By JON MENTZER
Express Staff Writer
On a chilly Friday night at Hailey's Phil Homer Field, the Wood River Wolverines were looking to bounce back from a 34-15 Great Basin Conference loss to Minico as the Twin Falls Bruins arrived to play spoiler.
Coming into the league game, Wood River owned a powerful rushing attack averaging 331 yards a game. However, Twin Falls focused on Wood River's strengths and held the Wolverines to just 184 yards on the ground while also holding Wood River well below its 28.4 ppg scoring average.
Twin Falls escaped Hailey with a 17-14 win that threw a hitch into Wood River's playoff hopes. It was the second straight loss for Wood River (4-3, 1-2 league) and second league win for Twin Falls (4-2, 2-1).
Despite the outcome, Wood River senior running back Greg Lindbloom rushed 30 times for a game-high 190 yards and went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark with 134 carries for 1,011 yards (14 touchdowns) in seven games. It was his fourth 100-yard rushing game.
Line play dominated.
With both teams grinding it out on the offensive and defensive lines, Twin Falls frustrated Wood River and didn't allow the Wolverines to get comfortable in their own skin. Wood River also missed important opportunities to score.
"I thought it was a pretty good battle up front," Wood River coach Kevin Stilling said. "I think both offensive lines did a good job tonight."
Twin Falls, league champion in 2009 and GBC runner-up last fall, just did a little better and won its third straight game by a slim margin of a total 15 points. The Bruins (3-0 road) have beaten Century of Pocatello, Jerome and Wood River on successive weeks.
The night began with a typical heavy dose of running for Wood River (2,173 rushing yards season) as it marched down the field with ease on its first drive—80 yards on 12 plays while eating up over five minutes in the first quarter.
Lindbloom carried the ball seven times for 47 yards and the game's first score. But Wood River was unable to capitalize on Twin Falls' mistakes. Senior defensive back Austin Hafer intercepted Bruins junior quarterback Thomas Corr to give Wood River good field position. But the Wolverines went three-and-out and punted.
Twin Falls sprang to life and scored on its ensuing drive to tie the game 7-7 on a two-yard Zach Davis touchdown run.
On the next series, the Wolverines put together a textbook drive moving the ball down field on the legs of Lindbloom's clever running. Despite help from costly mistakes on two Bruin penalties, Wood River stalled when it couldn't convert a 29-yard field goal.
At halftime it was still 7-7.
Twin Falls opened the second half with a strong, time-consuming drive. The Bruins converted a key fourth down to set up a 30-yard field goal by Ben Worst for a 10-7 lead.
"We knew that special teams was going to be a huge factor in this game," said Stilling. "It was so evenly matched. We missed a field goal and they made a field goal."
On offense, Stilling and his boys focused heavily on the run throughout the game, putting the ball in the air only seven times. The Bruins often stacked their defensive line with five- and six-man fronts to give extra push back to Wood River's effective running attack.
Stilling didn't think Twin Falls did anything special to stall Wood River; however, the Wolverines only amassed 242 yards total in the game (184 rushing, 31 returns) with just 27 coming from the arm of junior quarterback Tommy Bailey.
Throughout the game it seemed as if Wood River was missing that last piece for the win. The home team did just about everything it was supposed to: controlled the time of possession, forced turnovers and forced timely sacks by juniors Chris Carnes (2 sacks), Karel Kaiser and seniors Connor Farrow and Connor Braatz.
Yet the game figured to go right back in Wood River's favor. The Wolverines scored on a 12-yard sweep by senior Trace Tupper to take a 14-10 lead heading into the fourth.
That's when Twin Falls wore down Wood River by eating up over six minutes of the clock to march down the field for the eventual go-ahead score, a seven-yard TD by top rusher Hunter Waters (19 rushes, 118 yards). Wood River couldn't slow down Twin Falls run attack despite two Bruins penalties and sacking them twice.
"Our kids know they didn't play as well as they could have in the fourth quarter," added Stilling. "We try and preach 'play as hard as you can for all four quarters'."
An interception by Bruins linebacker Isaiah Armstead turned aside any hopes for a late Wood River comeback.
Check today's Web site for full WR-Twin Falls statistics.
Burley arrives for Senior Night
The loss to Twin Falls attached more significance to Wood River's Senior Night home game against the Burley Bobcats on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. at Homer Field. It's now a "must win" if Wood River has any hopes for a playoff berth.
Wood River, which has lost two games by a total six points and could very well be 6-1, will challenge a Burley squad (2-4, 1-2) coming off a 30-6 home victory over Buhl. Burley's one shining moment this fall was a stunning 16-6 victory over Twin Falls that snapped a 14-game Bobcat losing skid.
Although Burley is enjoying a good season with a 19.8 ppg scoring average, Bobcat teams haven't won two straight games since 2005 when they beat Declo and Preston at the beginning of a 4-5 season. Since that two-game win streak, Burley has an overall 8-47 record.
Wood River teams are 3-2 against Burley in the last five years, winning 27-20 last fall at Burley, plus 23-0 at home in 2007 and 39-0 at Burley in 2006. The Wolverines lost to Burley 35-14 the last time the teams played in Hailey, in 2009. Prior to 2006, Burley teams had blasted Wood River seven straight times by a 235-46 score.
This year, Burley still has a slim shot at being one of three GBC teams to make the Great Eight playoffs. But the 'Cats must win on the road at Wood River and Jerome and get some help along the way.
Wood River against Burley isn't the only pivotal game this Friday. Twin Falls is hosting Canyon Ridge (4-3, 2-1) while league-leading Minico (7-0, 3-0) visits Jerome (1-5, 0-3). Twin Falls still has a shot at its second GBC title in three years with wins over Canyon Ridge and Minico. Meanwhile, Wood River will likely have to beat both Burley and Canyon Ridge (at Twin Oct. 21) to advance.
WRHS Line Score
Twin Falls 17, Wood River 14
TWIN FALLS 0 7 3 7 17
WOOD RIVER 7 0 7 0 14
SCORING
1st half
Wood River—Greg Lindbloom, 1-yard run (Trevor Brand kick); 6:34 1st (7-0 WR)
Twin Falls—Zach Davis, 3-yard run (Ben Worst kick); 6:50 2nd (7-7)
2nd half
Twin Falls—Ben Worst, 30-yard field goal kick; 7:51 3rd (10-7 TF)
Wood River—Trace Tupper, 12-yard run (Brand kick); 3:46 3rd (14-10 WR)
Twin Falls—Hunter Waters, 7-yard run (Worst kick); 5:32 4th (17-14 TF)
KEY STATS WR TF
Offensive plays 53 51
Time of possession 23:54 15:14
1st downs, rush 10 4
1st downs, pass 0 8
1st downs, penalty 8 2
1st downs, total 18 14
Rushes, yards 45-184 33-129
Yards per carry 4.0 3.9
Fumbles lost 0 0
Completions, passes 2-8 13-18
Completion percentage 40% 72%
Passing yards 27 157
Yards per completion 13.5 12.0
Intercepted by 2 1
Sacks by, yards 5-17 1-7
Returns, yards 2-31 4-44
Total yards gained 242 313
Third down efficiency 4-9 4-10
Fourth down efficiency 3-4 1-1
Penalties 2-15 8-97
Punts, yardage 2-37 2-36
Yards per punt 18.0 18.0
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Wood River
Rushing— Greg Lindbloom 30-190, 11 1sts, 1 TD; Austin Hafer 5-14, 0 1st; Ian Keys 4- (-20); Trace Tupper 4-10, 1 1st, 1 TD; Braxton Parish 1-(-3); Tommy Bailey 1-(-4).
Passing—Tommy Bailey 2-5, 27 yards, 2 1sts, 1 INT; Braxton Parish 0-2, 0 yards, 1 INT.
Receiving—Connor Braatz 1-12; Connor Farrow 1-15.
Interceptions (1)—Austin Hafer, 1-45.
Sacks (5)—Chris Carnes 2-7; Karel Kaiser 1-8; Connor Farrow 1-1; Connor Braatz 1-1.
Tackles (58)— Chance Larkin 9, Austin Hafer 8, Ben Williams 5, Drew Barsch 5, Connor Braatz 5, Braxton Parish 4, Chris Carnes 4, K.J. Savaria 4, Ian Keys 2, Gus Conrad 2, Jake Vegwert 2, Karel Kaiser 2, Greg Lindbloom 2, Trace Tupper 1, Colton Larkin 1, Connor Farrow 1, Tommy Bailey 1, Trevor Brand 1.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Twin Falls
Rushing leaders—Hunter Waters 19-118, 4 1st, 1 TD; Zach Davis 5-19, 1 TD; Thomas Corr 7-(-3); Jason Byce 2-(-5).
Passing—Thomas Corr 13-18, 158 yards, 1 INT.
Receiving—Robert Sanchez 5-94; Zayne Slotten 2-22; Zach Davis 3-18; Jason Byce 1-14; Casey Merritt 2-10.
Interceptions (2)—Isaiah Armstead 1-17; John Hohnhorst 1-0.
Sacks (1)—Chance Connell 1-7.
Tackle (50)—Jason Byce 12, Braydon Urrutia 7, Zayne Slotten 6, Isaiah Armstead 5, Chance Connell 4, John Hohnhorst 3, Marcus Co 3, Michael McLure 3, Zach Davis 3, Casey Merritt 2, Jonathon Schroedter 2, Wyatt Doyle 2.