It's quite a view from the summit, but it's hard work getting there.
Last Friday night, the 2010 Carey High School football team made a pilgrimage up the Queen's Crown mountain southwest of town. This is the third year the Carey football team has conducted what is becoming an annual rite of pre-season.
Coaches Lane Kirkland, Lee Cook and Lane Durtschi dropped the players off at the bottom of the hill, about 4,900-foot elevation. The boys ran a mile up the hill to the 5,600-foot summit. The coaches waited for them at the peak. Everybody marveled at the great views of the Picabo Valley.
"The last 100 feet are a real challenge," said Kirkland. "After they finish their run, we discuss our goals for the season. We remind them, and they can see for themselves, that the view from the top is always better than the views they see on the way."
Carey School's football has rich tradition at the top of Idaho eight-man football in the State 1A Division 2 ranks. The Panthers won the 2008 state championship with an unblemished 12-0 record. Carey (42-5 over 4 seasons) also won in 2006, to go with state grid titles in 1998 and 1994.
Tenth-year head coach Kirkland (74-18) has arrived at another even-numbered year, having welcomed 27 players to camp. The Carey program faces one of its best and most competitive schedules this year, he said—nine games starting with three against bigger 1A Division 1 teams.
Kirkland said, "Our first three games will be a challenge to see where we're at, who we are and what direction we need to go in order to compete against good teams."
Idaho City, Raft River of Malta and Hagerman will give Carey a head start on its Sawtooth Conference North Division schedule against Camas County of Fairfield, Clark County of Dubois, Dietrich, Mackay and Richfield. Out of the six North schools, two automatically qualify for the State 1A Division 2 playoffs.
Carey (9-2 last year, 6-0 home, 7-1 Sawtooth for #2 league seed) plans to be one of those two state-qualifying teams. The Panthers are 22-1 at home over four years, and 32-1 in league play since 2005. In their last 57 games, Carey has outscored its opponents on the average 46-14.
How the current squad accomplishes the task of returning to state will be interesting, since Carey graduated eight seniors who were largely responsible for the last two seasons when the Panthers only lost twice—to Mackay, 26-22 and 22-14.
Senior Kole Krosch of Mackay has graduated from last year's Miners squad (11-1) that swept Carey and just missed the state championship, losing 64-62 in double overtime to Salmon River of Riggins (8-3) and its great senior running back Dustin Rinker (7 TDs, 380 rushing yards).
"Mackay has a good tradition, but they graduated some good skill and leadership. Leadership is hard to replace," said Kirkland. He might have been talking about his team.
Gone are last year's top scorers Gonzalo Zarate (19 TDs, 128 points, 110 rushes for 963 yards) and Dillon Simpson (14 TDs, 92 points, 75 rushes for 553 yards). They and Trevor Peck and Todd Peck made first-team All-Sawtooth Conference. Simpson (first team) and Todd Peck (second) were All-State players.
So Carey graduated 220 of its 470 points in just two players, not to mention Zarate's booming placekicking and punts and rushes from the defensive end, and Simpson's kick and punt returns. Last year's defense (11.5 ppg) was actually a statistical improvement over the 12.3 ppg of the 2008 title team. Carey scored six TDs on defense plus six on returns.
The lack of varsity experience in this year's squad doesn't bother Kirkland a bit. He said, "The kids have committed to doing better this year than we did last year. They want to prove they can do it, just as other Carey teams have done it in the past."
He added, "They have a very optimistic and teachable attitude. We feel we have some great potential, depth, enthusiasm and competitiveness. The intensity of the starters and their focus is very good. There's not much taken for granted. They are a team and they want to win."
Carey has nine seniors, seven juniors, seven sophomores and four freshmen. Seniors Caleb Cenarrusa and Blair Peck were voted team captains because they are the players with the most varsity experience.
Kirkland said, "We have a lot of players with JV experience the last few years. We need to get these kids a lot of repetitions, but they've learned a lot already in nine days. Our seven juniors and seven sophomores have a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to play varsity."
Offensive and defensive guard Peck was second-team All-Sawtooth last fall. Quarterback and left safety Cenarrusa (37-for-69, 543 yards passing, 9 TD, 5 conversions plus 40 points scoring) stepped into the signal-calling role and did a good job.
With Cenarrusa's passing ability, Kirkland estimates Carey might throw the ball 20 times a game and distribute 40-to-50 rushing carries among four backs to further diversity the offense. Last season Carey maybe threw the ball 10 to 12 times a game.
Up front, the offensive line features 6-1, 200-pound sophomore left guard Garrett Lee, 5-9, 170-pound junior center Chance Chavez and 5-8, 210-pound right guard Blair Peck. They are generally quick, focused and have excellent blocking ability, Kirkland said. On defense, Peck and Lee are guards, Chavez on the end.
Cenarrusa will hand off to two tailbacks in the T-formation. One is 5-7, 150-pound junior Charlie Rivera, who showed running dominance at the JV level and scored 16 varsity points. The other is 5-8, 160-pound senior Tim Hoopes, a transfer from 3A South Fremont of St. Anthony.
Kirkland said, "Tim is a wrestler, runs track and loves football. He has good speed and hits the hole well. He'll be on the left side in our T-formation. He'll help tremendously."
Offensive ends are seniors Antonio Gamino ("just a hard worker," said Kirkland) and Shane Bingham ("real good hands"). Gamino missed most of last fall with an injury and still rushed 38 times for 216 yards (2 TDs). Bingham scored 18 points.
Punter will be either Cenarrusa or Gamino, but Kirkland has yet to find anyone to replace Zarate in the placekicking department. He said, "We'll find someone. We'll probably do a lot of short kickoffs and maybe get some turnovers off them." Seniors Hoopes and Bingham will handle kickoff and punt returns.
Kirkland expects Carey's defense to be quick and aggressive. He said, "They go to the ball and tackle pretty well." And Carey should be improved when senior safety Jacy Baird (foot surgery) returns around mid-season.
Joining Blair Peck, Garrett Lee and Chance Chavez on the defensive line is senior left end Lynn Mecham. Linebackers are Hoopes and senior Brandon Dilworth. In the secondary with left safety Cenarrusa is junior right safety Baley Barg.
Other players are senior Joe Laidlaw; juniors Dillon Cenarrusa, Jack Cenarrusa and Adrian Alvarez; sophomores Francisco Gamino, Jordan Dilworth, Austin Hennefer, Sheldon Hansen, Glen Andrews and Gunner Thompson. Junior James Gamino (knee) is out for the season.
The freshmen are Tori Alvarez, Luis Garcia, Christian Zarate and Bartten Lee.
Kirkland expects the Dietrich Blue Devils (4-6 last year, 4-4 league) to be a strong contender in the Northside along with Mackay. This year's Sawtooth South Division features Castleford, Murtaugh, Lighthouse Christian, North Gem, Rockland, Sho-Ban and Jackpot (Nev.).
Because North Division squad Leadore isn't fielding a team this year, Carey has scheduled a non-conference game against Pahranagat Valley (Alamo, Nev.) on Sept. 25 in Twin Falls. Pahranagat Valley is located 99 miles north of Las Vegas.
HEADLINE:2010 Carey School Football Schedule
A total 9 games on the regular-season schedule for the 2010 Panther varsity—3 home and 6 away. All home games at Derrick Parke Memorial field are shown in bold. Homecoming is the Sept. 17 game with Camas County. Sawtooth Conference North Division 2 league games (Camas County, Dietrich, Richfield, Mackay and Clark County) are followed by an asterisk (*). Carey opens with three games against 1A Division 1 schools. There are five Carey JV games on the schedule this fall.
DATE, DAY OPPONENT LOCATION
Aug. 27, Friday Idaho City (JV/V) Away, 4:00/6:00
Sept. 3, Friday Raft River of Malta (JV/V) Home, 4:00/7:00
Sept. 10, Friday Hagerman (JV/V) Away, 4:00/7:00
Sept. 17, Friday Camas County—Homecoming* Home, 7:00
Sept. 25, Saturday Pahranagat Valley (Nev.) Twin Falls, 1:00
Oct. 1, Friday Clark County* Dubois, 3:30
Oct. 7, Thursday Dietrich* Away, 7:00
Oct. 14, Thursday North Valley of Gooding (JV) Home, 4:00
Oct. 15, Friday Mackay* Home, 7:00
Oct. 21, Thursday Lighthouse Christian (JV) Twin Falls, 6:00
Oct. 28, Thursday Richfield* Away, 3:30
Nov. 6, Friday State 1A Division 2 playoffs TBA
NOTES—The Sept. 25 non-conference game against Pahranagat Valley will be played at Canyon Ridge High School football field in Twin Falls.....This is the seventh year that Idaho 8-man football is divided for state tournament qualifying purposes into bigger schools (Division 1, 100-159 students) and smaller schools (Division 2, 99-and-below). Eight teams in each division will qualify for the state playoffs, which will be held Nov. 5-6, Nov. 12-13 and Nov. 19-20. The Division 2 Sawtooth Conference of 13 schools includes Carey, Camas County of Fairfield, Dietrich, Richfield, Mackay and Clark County of Dubois in the 6-team North (Leadore is not playing this year), and, in the 7-team South Division, Castleford, Murtaugh, Lighthouse Christian of Twin Falls, North Gem of Bancroft, Rockland, Sho-Ban of Fort Hall and Jackpot, Nev. The 1A Division 1 Snake River Conference of larger schools features Hansen, Hagerman, Oakley, Raft River of Malta, Glenns Ferry, Challis, Grace and Shoshone.....In the first round of the State 1A Division 2 playoffs, 5 Sawtooth Conference teams will qualify. The #1 Sawtooth North winner will host the #2 Sawtooth South finisher, and the #2 Sawtooth North second-place team will travel to the #1 Sawtooth South winner. The winners of those games will face each other in the semi-finals. In addition, a third-place North/South team (based on best league records) will qualify and travel to the Boise-area runner-up in the first round.
