Wood River High School boosters packed the south bleachers at Hailey’s Phil Homer Field on Friday night to watch the 2013 Homecoming football game and see the crowning of the new royalty.
Homecoming royalty winners were announced at halftime of the Great Basin Conference football game between Wood River and the visiting Twin Falls Bruins.
The Homecoming Queen and King representing the senior class were Chloe Lichtenberg and Quinn Guthrie.
Named the princess and prince from each class were:
Seniors—Chloe Davis and Cooper Bailey.
Juniors—Rory Cole and Santiago Gomez.
Sophomores—Megan Sfingi and Gunner Gibson.
Freshmen—Julia Larson and Kenny Pratt.
The football game started out in a promising fashion for the underdog Wood River Wolverines, suiting up just 22 players compared to the 79 on the Twin Falls roster—including 26 senior class players.
Wood River senior co-captain Cody Richmond recovered two onsides kicks in the first quarter and senior co-captain Cooper Bailey scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 48-yard fumble recovery tying the game 7-7 after one quarter.
But Twin Falls senior running back Jacob Johnson (16 carries for 189 yards) scored three of his four touchdowns during a 35-point Bruins second quarter explosion and Twin Falls breezed to a 49-14 Great Basin Conference victory.
Wood River junior running back Champe Kotara led the Wolverines in rushing with 22 carries for a season-best 114 yards. Bailey added 52 yards on the ground and returned three kickoffs for 29 yards. Junior Hayden Thayer led the Wolverine defense with 10 tackles.
Twin Falls out-rushed Wood River 287-181 and capitalized on Wolverine mistakes—turning two fumble recoveries and an interception plus a botched punt attempt into touchdowns.
Twin Falls (5-1, 3-0 league) won its fourth straight game and needs only home wins over Canyon Ridge (1-5, 0-2) and Burley (4-2, 1-1) the next two weeks to clinch an unbeaten league season and earn the league’s No. 1 seed into the State 4A playoffs.
Wood River (1-5, 0-2) dropped its fifth straight game and heads to Burley Friday, Oct. 18 for its third conference game of the season. Coming off a 49-0 loss to Century in Pocatello Oct. 3, Burley won its Homecoming game 35-13 over Kimberly last Friday.
Coach Kevin Stilling said about the Twin Falls game, “I was proud of how our kids came out and battled. Recovering two onside kicks and Cooper's big scoop and score gave our kids a reason to believe early. One of the most telling signs of the game was their ability to convert sudden-change situations into touchdowns.
“Twin Falls is a very good football team that is very well coached. It’s hard to watch them on film and point out a weakness. There is a reason they're ranked fourth in 4A and I expect them to make a good run in the playoffs. They are good up front on offense and (Jacob) Johnson makes a lot of kids miss on the second level.
“Defensively, they are just tough to move and get off blocks well. When we did have success with misdirection, their other kids just flow to the ball really well and we didn’t stay on blocks long enough to sustain drives or make big plays.
“We'll continue to try and get better and go 1-0 this week; that's our focus right now—not to dwell on injuries and losses but to do what we can do on the next play and what we can do this week to get better.
“Burley is going to pose a challenge this week as their quarterback, Cook, is adept at throwing it deep and doesn't miss on the short game. Their running back is a big physical kid that we have got to a better job of tackling than we did Johnson.”
Freshmen edge Twin Falls
Wood River’s freshman football team beat the host Twin Falls Bruins last Thursday by a 14-8 score in Twin Falls to improve its season record to 6-0, head freshman coach Rhett Jones said.
A touchdown run by Travis Swanson gave the Wolverines the decisive points in overtime. Jones said, “Momentum was on our side from the start of overtime. We made a huge stop on fourth down at the end of regulation and that gave our guys a lot of fire. Twin Falls was a very tough and physical opponent and put our guys to the test. This one goes out to all of our players. This win was definitely a team effort!”
Wood River has two of its final three games at home starting Thursday, Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m. against the Burley Bobcats at Phil Homer Field. Canyon Ridge is the home finale on Thursday, Oct. 31. The Wolverines go to Jerome on Thursday, Oct. 24.
WRHS Line Score: Twin Falls 49, Wood River 14
| TWIN FALLS |
7 |
35 |
7 |
0 |
49 |
| WOOD RIVER |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
14 |
SCORING
1st half
Twin Falls—Jacob Johnson, 16-yard run (Juan Archila-Rodas kick); 6:12 1st (7-0 TF).
Wood River—Cooper Bailey, 48-yard fumble return (Eron Bates kick); 2:54 1st (7-7).
Twin Falls—Jacob Johnson, 16-yard run (Juan Archila-Rodas kick); 11:44 2nd (14-7 TF).
Twin Falls—Jason Bride, 51-yard pass from Kaleb Jones (Juan Archila-Rodas kick); 10:11 2nd (21-7 TF).
Twin Falls—Jacob Johnson, 1-yard run (Juan Archila-Rodas kick); 7:07 2nd (28-7 TF).
Twin Falls—Jacob Johnson, 60-yard run (Juan Archila-Rodas kick); 4:50 2nd (35-7 TF).
Twin Falls—Jason Bride, 10-yard pass from Kordell Williams (Juan Archila-Rodas kick); 0:29 2nd (42-7 TF).
2nd half
Twin Falls—Kaleb Jones, 1-yard run (Hayden Cowden kick); 4:47 3rd (49-7 TF).
Wood River—Cooper Bailey, 11-yard run (Kyle Weller kick); 5:28 4th (49-14 TF).
| KEY STATS |
TWIN FALLS |
WOOD RIVER |
| Offensive plays |
54 |
62 |
| Time of possession |
20:22 |
27:38:00 |
| 1st downs, rush |
9 |
5 |
| 1st downs, pass |
0 |
0 |
| 1st downs, penalty |
2 |
1 |
| 1st downs, total |
11 |
6 |
| Rushes, yards |
38-287 |
38-181 |
| Yards per carry |
7.6 |
4.8 |
| Fumbles lost |
4 |
2 |
| Completions, passes |
2-4 |
1-7 |
| Completion percentage |
50% |
14% |
| Passing yards |
61 |
3 |
| Yards per completion |
30.5 |
3 |
| Intercepted by |
1 |
0 |
| Sacks by, yards |
2-15 |
0-0 |
| Returns, yards |
2-22 |
6-103 |
| Total yards gained |
370 |
272 |
| Third down efficiency |
3-5 |
2-11 |
| Fourth down efficiency |
0-0 |
0-2 |
| Penalties |
5-35 |
8-79 |
| Punts, yardage |
2-100 |
6-182 |
| Yards per punt |
50 |
30.3 |
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Wood River
Rushing—Champe Kotara 22-113, 3 1sts; Cooper Bailey 7-52, 2 1sts, 1 TD; Austin Savaria 2-9; Izaac Easterday 3-8; Christopher Lentz 2-7; Hayden Thayer 1-0; team 1, -8.
Passing—Alec Nordsieck 1-7, 3 yards, 1 interception.
Receiving—Hayden Thayer 1-3.
Kickoff returns—Cooper Bailey 3-29; Austin Savaria 2-26.
Fumble recoveries (4)—Cooper Bailey 1 with a 48-yard TD return; Cody Richmond 2 (onsides kicks); Parker Bingham 1.
Tackles (57)—Hayden Thayer 10, Champe Kotara 7, Izaac Easterday 7, Cody Richmond 5, Christopher Lentz 5, Justin Miller 5, Austin Savaria 4, Hagan Barsch 3, Jon Reigle 3, Dee Jay McMurdo 2, Cooper Bailey 2, Parker Bingham 1, Beau Boss 1, Austin Krenz 1, Aramys Gallegos 1.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS—Twin Falls
Rushing—Jacob Johnson 16-189 (11.8 yards per carry), 3 1sts, 4 TD; Joshua Garner 7-32, 2 1sts; Tyler Walters 3-31, 1 1st; Christopher Webb 2-18, 1 1st; Michael Roberts 2-12, 1 1st; Troy Andresen 1-7; Kaleb Jones 1-1, 1 TD.
Passing—Kaleb Jones 1-2, 51 yards, 1 TD; Kordell Williams 1-2, 10 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving—Jason Bride 2-61, 2 TD.
Kickoff returns—Joshua Garner 1-9.
Punt returns—Jason Bride 1-13.
Fumble recoveries (2)—Garrett Pirtle 2.
Interceptions (1)—Tyler Walters 1.
Sacks (2)—Garrett Pirtle 1-6; team 1-8.
Tackle leaders—Garrett Pirtle 7, Dakota Miller 7, Christopher Patterson 6, Joseph Hobson 6, Tyler Walters 4, Spencer Geilman 4, Keegan Luker 4, Isaak Boyd 3, Jose Alvarez 3.
Wood River junior Champe Kotara had his team’s first 100-yard rushing game of the 2013 season against Twin Falls with 113 yards in the 49-14 Wolverine Homecoming setback. Photo by Willy Cook
