Homecoming 2009 didn't have a happy result on the scoreboard when Wood River High School hosted the Great Basin Conference football champion Twin Falls Bruins Friday night at Homer Field.
The Bruins, in their first year competing in the 4A Great Basin Conference, clinched their first league title with a 45-0 victory in Hailey. Twin Falls showed offensive balance with 253 yards rushing, 211 yards passing and 106 yards returns.
Coach Allyn Reynolds' Twin Falls squad (4-3, 4-0 league) won its third consecutive game over league opponents Canyon Ridge, Burley and Wood River by a combined 145-7 score.
Although the Bruins have one game remaining against 2005-08 league king Minico in Rupert Friday, they beat Jerome 26-22 earlier this season—and Jerome clinched the second seed with a 43-27 home victory over Minico Oct. 16. It looks like Twin Falls is seeded #1, Jerome #2, Minico #3 and Burley #4 for the Great Eight playoffs beginning Oct. 30.
Wood River (1-6, 0-4 league) and Canyon Ridge (1-6, 1-3) have been eliminated from the upcoming playoffs and will settle fifth place when they line up for the season finale Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at Riverhawks Stadium in Twin Falls. It's the first time the teams have met.
Although they couldn't punch the ball in the end zone and kept having trouble defending the pass in the game against Twin Falls, Wood River players saw more improvements in three key areas—the team's running game fundamentals along with minimizing turnovers and penalties.
Wood River dominated possession time with 34 minutes compared to 14 for Twin Falls. The Wolverines managed a season-high 54 carries for 175 yards rushing. In the last three league games, Wood River has 136 carries for 554 yards, or an average of 185 yards per game.
Senior Tyler Peters has been the running workhorse with 64 carries for 341 yards in the last three games including a season-high 33 carries for 111 tough yards against Twin. The hard-working offensive line has featured Isaiah Garza, Alex Thomas, John Siegel, Kasey Barker, Evan Puluti, Brandon Van Horn and Kevin Cooley.
After Twin Falls went ahead 20-0 late in the first quarter Friday, Wood River sparked by a 28-yard Peters kickoff return put together a dominating 16-play, 53-yard, nine-minute drive to the Bruins four-yard line. But an intercepted pass on fourth down ended the threat.
"We did a lot of positive things and had success on that long drive, but our inability to punch the ball in at that point was demoralizing. If we're going to spend that much time on the field with the ball, I feel we have to score," said Stilling.
The Wolverines also ended the game with a 60-yard, six-minute drive that moved to the Twin Falls 14-yard-line before a quarterback sack ended the game. Peters rushed six times for 28 yards and senior quarterback Juan Martinez had a nice 17-yard bootleg on fourth-and-three that put the Wolverines into scoring position.
Although the Wolverines didn't lose any fumbles and had only 20 yards in penalties, they continued to be hurt by passing. The last three league foes to come into Homer Field have completed 46 passes in 75 attempts for 669 yards. "We've had trouble defending the spread passing over the last couple of weeks," Stilling said.
"But we can be very competitive with Canyon Ridge and it should be a really good game," he added about Friday's finale. "Both of our programs are in the same boat as far as the number of players and the number of seniors we have.
"I think when we played Burley (a 35-14 home loss Oct. 2), we kinda looked past them and didn't have the focus we needed. Canyon Ridge has a very athletic quarterback with an accurate and strong arm (Tyler Myers). Hopefully we can come out and play with the same physical strength we showed against Twin Falls."
Canyon Ridge lost at home to Bonneville's Bees from Idaho Falls 57-19 last Friday, one week after shocking Minico 27-24 (OT) at home Oct. 9. The Riverhawks dropped their first five games of the season and are averaging 11.9 ppg on offense and 44.4 defense. Wood River is averaging 8.3 ppg offense and 34.4 ppg defense.
Check the Oct. 28 Local Life for more Homecoming photos.
WRHS Line Score
Twin Falls 45, Wood River 0
TWIN FALLS 20 7 12 6 45
Wood River 0 0 0 0 0
SCORING
1st half
Twin Falls—Brett Hardman, 6-yard run (Dustin Hagstrom kick); 11:28 1st (7-0 TF)
Twin Falls—Jon Pulsifer, 13-yard pass from T.J. Ellis (kick blocked); 4:33 1st (13-0 TF)
Twin Falls—Jon Pulsifer, 56-yard pass from T.J. Ellis (Dustin Hagstrom kick); 0:45 1st (20-0 TF)
Twin Falls—Ricky Akridge, 65-yard pass from T.J. Ellis (Dustin Hagstrom kick); 2:11 2nd (27-0 TF)
2nd half
Twin Falls—Mark Christensen, 1-yard run (kick blocked); 4:55 3rd (33-0 TF)
Twin Falls—Ricky Akridge, 9-yard run (kick failed); 1:50 3rd (39-0 TF)
Twin Falls—Tyler Wolters, fumble recovery in end zone (pass failed); 10:08 4th (45-0 TF)
KEY STATS TWIN FALLS WOOD RIVER
Offensive plays 56 78
Time of possession 13:48 34:12
1st downs, rush 10 11
1st downs, pass 5 0
1st downs, penalty 0 2
1st downs, total 15 11
Rushes, yards 25-253 54-175
Yards per carry 10.1 3.2
Fumbles lost 1 0
Completions, passes 12-22 0-7
Completion percentage 54% 0%
Passing yards 211 0
Yards per completion 17.6 0.0
Intercepted by 2 0
Sacks by, yards 3-18 0-0
Returns, yards 4-106 8-110
Total yards gained 570 267
Penalties 5-41 2-20
Punts, yardage 1-47 6-152
Yards per punt 47.0 25.3
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Wood River
Rushing—Tyler Peters 33-111, 9 1sts; Juan Martinez 3-30, 2 1sts; Nathan Farrow 14-29; Nick Chase 2-6; Alex Padilla 2, -1.
Passing—Juan Martinez 0-7, 2 interceptions; Tyler Peters 0-2.
Fumble recoveries (1)—Kevin Jensen 1.
Kickoff returns—Alex Padilla 3-50; Nick Chase 2-19; Tyler Peters 1-28; Connor Braatz 2-13.
Tackles (44)—Nathan Farrow 8, Tyler Peters 6, John Bartoletta 6, Nick Chase 5, Kasey Barker 4, Jimmy Williams 3, Braxton Parish 3, Jose Patlan 2, Kevin Jensen 2, Jake Miczulski 1, Lashon Smith 1, Alex Thomas 1, Connor Braatz 1, Alex Padilla 1.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Twin Falls
Rushing leaders—Ricky Akridge 9-138, 5 1sts, 1 TD; Mark Christensen 6-55, 2 1sts, 1 TD; T.J. Ellis 5-44, 3 1sts; Brett Hardman 5-16, 1 TD.
Passing—T.J. Ellis 12-21, 211 yards, 5 1sts, 3 TD; Eric Harr 0-1.
Receiving—Jon Pulsifer 3-74, 2 TD; Ricky Akridge 2-74, 1 TD; Brennan Lancaster 3-48, 3 1sts; Brady McNew 2-12, 1 1st; Mark Christensen 2-3, 1 1st.
Fumble recoveries (1)—Tyler Wolters 1 for a touchdown.
Interceptions (2)—Tyler Wolters 2.
Sacks (3)—Zack Van Loo 1-9; Grady Hepworth 1-5; Jesse Wilson 1-4.
Kickoff returns—Dakota Cummins 1-17.
Punt returns—Jayson Welker 2-76; Mark Christensen 1-13.
Tackle leaders—Dakota Cummins 9, Zak Slotten 9, Cannon Clark 9, Zack Van Loo 8, Jayson Welker 7, Grady Hepworth 7, Mark Christensen 7, Patrick Eiman 5, Jordan Staley 5, Chase Crandall 4, Brett Hardman 4, Zayne Slotten 4, Brady Barton 3, Tyler Wolters 2.
Twin Falls junior running back Ricky Akridge is gang-tackled by Wood River’s Nathan Farrow (right) and Braxton Parish during Friday’s Homecoming football game won by the Bruins 45-0 on the Hailey field. Express photo by Mark Oliver
