Challenges ahead for WRHS football
"We're in our toughest three-game stretch of the season," said Wood River High School football coach Kevin Stilling about the sequence of Jerome, Twin Falls and Minico grid games from Sept. 24-Oct. 7.
The Jerome Tigers (2-3, 2-0 league), Great Basin Conference runner-up for four straight years, scored on their first two offensive plays last Friday on Homecoming night and defeated Wood River 35-13. It snapped a two-game win streak for Wood River (2-2, 0-1).
Wood River visits defending GBC champ Twin Falls (4-1, 2-0) Friday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. and hosts 2005-09 league king Minico (2-2, 1-0) on Oct. 7. The Wolverines will need to have better starts in each one of the upcoming GBC challenges.
Stilling said, "We came out not ready to play at Jerome and uncharacteristically made too many penalty mistakes. We expected better things from our defense after it carried us in two of our first three games."
There were positives for Wood River starting with the blocking of the offensive line and the team's running game that gained over 200 yards.
"Take away several holding calls on the edge and we could have been close to 300 yards rushing," said Stilling. "We averaged over four yards a carry. Our line had by far its best game of the year with run blocking and pass blocking."
Stilling said Wood River spread the rushing responsibilities around between several backs—Nathan Farrow 15 carries for 60 yards, Greg Lindbloom 8-for-54, Braxton Parish 12-for-53 and Trace Tupper 9-for-48. Alex Padilla was injured early on and didn't return.
"We moved the ball well and picked up good chunks of yardage," said Stilling. He added that senior Kevin Jensen (8-for-11, 142 yards, 1 TD) had "the best game throwing the ball by our quarterback since we went to the wing-T last year."
Jensen connected with 6-5 junior Connor Braatz on a seam route for a 55-yard TD toss that capped a 70-yard Wolverine scoring drive in the first quarter. The play answered Jerome's opening salvo of a long TD on a short screen pass but it wasn't enough—Jerome scored the next four TDs.
Nathan Farrow scored Wood River's second touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Swimmers ready for home meet
Ranked first in the region entering the 2010 high school swimming season, the Wood River girls have already picked up a pair of first-place finishes.
And they have their second home meet of the young season Saturday, Oct. 2 in Ketchum.
Wood River's girls won their Sept. 11 home meet at the Ketchum Y while the #6-ranked Wood River boys tied Century of Pocatello for first place in the same competition. At the Sept. 18 Rupert Invitational, the WR girls were first in the standings and the boys third.
First place girls' finishes at Rupert went to Colby Werley (200 IM), Elizabeth Fry (100 free and 200 free) and Lena Friesen (50 free and 500 free). For the boys, JT Sutton won the gold in the 100 free. Other top results:
Adam Potts 2—200 IM and 100 back. Kelsey Syms 2—100 back and 200 free. Tayler Bates 2—200 IM. Chrystal Tullis 2—50 free. Tori Emerick 2—100 free and 200 IM.
Audrey Brassil 10—100 free. Addy Gage 8—100 free. Lisa Hart 20—50 free. Logan Johnston 6—100 back. Lauren Lichtenberg 3—100 free. Josie Potts 13—100 free. Luke Verst 4—100 breast. Kailey Wilt 1—50 free and 100 free.
Other high school meets this fall are the Wood River Invitational Oct. 2, at Pocatello Oct. 9, at Twin Falls Oct. 16 and the regional meet in Pocatello Oct. 30. The state championship is held Nov. 5-6 in Boise.
Cutthroats seek new basketball coach
Community School athletic director John Remington said Friday that the Sun Valley independent school is seeking a new head boys' basketball coach, effective immediately.
Remington said, "We're looking for someone who wants to establish a positive relationship with the boys. The new coach will focus on developing the program and establishing relationships with the other schools playing basketball in the Northside Conference."
The 2010-11 season begins in mid-November with games starting early in December. The season lasts through February. Currently, the school has three returning players and 10 freshmen, which makes it likely that only a varsity team will be sent into action.
The new coach will be only the third coach at Sun Valley in 27 seasons. Started by Mike Wade, The Community School boys' program began in 1983 and has competed with 17 varsity teams and 10 junior varsity teams in those 27 years.
Wade (108-179 in 15 varsity seasons through 2008, plus 10 JV campaigns) and Ed Flory (17-25 the past 2 seasons) have been the Cutthroat coaches. Ketchum resident Flory is now spending the winter coaching at Penn State-Mont Alto near Chambersburg, Pa. Its competition season starts Nov. 15.
