minico coach Tim Perrigot earned the "Coach of the Year" award for leading the Spartans back from their 3-6 season of 2004. Minico won its first-ever State 4A playoff game 42-8 at home over Bonneville of Idaho Falls before falling 38-35 (4 OT) to Blackfoot.
Burley senior Taylor Kerbs won "Defensive Player of the Year," although coach Glenn of Wood River thought the honor could have easily been given to or shared by Wolverine senior middle linebacker Carl Browning, who made 132 tackles.
The All-Conference picks were revealed in the same week as Wood River announced its team awards at last Tuesday's banquet in Hailey. Top awards for Wood River were:
Offensive Player of the Year—Scott Bartlett (a school-record 232 carries for 1,318 yards, 13 TD). Most Inspirational—Carl Browning. Most Improved—Alex Burwell. Special Teams Top Player—Danny Ward. Coaches Award—Tyler Jackson.
In other football news, Idaho completed its 2005 playoffs last weekend with these results:
Meridian (11-1) captured its first State 5A title since 1986 with a 49-28 win over Highland of Pocatello (9-3); Bishop Kelly of Boise (12-0) made it 24 straight wins and two consecutive 4A titles 31-29 over Great Basin king Pocatello (11-1);
Shelley (10-1) bagged the State 3A championship 16-13 over Weiser (11-1); Firth (11-1) won its first 2A title in seven years 20-8 over Kamiah (11-1); and Genesee (12-0) won a football championship for the first time in school history 40-22 over Garden Valley (10-1) for the State 1A Division 1 title;
Lastly, the Mackay Miners (11-0) won their first-ever eight-man championship after six straight 1A 11-man titles from 1996-01 by a 34-22 count over defending State 1A Division 2 champ Horseshoe Bend (9-3).
Here are this year's All-Conference picks, broken down by position and by offense/defense:
Offense
Quarterback: First team—Dane Broadhead, Minico 6-1, 195-pound sophomore. Second team—Logan Parish, 6-1, 180 Burley senior.
Running back: First team—Scott Bartlett, WR 6-2, 180 senior; Dale Sayles, Minico 5-11, 170 senior; and Joel Haran, Burley 6-1, 195 senior. Second team—Tyler Jackson, WR 6-3, 230 senior; Ryan Hondo, Burley 5-9, 191 senior; and Matt Tracy, Minico 5-8, 165 junior.
Wide receiver: First team—Bryce Hafso, Minico 5-10, 170 senior and Gavin Wrigley, Burley 6-2, 170 senior. Second team—McCoy Worthington, Minico 6-1, 160 senior and Travis Cooley, Jerome 5-11, 155 junior.
Tight end: First team—Taylor Kerbs, Burley 6-4, 205 senior. Second team—Andy Carlisle, Minico 6-1, 225 senior.
Offensive line: First team—Casey Lane, WR 6-3, 220 senior; Brad Clark, Minico 6-2, 240 senior; Wes Cooper, Minico 6-1, 195 senior; Alec Helms, Burley 6-1, 215 senior; and Chuck Hoenes, Burley 6-2, 250 senior.
Second team—Adrian Grimaldo, WR 5-10, 195 senior; James Swenson, Jerome 5-10, 200 junior; Matt Bos, Jerome 5-10, 175 senior; Nick Hatch, Minico 5-11, 180 senior; and James Van Buskirk, Burley 6-2, 265 senior.
Defense
Defensive line: First team—Andrew Grimaldo, WR 5-11, 240 senior; Mike Richardson, Minico 6-1, 245 senior; and Chuck Hoenes, Burley 6-2, 250 senior.
Second team—Dustin Selner, WR 5-10, 235 senior; Anthony Quarles, WR 6-1, 195 junior; and Mike Zepeda, Jerome 6-1, 180 senior.
Outside linebacker: First team—Taylor Kerbs, Burley 6-4, 205 senior and Ryan Hondo, Burley 5-9, 191 senior. Second team—Erik Jacobson, WR 6-5, 205 sophomore and Chance Pebley, Minico 6-2, 200 junior.
Inside linebacker: First team—Carl Browning, WR 6-1, 215 senior and Kurtis Bessire, Minico 5-6, 170 senior. Second team—Nathan Mitton, Burley 6-0, 210 senior and Wes Cooper, Minico 6-1, 195 senior.
Defensive back: First team—Danny Ward, WR 5-10, 150 junior; McCoy Worthington, Minico 6-1, 160 senior; Travis Cooley, Jerome 5-11, 155 junior; and Gavin Wrigley, Burley 6-2, 170 senior.
Second team—Jeff Conover, WR 5-11, 170 junior; Kevin Killoy, Minico 5-7, 130 senior; Bryce Hafso, Minico 5-10, 170 senior; and Casey Miller, Burley 5-8, 145 junior.
Special teams
Punter: First team—Brett Boesiger, Jerome 6-2, 175 senior. Second team—Tyler Jackson, WR 6-3, 230 senior.
Placekicker: First team—Dallas Garner, Minico 5-9, 140 senior.
Return specialist: First team—David Prescott, Jerome 5-8, 150 junior. Second team—Casey Miller, Burley 5-8, 145 junior.
Honorable mention picks
From Wood River—Collin Hand, Alex Burwell and Huston Brashears. From Burley—Steve Andreason, Jordan Barlow, Braeden Claysen and Riley Harris. From Jerome—Pat Fleming, Em Powell, Brennon Miller and Cary Livingston.
Carl Browning, Wood River senior, made first team All-Great Basin at inside linebacker. Express photo by Willy Cook
