There were plenty of plays, 126 in all, and plenty of opportunities over the two-hour game to operate at less than full throttle during Friday's non-conference football tussle between Wood River and Buhl at Hailey's Phil Homer Field.
But the goal of coach Kevin Stilling's Wood River Wolverines was to go all out for four full quarters and come away with Hailey's first football victory in a decade over the Buhl Tribe. It was mission accomplished, thanks to a rugged defense and big plays on offense.
Wood River (1-1), out-rushing Buhl 262-94, scored twice at the end of the first quarter and added a late fourth-period score to beat the Tribe (0-1) by a score of 21-8. It was the first Wolverine victory over Buhl since 2000, after nine consecutive losses to the Tribe.
Defense led the way. Wood River limited Buhl to 3.3 yards per carry and held the Tribe to two yards or less on 16 of 29 rushes. The Wolverines were particularly tough at crunch time, stopping Buhl nine of 11 times on third down and six of seven times on fourth down.
Twice each half, Wood River's defense stopped Buhl's fourth-down tries in Wolverine territory. Leading the charge were junior linebacker Drew Barsch (14 tackles, 1 interception, 1 sack) and junior K.J. Savaria (6 second-half tackles).
Senior Austin Hafer (100 rushing yards, 255 all-purpose yards), a transfer from Mountain View High School, played a major role in all three Hailey scores. He threw a 52-yard scoring pass to senior Colton Larkin on a halfback option. Hafer returned a kickoff 84 yards for six more points.
Hafer, a son of Bellevue's Kristian Larese, had a 61-yard from scrimmage setting up Wood River's insurance touchdown, run into the end zone by senior Greg Lindbloom (17 carries for 99 yards) with a minute left in the fourth period.
Senior Braxton Parish said afterwards, "We wanted to come out and play the full four quarters and that's what we did. This team has great team chemistry. We don't get down on each other. Instead, we pump each other up."
Third-year Hailey head coach Kevin Stilling said, "The boys played hard. I think for the first time since I've been coaching here, our team played the whole four quarters. And it was important for us to score that last touchdown and not give Buhl a chance to make it close in the fourth quarter."
Scoring came in bunches as Wood River recorded only its 10th win in the 42-game grid series. If you left for a hot dog at the end of the first quarter, you might have missed the first three touchdowns, all scored within a 27-second span as the first 12 minutes ticked away.
Both teams came up short on long opening drives—Barsch and Trace Tupper yanking down Buhl's Micah Schneidermann for a four-yard loss on a fourth-down flat pass near midfield to gain possession.
On the first offensive play after that defensive stop, quarterback Tommy Bailey pitched the ball to Hafer around the left end. A left-handed thrower who played for coach Trent Seamons on the American Legion baseball team this summer, Hafer stopped and threw a perfect lead pass to Colton Larkin for a 52-yard score.
Sophomore Gus Conrad kicked the extra point for a 7-0 Wolverine lead with 49 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Wood River's onside kick attempt was recovered by Buhl's Jacob DeKruyf, giving the Tribe great field position at its own 47-yard-line. On the first play, quarterback Camden Gillins rifled a look-in pass to Schneidermann who completed the 53-yard scoring play. Buhl's two-point conversion run by David Murdoch made it 8-7.
It was Buhl's only touchdown and its last lead, because Hafer picked up the subsequent kickoff, broke through an attempted Murdoch tackle at the 32 and out-ran the Tribe special teams squad for an 84-yard TD. Junior Trevor Brand kicked the extra point for a 14-8 lead.
A series of frustrating penalty calls kept Wood River from scoring more in the first half.
Barsch's nine-yard sack stopped the Tribe on fourth down at the Wolverine 22, after a Hailey turnover. Tupper's 34-yard end run behind Barsch's block was nullified by a holding call, but Lindbloom came right back with a 26-yard gainer. Then, Hafer's apparent 44-yard TD run around left end was wiped out by an unsportsmanlike conduct whistle.
After a Barsch interception and 19-yard return, Wood River moved quickly to the Tribe 12-yard-line before another holding penalty coupled with an unsportsmanlike flag pushed the Wolverines backward—and Brand missed a 30-yard field goal attempt, wide left.
Stilling, irritated at the calls, said, "We talked at halftime about rising above things. We made changes at half, going from the varied formations we used before half to a double tight formation after. The offense executed well. It's a credit to our kids. They've put in extra time to learn things and they went with the changes."
Trailing by only six points, Buhl had two chances to overtake Wood River in the third quarter—but the home defense was equal to the challenge.
After a Schneidermann interception on Wood River's first possession, Buhl swept into Hailey territory—only to be stopped on a fourth-down run by the gang tackling of Barsch, Tupper, Parish and Jake Vegwert. Wood River's offense went four-and-out. The Tribe took over at midfield.
Schneidermann's 34-yard option pass to Devon Privott advanced the ball into the red zone, and that's where the Hailey defense stiffened.
Noseguard Calub Castle and Savaria stopped a Murdoch run for a one-yard gain at the 14. Lindbloom brought down quarterback Camden Gillins on a scramble. Chance Larkin tackled Schneiderman around left end for no gain. On fourth-and-two at the six-yard-line, Gillins kept the ball—greeted rudely by Lindbloom, Castle and Karel Kaiser for yet another key stop.
That ended the third quarter. Wood River's offense regained control with a five-minute, 68-yard drive on quicm openers run by Savaria and Lindbloom. Doing the blocking was the offensive line that included Chris Carnes, Ben Williams, center Vegwert, Wyatt Griffith and Connor Farrow.
With three minutes left, Wood River's defense stopped Buhl's passing game and took over at the 13-yard-line. Hafer broke four tackles for a 61-yard run and Lindbloom hit a huge hole for an 11-yard TD scamper.
Check today's Web site for a complete game summary.
The 4A Wolverines travel Friday, Sept. 9 for a non-conference game at 2A Wendell (1-0). Playing for first-year coach John Helmendollar, a former Boise State University running back, the grind-it-out Trojans won 14-8 over North Fremont at Ashton Friday.
Wood River, a 29-14 home winner over Wendell last September, also won at Wendell 14-13 in 2009 on Haylee Thompson's extra point kick. It was Wood River's first win in nine years at Wendell. Overall, in the 36-game series, Wood River still leads Wendell 22-13-1. The Trojans were 2-6 in their first season at the 2A level in 2010.
WOLVERINE NOTES—Wood River had 113 rushing yards in the first half and 149 yards in the second half. The Wolverines outgained Buhl 452-242 in total yardage.....Co- captains on Friday night were Braxton Parish, Kevin Cooley, Greg Lindbloom and Jake Vegwert.....Young Sammie Brunker sang a cool national anthem.
Buhl teams, winning five times at home and four in Hailey, had outscored Wood River 284-72 in nine straight wins from 2001-10. On Friday, the Wolverines held a Buhl team to its fewest points since Oct. 15, 1993, when coach Chris Malmgren's Hailey squad won at home 48-6 over Buhl.
Coincidentally, several key players from Wood River's last team to beat Buhl were in the valley last weekend celebrating their 10th high school reunion. They included class president Max Paisley and Cory Goicoechea, senior leaders on the 2000 Hailey grid squad that won at home over Buhl 35-20. Paisley scored four TDs in that game, and senior quarterback Goicoechea (11-for-11 for 210 yards in the first 16 minutes) tossed four TD passes and booted five extra points.
WRHS Line Score
Wood River 21, Buhl 8
BUHL 8 0 0 0 8
WOOD RIVER 14 0 0 7 21
SCORING
1st half
Wood River—Colton Larkin, 52-yard pass from Austin Hafer (Gus Conrad kick); 0:49 1st (7-0 WR)
Buhl—Micah Schneidermann, 53-yard pass from Camden Gillins (David Murdoch run); 0:35 1st (8-7 Buhl)
Wood River—Austin Hafer, 84-yard kickoff return (Trevor Brand kick); 0:22 1st (14-8 WR)
2nd half
Wood River—Greg Lindbloom, 11-yard run (Gus Conrad kick); 1:02 4th (21-8 WR)
KEY STATS BUHL WOOD RIVER
Offensive plays 60 66
Time of possession 25:00 23:00
1st downs, rush 5 7
1st downs, pass 4 1
1st downs, penalty 1 2
1st downs, total 10 10
Rushes, yards 29-94 35-262
Yards per carry 3.3 7.5
Fumbles lost 0 2
Completions, passes 10-20 4-10
Completion percentage 50% 40%
Passing yards 143 77
Yards per completion 14.3 19.3
Intercepted by 1 1
Sacks by, yards 2-15 3-23
Returns, yards 2-28 4-128
Total yards gained 242 452
Penalties 6-40 6-70
Punts, yardage 3-94 2-23
Yards per punt 31.3 11.5
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Wood River
Rushing—Greg Lindbloom 17-99, 3 1sts, 1 TD; Austin Hafer 7-100, 2 1sts; K.J. Savaria 4-39, 2 1sts; Ian Keys 2-13; Trace Tupper 5-11.
Passing—Tommy Bailey 3-8, 25 yards, 1 1st, 1 interception; Austin Hafer 1-1, 52 yards, 1 TD; Trace Tupper 0-1.
Receiving—Colton Larkin 1-52, 1 TD; Connor Farrow 1-13, 1 1st; Trace Tupper 2-12.
Interceptions (1)—Drew Barsch 1 with a 19-yard return.
Sacks (3)—Drew Barsch 1-9; K.J. Savaria and Wyatt Griffith 1-8; Karel Kaiser 1-6.
Kickoff returns—Austin Hafer 2-103, 1 TD.
All-purpose yardage—Austin Hafer 255.
Tackles (67)—Drew Barsch 14, K.J. Savaria 8, Greg Lindbloom 6, Braxton Parish 6, Jake Vegwert 5, Ben Williams 5, Austin Hafer 4, Chance Larkin 3, Trace Tupper 3, Chris Carnes 2, Wyatt Griffith 2, Karel Kaiser 2, Gus Conrad 2, Calub Castle 2, Connor Farrow 1, Colton Larkin 1, Jared Anderson 1.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Buhl
Rushing leaders—David Murdoch 17-72, 5 1sts, 1 conv.; Camden Gillins 5-7; Micah Schneidermann 6-6; Jacob DeKruyf 1-9.
Passing—Camden Gillins 9-19, 109 yards, 3 1sts, 1 TD, 1 conv., 1 interception; Micah Schneidermann 1-1, 34 yards, 1 1st.
Receiving—Micah Schneidermann 4-57, 1 TD; Devon Privott 4-48, 2 1sts; Andrew Jensen 1-25, 1 1st; David Murdoch 1-13, 1 1st.
Fumble recoveries (2)—Jacob DeKruyf 1, Kyle Van Patten 1.
Interceptions (1)—Micah Schneidermann 1.
Sacks (2)—Oren Carlton 1-13; Devin Dias 1-2.
Kickoff returns—Camden Gillins 1-16; Kellen Gillins 1-12.
Tackles (51)—Oren Carlton 7, Gage Kliegl 6, Kellin Gillins 5, Devon Privott 5, Devin Dias 4, Kyle Van Patten 4, Micah Schneidermann 4, David Murdoch 4, Stephen Mejia 4, Camden Gillins 4, Andrew Jensen 2, Daniel Havens 1, Hunter Crown 1 .
Wood River junior Chris Carnes was a big part of the strong line charge that defeated the Buhl Tribe 21-8 in Hailey Friday night. It was Wood River’s first win over Buhl since 2000. Photo by David N. Seelig
