Carey School senior lineman Jesus Ocampo clutched the state football championship trophy like he owned it Friday at Holt Arena on the Idaho State University campus in Pocatello.
In a way, he did. So did his happy teammates, celebrating Carey's 50-20 triumph over the Salmon River Savages in the State 1A Division 2 championship game. So did the entire Carey community and its extended family that filled the grandstand.
"This is a dream come true. We were 5-3 two years ago, 8-2 last year and 11-1 and state champions this year," said Ocampo. "We knew it was going to be the toughest game of the year. But our team decided to step up. We act as one. We win as one."
Number One, that is, for the third time in Carey's football history.
Scoring eight touchdowns in a single game for the sixth time, Carey (11-1) simply wore down an overmatched Savages squad with 573 yards of total offense. It was the 10th consecutive win for the highest-scoring team (555 points) in the long history of Carey eight-man football.
Coach Lane Kirkland said, "Nobody expected us to get this far but we believed in it and the kids stepped up, from the freshmen to the seniors. We accomplished our goal. That's because of the character of this team. Together Everyone Achieves More—TEAM—is what we believe."
Salmon River (8-4) was a believer after six different Carey players scored in the rout. Leading the offense was junior quarterback D.J. Simpson. He scored three TDs on short runs and threw a TD pass to finish the season with 31 TD passes.
Rather than individual accomplishments, it was team effort and balance that characterized the 2006 Carey state champions—joining the 1998 and 1994 Carey state title teams that were coached by Lane Kirkland's father, Heber Kirkland.
A healthy balance of shared responsibility is what sixth-year coach Kirkland (43-14) prizes the most. Six different players scored 60 or more points this season topped by Connor Rivera (102). Against Salmon River, Carey's balanced offense featured 277 rushing yards, 153 passing yards and 169 yards on returns of every kind.
The balance extended to Carey's offense and defense, both playing big roles in Friday's win that finished the eight-school 1A Division 2 playoffs.
And everything started with the Panther interior offensive line of left guard Ocampo, junior center Tyler Parke and sophomore right guard Wulf Lebrecht. Because of inexperience, they were one of coach Kirkland's question marks at the beginning of the season. Not any more.
Quietly, they made it happen with togetherness and discipline.
They carved out big holes for junior running back Rivera (18 carries, 156 yards) and junior Blake Whitby, who had 53 of his 63 rushing yards in the second half. They provided great protection for Simpson (10-for-17, 150 yards, 1 TD).
Carey scored at will all season—putting points on the board in 41 of 46 quarters—and Friday's game was no exception. The Panther offense swept downfield for TDs on its first two possessions—one time using Rivera frequently, the second time riding Simpson's arm. They coughed up a fumble, got it back and scored again for a 24-14 halftime lead.
Salmon River of Riggins, suiting only 13 players to Carey's 27, was exhausted halfway through the third quarter and the Panthers scored the final four TDs to win going away. Carey had way too many weapons.
But it was Carey's defense that really came up with big plays. And Salmon River tested the Panther defense with misdirection runs by promising freshman scatback Dustin Rinker (30 carries, 217 yards, 2 TD).
"They were big up front and they gave us a lot of problems on the counter," said senior James Carlson, usually stationed at right defensive end next to defensive tackles Ocampo and Lebrecht, with Kade Peterson and Heith Adamson on the left end.
Ocampo said, "We knew Snake River was tough. They had put up 46 points against Notus and 42 against Mullan. We couldn't stop them at the beginning. But little by little, play-by-play, we worked it out. We talked with each other and worked out what we needed to do to stop them."
Turnovers always help, and Carey got a huge one with Salmon River on the move midway through the first quarter and Carey leading 12-8. Savages QB Charlie Mignerey took a direct snap in the shotgun and busted through a hole off left end. But Lebrecht, who made some fine tackles all night, pursued along the line and lassoed Mignerey from the back.
Mignerey, who probably thought he had open field until Lebrecht nailed him from behind, coughed up the ball. The pigskin popped out ahead like a forward lateral and into the arms of Adamson, who immediately started running the other way. Nobody touched him. Seventy-eight yards of turf later, Carey led 18-8.
"It was a good momentum shifter to keep our enthusiasm high and our belief in ourselves," said Kirkland.
As Kirkland said with respect, Salmon River was a hard-fighting team. The Savages (39.8 ppg) had beaten eventual State 1A Division 1 champion Council 56-38 in Riggins Sept. 1. They were resilient, too. Salmon River had lost 59-12 at home Oct. 6 to top-ranked Notus before Salmon River shocked host Notus 46-28 in the state quarterfinals.
Patiently executing, the Savages answered Adamson's long fumble return with a 10-play, 67-yard drive cutting Carey's second-quarter lead to 18-14. "They had us guessing in the first half," said coach Kirkland.
The Savages had the momentum when Carey fumbled—its only turnover of the game. On the very next play, from the Salmon River 44, Dustin Rinker busted through a big hole for 14 yards. But Carey senior Cody Baird tackled him hard, forcing a fumble that Allen Peck recovered.
On the next drive, Carey senior wide receiver Brad Hunt wrestled away an underthrown Simpson bomb from Salmon River's Mignerey to complete a 31-yard passing play. Two plays later Simpson scored easily from the spread formation and Carey's lead grew to 24-14.
The lead was 10 points but it should have been more, since Carey missed six of its first seven two-point conversion attempts Friday night.
Once more, Salmon River attacked—Rinker giving Carey fits by bouncing outside for long gains. The Savages moved to the Carey 28 before a holding penalty and a Carlson/Adamson sack pushed them back. On fourth-and-16, a cleverly-designed throwback pass from Mignerey to Josh Manley nearly moved the sticks, but Baird (14 tackles) slowed up the play and Blake Whitby (14 tackles) made the tackle just inches shy of first-down yardage.
Salmon River had one more bullet in its gun belt, sweeping 65 yards to paydirt in just four plays to start the third quarter. The Carey lead was only 24-20, but that's as close as Salmon River got. As Kirkland said, "Our defense began to wear them down in the third quarter."
Carey started to pull away with a nine-play, 63-yard TD drive, the big play a 16-yard crossing pattern from Simpson to Carlson. Then Whitby outran three Savage defenders to the corner of the end zone on a 20-yard crossbuck for a 30-20 Carey cushion.
Putting a punctuation mark on the victory was Rivera. Given the ball and sensing a traffic jam of players on the right side of the line where he had been headed, Rivera turned on a dime and headed straight upfield for a 56-yard TD dash and a 42-20 Panther lead with nine minutes left.
"I'm just really proud of this team," said Kirkland, who shared a hug with his proud father Heber after the Milk Bowl banner was in the bag.
The annual Sawtooth Conference post-season meeting was held Monday. All-Conference selections from the meeting will be announced in next week's Mountain Express.
PANTHER NOTES—Carey senior Serene Bingham gave another lovely rendition of the national anthem at the 50-yard-line, only this time she faced a friendly Carey line of players instead of standing in front of Mackay players like she did at Holt Arena for the anthem Nov. 10....Much was made of the midseason injuries suffered by seniors Cody Baird and Brad Hunt, but at least Baird and Hunt were back and playing for the title game. In Carey's other state championship victories, 1998 and 1994, late-season injuries suffered by key players Danny Simpson and Cameron Cook really put the pressure on reserve players to step it up in the title games....
Last year's 8-2 Carey squad had the best per-game scoring average in school annals, 50.8 ppg, but this year's state championship team (46.3 ppg) amassed the most points, 555. It exceeded the 524 points scored by each of Carey's other state title teams—the 11-0 squad of 1998 (47.6 ppg) that rallied past Deary 44-42 in the title game, and the 12-0 squad of 1994 (43.7 ppg) that pounded Deary 58-26, also at Holt Arena. The 1994 title team was the best on defense, 8.5 ppg.....
This was Carey's sixth title game appearance. The Panthers are now 3-3, having lost to Council 30-16 in 1992 at Holt, and to Deary 36-22 in 1993 and 54-14 in 1995, both at Moscow's Kibbie Dome....Carey graduates six seniors, but eight juniors, four sophomores and nine freshmen were on the state roster for the Panthers of coaches Kirkland, Lee Cook and Lane Durtschi.
State 1A Division 2 championship game
Carey 50, Salmon River 20
SALMON RIVER 8 6 6 0 20
CAREY. 18 6 12 14 50
SCORING
1st half
CAREY—D.J. Simpson, 2-yard run (pass failed); 10:30 1st (6-0 C)
SALMON RIVER—Josh Manley, 40-yard run (Josh Manley, pass from Charlie Mignerey); 6:53 1st (8-6 SR)
CAREY—Cody Baird, 26-yard pass from D.J. Simpson (pass failed); 3:13 1st (12-8 C)
CAREY—Heith Adamson, 78-yard fumble return (run failed); 1:24 1st (18-8 C)
SALMON RIVER—Dustin Rinker, 1-yard run (run failed); 9:25 2nd (18-14 C)
CAREY—D.J. Simpson, 3-yard run (pass failed); 5:23 2nd (24-14 C)
2nd half
SALMON RIVER—Dustin Rinker, 36-yard run (pass failed); 11:07 3rd (24-20 C)
CAREY—Blake Whitby, 20-yard run (run failed); 8:29 3rd (30-20 C)
CAREY—D.J. Simpson, 2-yard run (run failed); 5:21 3rd (36-20 C)
CAREY—Connor Rivera, 56-yard run (run failed); 9:24 4th (42-20 C)
CAREY—Gonzalo Zarate, 10-yard run (Scott Ellsworth, pass from Trevor Peck); 0:04 4th (50-20 C)
KEY STATS SALMON RIVER CAREY
Offensive plays 73 71
Time of possession 27:56 20:04
1st downs, rush 11 11
1st downs, pass 3 7
1st downs, total 14 19
Rushes, yards 45-312 45-277
Yards per carry 6.9 6.2
Fumbles lost 3 1
Completions, passes 7-15 11-18
Completion percentage 47% 61%
Passing yards 101 153
Yards per completion 14.4 13.9
Intercepted by 0 1
Sacks by, yards 2-26 4-37
Returns, yards 6-108 6-169
Total yards gained 484 573
Penalties 6-43 6-37
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Carey
Rushing—Connor Rivera 18-156 (8.7 per carry), 5 1sts, 1 TD; Blake Whitby 8-63 (7.9), 3 1sts, 1 TD; D.J. Simpson 11-16, 1 1st, 3 TD; Gonzalo Zarate 4-33, 2 1sts, 1 TD; Heith Adamson 2-7; Cody Baird 1-1; Trevor Peck 1-1.
Passing—D.J. Simpson 10-17, 150 yards, 7 1sts, 1 TD; Trevor Peck 1-1, 3 yards, 1 conv.
Receiving—James Carlson 4-31, 2 1sts; Cody Baird 2-37, 1 1st, 1 TD; Allen Peck 2-32, 2 1sts; Connor Rivera 1-19, 1 1st; Brad Hunt 1-31, 1 1st; Scott Ellsworth 1-3, 1 conv.
Fumble recoveries (3)—Allen Peck 2; Heith Adamson 1 with 78-yard TD return.
Interceptions (1)—Kade Peterson 1 with an 8-yard return.
Sacks (4)—James Carlson 1-15; Gonzalo Zarate 1-9; James Carlson and Heith Adamson 1-6; Wulf Lebrecht 1-4.
Kickoff returns—Allen Peck 3-49; Cody Baird 1-34.
All-purpose yardage—Connor Rivera 175, D.J. Simpson 166.
Tackles (73)—Cody Baird 14, Blake Whitby 14, Wulf Lebrecht 10, Allen Peck 10, Heith Adamson 5, Jesus Ocampo 5, D.J. Simpson 4, James Carlson 4, Kade Peterson 3, Scott Ellsworth 2, Gonzalo Zarate 1, Dillon Simpson 1.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Salmon River
Rushing—Dustin Rinker 30-217 (7.2 per carry), 9 1sts, 2 TD; Josh Manley 3-53, 1 TD; Charlie Mignerey 6-20, 1 1st; Dylan Rinker 6-22, 1 1st.
Passing—Charlie Mignerey 7-15, 101 yards, 3 1sts, 1 conv. 1 interception.
Receiving—Josh Manley 5-90, 2 1sts, 1 conv.; Dylan Rinker 1-7.
Fumble recovery (1)—Charles Jaramillo-Swan 1.
Sacks (2)—David Galli 1-15; Charles Jaramillo-Swan and Shay Folwell 1-11.
Kickoff returns—Josh Manley 4-57; Dustin Rinker 2-51.
All-purpose yardage—Dustin Rinker 275 yards, Josh Manley 200.
Tackles (74)—Shay Folwell 13, Dustin Rinker 12, Charlie Mignerey 10, Dylan Rinker 10, Charles Jaramillo-Swan 8, Cody Carlson 7, Josh Manley 6, David Galli 4, Michael Woodfin 2, Tom Sabasko 2.
Carey junior Connor Rivera was a major contributor on offense for the state champions with 156 rushing yards on 18 carries, including a terrific 56-yard TD scamper. Photo by David N. Seelig
