Guess it's time to start these things up again!
Fruitland @ Gooding: A young Fruitland team went on the road and gutted out a win against South Fremont in a back and forth slugfest. Gooding meanwhile took Parma behind the woodshed, and well, yeah. Fruitland has beaten Gooding 4 times in a row, but I'm having a hard time seeing Fruitland getting a 5th. Gooding pulls away from Fruitland for a 41-26 win.
Homedale vs Melba: Homedale had a bit of a slow start against New Plymouth before hitting the accelorator and zoomed right on by. Melba meanwhile dominated the 2nd half to cruise to a 42-18 win over West Jefferson. Melba appears to be a much better team than previous seasons, but Homedale is still a superior team. Homedale cruises once again 42-14.
Parma vs Vale, Or: Parma has been struggling for the past several years. Vale, Or meanwhile has a long and storied history with multiple championships spanning multiple decades. On the bright side, Parma won't have to face a team quarterbacked by an FCS powerhouse committ, but on the other hand, Vale is still a much better football team. Vikings sail on 38-14.
Payette vs New Plymouth: Both teams were on the wrong end of blowout losses. While New Plymouth won't be turning any heads in the 2A ranks, their program is in much better shape than Payette's. New Plymouth gets its first win of the season with a 44-6 drubbing.
Weiser @ Kellogg: Weiser went on the road to Buhl and rolled to a 41-14 win. Kellogg meanwhile lost to St. Maries 14-0. Weiser has been on the up recently, and Kellogg with 1 exception has been struggling. Weiser 42-6.
Any news that some of the South Players quit the team after the Fruitland game? I find it hard to believe, South has a great program.
Gooding 34 Fruitland 7: It took Gooding 5 tries to get the Fruitland monkey off their backs, but they finally did it. This game was close on the scoreboard for a long time, as Fruitland hung around by forcing 3 turnovers. It was simply delaying the inevitable as Gooding was clearly the better team, even factoring in Fruitland missing 3 starters, including their quarterback. Gooding put up nearly 600 yards of total offense, including 466 yards on the ground, while only throwing the ball 12 times.
Homedale 58 Melba 6: Homedale blows out Melba. Nothing surpising happened.
Vale, Or 27 Parma 26: I'm rather impressed. I figured Vale would have easily beaten Parma based on recent history, but Parma was a missed field goal away from pulling off a major upset.
New Plymouth 40 Payette 0: Payette has been outscored 102-0 and there has to be a feeling of "here we go again."
Weiser 35 Kellogg 7: Weiser goes up North and takes care of business.