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Previous 3-Star Columns:
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
Week Five
Week Six
Week Seven
Week Eight
Week Nine
Week Ten
Playoffs (First Round)
1. Kohl Beck (Oakley)
The senior standout dominated Oakley’s road win over Wallace on Friday, rushing for 187 yards and four scores, passing for 87 yards and another score, and returning an interception for yet another score – six total TDs as the Hornets advanced to the 2A semifinals.
2. Xavier Parrish (Rockland)
Another week, another huge game from Parrish. He passed for 323 yards and seven touchdowns in Rockland’s playoff win over Castleford on Friday. He ran for 71 yards and a touchdown as well, helping the Bulldogs advance to the 1A semifinals.
3. Jonah Saili (Carey)
In a tight battle against Salmon River, the Carey quarterback rushed for 137 yards and five touchdowns to help the Panthers advance to the 1A semifinals next week. Saili also passed for 75 yards and picked up four tackles on defense for Carey.
Honorable Mention:
Teagan Babcock (Butte County)
Connor Parish (Castleford)
Beckett Beyer (Coeur du Christ)
Jim Tucker (Council)
Cruze Sanderson (Deary)
Liam Bower (Garden Valley)
Casen Knight (Hagerman)
Lawson Landmark (Kamiah)
Hudson Kirkland (Kendrick)
Ashton Martin (Prairie)
James Dalton (Raft River)
Blake Shepherd (Salmon River)
Cooper Miller (Wallace)
On The (Land)Mark
Kamiah standout Lawson Landmark shredded one of the state’s top defenses Friday night, racking up 262 receiving yards and four touchdowns in a hard-fought 42-30 loss to No. 1-ranked Hagerman. Despite losing time to injury early in the season, playing a chunk of the season with a cast on his arm, and splitting time between quarterback and receiver, the 6-foot senior finished the season with 1,067 yards and 17 touchdowns receiving. He also led the team in rushing yards, averaged nearly 200 yards of total offense per game, recorded nearly 50 tackles, and led the team in both interceptions and passes defensed. He definitely gave the state’s coaches something to think about when casting their all-state and 2A Player of the Year ballots.
Case Of The X
With apologies to singer Mya, whose song “Case of the Ex” reached no. 2 on the pop charts in 2000, we’re asking whatcha gonna do about X – as in, Xavier Parrish. The Rockland senior is up to 46 touchdown passes after tossing seven in Friday’s win over Castleford. That mark ranks among the national leaders in 6/8/9-man football. National. Not Idaho, not the northwest. National. Per MaxPreps (whose stat rankings can be incomplete), Parrish ranks 5th in passing touchdowns. Texas’ Coltyn Watson (54), Montana’s Abrams Clark (51), Illinois’ Bryce Brown (48) and Nebraska’s Kamerin Sealey (47) are the only ones with more scoring tosses. That should give coaches something to consider when voting for 1A all-state and Player of the Year candidates.
Losing Our Voice
Sam Taylor of the Lewiston Tribune wrote a fantastic recap of Friday’s 2A quarterfinal matchup between Prairie and Garden Valley, a 44-8 Prairie win. A big chunk of Taylor’s story was the play of Prairie senior Ashton Martin, the diminutive but feisty center and defensive lineman, and his impact on the Pirates’ win. As the local news industry continues to evolve, that’s the type of content we’re losing. The personal stories, the small anecdotes that don’t show up on a stat sheet or a national website. The type of things you don’t know without having boots on the ground. Kudos to Sam and the other reporters around the state of Idaho who are doing the best they can to keep telling those stories. We all need to do our best to support these media outlets and the people who are covering the games because, once they’re gone, we will have lost our storytelling voice.