9 minute read
Cover story
Genesee coach Justin Podrabsky, center, watches as quarterbacks Angus Jordan, left, and Teak Wareham work on pitching the ball back and forth to each other at Wednesday’s practice.
Zach Wilkinson/ Daily News
coach Matt Pancheri’s staff.
He expects to use elements from Pancheri’s “GoGo” offense with the Bulldogs.
“Offensively, we’re going to be a team that (has) a lot of speed and a lot of quality skill kids to try to get their hands on the ball,” Podrabsky said, “so we’re just going to try to spread it out with them and utilize all our variety of options.”
Podrabsky takes charge during the second year of Genesee’s overthe-border co-op with Colton. Six Wildcat players join this year’s Bulldogs and all are expected to contribute, Podrabsky said.
Two of Genesee’s most explosive players are its pair of starting senior receivers — Cy Wareham and Jack Johnson.
“I don’t know if you’re going to find a better athlete in our area,” Podrabsky said of Wareham. “... Three-sport guy, and he can do a lot of great things for you on offense and on defense.”
Johnson is another multi-sport star who Podrabsky said already has offers to play baseball at the next level. The two helped Genesee win the Idaho Class 1A state baseball championship in the spring.
Throwing to the duo for the second consecutive season will be junior quarterback Angus Jordan. Wyatt Jordan, Angus’ brother, will start at running back.
Genesee was well on its way to a playoff berth with a 4-2 record in 2020 before its season was axed because of COVID-19 cases within the program.
Podrabsky said the team is focusing on enjoying the moment this year and not trying to get hung up on “what ifs.”
“I think they were really disappointed because of how far they had progressed, ’cause I think the year before that they had won only one game the whole season,” Podrabsky said of last season’s unfortunate ending. “One thing we’ve kinda stressed is being in the moment, being present in what you’re doing because you want to take advantage of every opportunity you have because you never know when it can be taken away.”
WE LCOME BAC K , N IC K BATE S!
After nearly 20 years out on the east coast, Nick is back home in Washington and ready to join his father working with Bob Bates Insurance on a full-time basis. Nick is excited to be back under the Friday night lights as a spectator!
GO BULLDOGS!
Cell: 704 -564 -5092 Email: BatesLife@gmail.com
HAVE A GRE AT SE ASON BULLDOGS!
Youre going to love what happens next! ’ SAM DIAL
J E W E L E R S
> 5 things to watch
The Bulldogs must get accustomed to their third head coach in as many seasons, which means learning a new offense and defense again. Look for Genesee to get better as the season progresses and the players get more time with their new bench boss. Genesee and Colton are joining forces for the second consecutive season. All six Wildcats are expected to be key contributors. Cy Wareham is one of the Whitepine League’s most dynamic athletes, not just in football but in baseball and basketball too. The Bulldogs will try to find unique ways to get the ball in his hands. Genesee has two sets of brothers who are expected to make a splash this season: Cy and Teak Wareham, and Angus and Wyatt Jordan. Expect to hear the names “Wareham” and “Jordan” often on the loudspeakers. Last year’s season was cut short because of COVID-19 cases within the program. With much of the team returning, this season marks a new chance to try to get to the postseason.
HAVE A GRE AT SE ASON VIKINGS!
Youre going to love what happens next! ’ SAM DIAL
J E W E L E R S
9 months’ worth of motivation
Powerhouse Prairie is trying to forget how its 2020 season ended. But not completely
By DALE GRUMMERT
SPORTS STAFF
The ball sat tantalizingly close to the goal line — maybe 6 or 8 inches away — and Prairie High School fullback TJ Hibbard saw his task as straightforward.
He would take the handoff from the quarterback and, with little ado, follow his reliable blockers into the end zone. They would celebrate a hard-fought victory and, the next day, begin preparing for the state championship.
But that’s not how things went down.
Instead, the ball was snapped and Hibbard watched helplessly as it tumbled to the turf, the result of a miscommunication on the snap count. After a brief scrum, an opposing player recovered the fumble in the end zone, and that was that. The Prairie Pirates’ season was done.
“It just broke everybody’s heart,” Hibbard said.
He was recalling the Pirates’ unforgettable 42-40 loss to Oakley in an 8-man football game Nov. 13 in the Kibbie Dome at Moscow. It was one of two semifinal-round contests in the Idaho Class 1A Division I playoffs, and it ruined not only the Pirates’ title hopes but their undefeated season.
Nine months later, though, the agonizing nature of that loss now feeds Prairie’s motivation as it prepares for its 2021 season, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday against Glenns Ferry in the 8-Man Classic at Middleton High School in southern Idaho.
Prairie of Cottonwood and longtime coach Ryan Hasselstrom have come to dominate the normally competitive Whitepine League Division I, claiming four state championships in 13 years. The most recent Idaho crown came in 2019, and the Pirates entered that game against the Hornets fully expecting to repeat. After all, they’d won all seven of their games to that point by a staggering average margin of 50 points.
But their season had been physically taxing — not only because of the coronavirus pandemic — and they knew their challenges would steepen against an Oakley team that had become an intense rival in recent years. Among the several injuries the Pirates had suffered was a season-ending ACL tear in the season opener against Kendrick to star running back Cole Martin. Receiver and tight end John Gehring went down with a knee injury against Kamiah in the fourth game.
Then, in the first quarter of the Oakley game, standout lineman Dean Johnson — who would follow Martin as state player of the year in their division — dislocated an ankle and was whisked to a hospital. For the rest of the night, the Pirates tried to keep him informed of the game’s twists and turns.
There were many of them, especially in the fourth quarter. Hibbard scored from 47 yards to put Prairie ahead 40-36, but Dace Jones of Oakley returned the ensuing kickoff 87 yards to grab the lead back.
The Pirates then went into clock-draining mode, retaining possession for almost eight minutes to make sure their final touchdown — if TOP: Prairie players walk across the fi eld at the end of an Aug. 19 practice. The Pirates have spent nine months wondering what could have been. Now, they get the chance to put all of that hard work and frustration behind them as they seek a chance at the program’s fi fth title since 2008. LEFT: Former Prairie running back Cole Martin, right, embraces quarterback Cole Schlader after an Idaho Class 1A Division I state semifi nal loss Nov. 3, 2020, against Oakley at the Kibble Dome in Moscow. CENTER: Oakley’s Isaac Mitton, left, dives in from the side and recovers a fumble with less than 30 seconds remaining in last season’s Idaho Class 1A Division I state semifi nal game.
Pete Caster/Tribune Prairie fullback TJ Hibbard, right, runs up the fi eld for a long touchdown at an Aug. 19 practice in Cottonwood. touchdown at an Aug. 19 practice in Cottonwood.
it happened — would be the last word of this donnybrook.
Senior quarterback Cole Schlader converted a keeper on fourth-and-4 and the Pirates eventually faced third-and-goal from that 6- or 8-inch line. There were about 30 seconds on the clock and the Pirates had a timeout remaining.
Prairie tailback Brody Hasselstrom, son of the coach, motioned right and caused a slight shift in the Oakley defense. Schlader glanced over at him to sell the play, and that’s when it happened. Because of the snap-count confusion, the ball struck Schlader before he was ready, then dribbled to the ground.
Let the heartaches begin.
The loss was especially tough for diligent, influential seniors like Schlader, Martin and Johnson, and their coach found himself playing school counselor that night and beyond.
“Those seniors — you’ve got a lot of tears,” recalled the elder Hasselstrom, who’s entering his 16th season as head coach. “They were upset — physically, mentally. It was hard on them. You reassure them and let them know you love them. For some reason, it wasn’t meant to be.
“But the kids had stepped up in that game. They played their guts out. You can talk to a lot of people and, even though it didn’t go our way, it’s probably one of the best 8-man football games that’s been played around here in a long time.”
Because Oakley went on to win the championship by a 30-point margin the next week, the Pirates can’t help but wonder what might have been.
They try not to dwell on the painful ending. But they say it was in the back of their minds as they began preparing for 2021, starting with their annual June visit to an 8-man football camp in Butte, Mont., that Ryan Hasselstrom and his teams (he formerly coached at Kendrick) have attended for more than 25 years.
That sort of thing is how Prairie became Prairie.
Now, there’s a new batch of influential seniors. They include the fast and multifaceted Hibbard, who’s within weeks of securing a pilot’s license. They also include the younger Hasselstrom, who’s drawing interest from college recruiters, and new starting quarterback Lane Schumacher.
They all share a particular memory.
“We definitely ended the year off rough,” Hibbard said. “We knew we had the potential to win State. Injuries overcame a lot of our players, and people who didn’t think they were going to be playing had to step up to the plate. We had to go for it.
“And it was definitely a letdown,” he said of the semifinal loss. “But that’s motivation for us to keep going — make it to the state championship and hopefully win.”
PRAIRIE COACH RYAN HASSELSTROM
They try not to dwell on
