All across the Mountain West region, there were some impressive performances that took place on high school football fields in six states from Idaho to the Dakotas.
High School On SI wanted to look at some of the highs and lows from the region that took place this weekend. Here are some of the highlights we found.
Three Up
Pocatello (ID)
The Thunder have had a rough season, although they finished on a high note by shutting out crosstown rival Century 13-0 to improve from 1-7 a year ago to 3-6 this season.
Little could they have known that their win would be enough to sneak them past Century and Vallivue in the MaxPreps rankings and into the 12th and final slot in the 5A playoff bracket. Their reward will be a 525-mile drive to Lewiston to take on the Golden Bengals in a first-round game on Halloween.
Laramie (WY)
The Plainsmen rallied for a 21-17 victory over Kelly Walsh to finish the regular season 5-4 and the No. 4 seed in the 4A playoff bracket. It marks the first time the program has finished above .500 in the regular season or earned a home playoff game since 2000. They will play host to Cheyenne Central on Friday in a rematch from three weeks ago, when Laramie won 20-9.
Great Plains Lutheran (SD)
Since starting the program in 2003, the Panthers had finished with only two winning seasons and made five playoff appearances, with all resulting in first-round losses, before this fall. However, with their 22-7 victory over Lead-Deadwood in an opening-round game of the Class 9AA playoffs, they won their school-record seventh game and sent them into a quarterfinal matchup next week against Hamlin.
Three Down
Owyhee (ID)
The Storm controlled everything they could control in the final week of the regular season. They went into Week 9 ranked No. 10 in the MaxPreps rankings, which the IHSAA uses to round out its bracket after the automatic qualifiers are determined, then went out and defeated Middleton 28-14 with quarterback Tyriq Reese running for two touchdowns and tossing two TD passes.
However, after the computers went through all the algorithms and spit out the final numbers, Owyhee found itself on the outside looking in, dropping to No. 12 and replaced by North Idaho runner-up Lake City, which received an automatic bid into the 12-team bracket.
Hellgate (MT)
When Quinn Chamberlain took the Knights job two years ago, he did so with high hopes of turning around a program that hadn’t won more than three games in a season since 2004. He matched that win total last year in getting them back to the playoffs for the first time since 1994, but unfortunately, things reverted to form this fall. The Knights completed an 0-9 campaign with a 28-13 loss to Helena — their closest margin of defeat in a season in which they were outscored 442-116.
Oakes (ND)
The Tornadoes had the misfortune of finishing their season facing the No. 1 seed in the Division A playoffs, Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm, losing 30-6 in the regular-season finale, then opening the postseason with defending state champion Langdon/Edmore/Munich. Oakes gave the Cardinals all they could handle before falling 21-6 to end their season 5-4.
Who rises and falls next? High School On SI will return each week with Three Up, Three Down from around the Mountain West high school football scene.
Add us as a preferred source on Google