Home cooking has been a good thing for the Carey High School football team over the past three years in the State 1A Division 2 playoffs.
The Panthers will be looking for another helping of success Saturday, Nov. 7. That's when Carey opens the defense of its 2008 state football title.
Coach Lane Kirkland's third-ranked Panthers (8-1) will host the fourth-ranked North Gem Cowboys (6-3) in one of four 1A Division 2 eight-man playoff games this weekend. Game time is 1 p.m. Saturday at Derrick Parke Memorial Field.
On a five-game winning streak this season, Carey has also won 14 straight home games and has beaten first-round playoff foes at Derrick Parke Field for three straight years—46-0, 48-0 and 38-0 over Dietrich, Richfield and North Gem in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Back on Sept. 4, Carey defeated North Gem 40-14 at Bancroft. It's one of three losses for coach Kevin Carey's Cowboys, the others 44-8 to Raft River and 30-22 at Mackay. North Gem, led by the passing of senior quarterback Austin Wuttke (5 TD passes), won 44-16 at Dietrich last Friday to earn another shot at Carey.
The winner of Saturday's Carey-North Gem game will advance to the state semi-finals at Pocatello's Holt Arena over the Nov. 13-14 weekend. That opponent next weekend will be the winner of Friday's game between top-ranked Mackay (9-0) and visiting Dietrich (4-5).
On the other side of the bracket, Salmon River hosts Garden Valley Saturday, and second-ranked Kootenai (9-0) entertains Mullan. This year's championship game Nov. 20 is scheduled for Holt Arena.
