Written by: Keller Sherman
As the Bear Lake Bears enter the 2022 season, they will have a great opportunity at hand. With West Side expected to have a down year after losing several great players to cap off the rare state championship three-peat, coupled with the annual showdown against the Pirates being at home this year, Ryan Messerly’s team will look to capitalize on the opportunity and bring home their first conference title since 2016.
The 2021 season ended with a 7-4 record and a trip to the state semifinals where they fell to eventual state champion West Side for the second time. The three regular season setbacks came against Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the two participants in last year’s 2A state championship game; Firth and West Side. They won their three other conference games by 14 points or more and survived defensive slugfests against Cole Valley Christian and Nampa Christian en route to their semifinal appearance.
Bear Lake returns several key players. Among these are Bryson Crane, Tyler Beresford, Tayson Neal, Brady Shaul, Jordan Garbett, and Keton Carlson. Incoming players Dillan Pugmire and Walker Pelto should help to fill in the void left behind by departed senior Jake Smith whom Messerly describes as a “vocal leader”.
The non conference schedule takes a step up in difficulty in 2022. The Bears will travel to North Fremont to open things up and the Huskies have traditionally been regular contenders at the 2A classification. They will then return home for two straight home games against Lyman, Wyoming and Firth. Both games figure to be difficult tests for Bear Lake, but if they can at least split these games, it would give the Bears a lot of momentum moving forward. A winnable game at Wendell is a softer finish to the non conference slate before conference play begins in full swing.
Bear Lake will play arguably the biggest game in program history in recent years when it welcomes West Side to kickoff the conference slate. The Bears have not beaten the Pirates since their 2016 conference title run and except for a 7-0 loss in 2020, have not been closer than 21 points against the Pirates in their current six-game losing streak. If Bear Lake can snap that losing streak when the teams go at it on September 23rd, they will have the inside path to a conference title.
After an open week, the Bears will hit the road for back-to-back road games at Malad and Soda Springs before closing out the regular season at home versus Aberdeen for senior night. While Bear Lake has a great chance to go 4-0 in conference play, their season will be defined by how well they perform in the non conference slate. If the Bears can go at least 2-2 in their non conference games, they will be in a great position to notch a high seed in the state playoffs.