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RUSSETS SHUT DOWN CRUSADERS 27-0

By Jason Enes, Blackfoot Morning News 

 

POCATELLO – Shelley head football coach Travis Hobson may have earned himself a new nickname Saturday afternoon; the nickname? Mr. Fourth Down.

Hobson’s Russets converted on five fourth downs in the first half, three of those five into touchdowns as Shelley opened the 2014 season with a 27-0 thrashing of Faith Lutheran High School out of Las Vegas in the Rocky Mountain Rumble inside Holt Arena Saturday.

 

“Because that’s the kind of team we are to be honest with you,” Hobson answered when asked why he went for it on fourth down beginning early on in the game. “Situations are irrelevant, it’s about offensive confidence.”
The first conversion, inside the Russets own 40 yard line very early in the game, set the tone for things to come.

As a few plays later sophomore quarterback Bryon Leckington found Bracken Nelson in the back of the endzone on a fourth and eight from the eight yard line for a touchdown.

Leckington had quite the afternoon in his first varsity start as he completed 19-of-29 passes for 196 yards and four touchdowns.

 

“That is exactly what I expected out of him,” Hobson said. “I could not be prouder of him. That is a sophomore making senior plays in a big game on a big stage against a good team and that’s what it comes down to.”

Nelson was Leckington’s favorite target in the game catching seven passes for 91 yards and the one touchdown.

“I think he did pretty good for his first time out,” Nelson said. “We shut them out we scored 27 points, so I think it was pretty good for the first time out.”

Shelley’s fourth down success continued in the second quarter as Leckington found an open Jason Hathaway on a fourth and 10 from the Crusader 11 for a touchdown to extend the Russets lead to 14-0.

With just 23 seconds remaining in the half Leckington found Rollin Sutherin with an 11-yard pass of his own, this time on a fourth and eight from the 11.

Shelley went into the locker room up 20-0.

“I did not encourage coach at all to go for it on fourth down,” Leckington said. “We just went out there and executed the plays they coaches called.”

The Russets offense picked up where it left off on the 3A title game against Fruitland last November as they used a mix or short passes and runs to set up the big play later in the drive.

The normally stingy Russets defense took care of the rest.

Faith Lutheran came into the game with a reputation that is could do whatever it wanted to an opponent.

The Russets beat them at their own game.

The Crusaders completed just seven passes, four in the final drive and had just three runs over 12 yards and the very aggressive and fast Russets took control of the game.

 

“Coach Hobbs does a fantastic job coaching the defense, that is his baby,” Hobson said. “We are quick and fly around to the ball and it is all thanks to what coach Hobbs does.”

The Russets defense did not allow the Crusaders to get even remotely close to endzone the entire game.

Sutherin led the Russets on the ground with 30 yards on nine carries he had another two catches for 17 yards and a touchdown.

Hathaway hauled in five passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns.

Shelley travels to Teton next week.

 

Shelley 27, Faith Lutheran 0
Faith Lutheran 0 0 0 0 – 0
Shelley 7 13 7 0 –27

Scoring plays:
First quarter
S – Bryon Leckington 8 pass to Bracken Nelson (Tyler Fredrickson kick)
Second quarter
S – Leckington 11 pass to Jason Hathaway (Fredrickson kick)
S – Leckington 11 pass to Rollin Sutherin (kick failed)
Third quarter
S – Leckington 33 pass to Hathaway (Fredrickson kick)

 

Individual statistics
Rushing – Faith Lutheran: Brendan Joyce 9-(-7), Christian Marshall 1-0, Alfred Soboyejo 12-79. Shelley: Jason Hathaway 6-14, Rollin Sutherin 9-30, Tyler Fredrickson 1-2, Tyler Bean 8-14, Dakota Robinson 1-3, Bryon Leckington 2- (-1), Jonathon Carranza 3-19.
Receiving – Faith Lutheran: Christian Marshall 2-30, Alfred Soboyejo 1-(-5), Mark Rubalcaba 4-42, Tyler Mahan 1-9. Shelley: Bracken Nelson 7-91-1, Tyler Bean 2-12, Tyler Fredrickson 2-12, Jason Hathaway 5-52-2, Rollin Sutherin 2-17-1, Jonathon Carranza 1-13.
Passing – Faith Lutheran: Brenden Joyce 7-21-67-0-0. Shelley: Bryon Leckington 19-29-196-4-0.

 

 

RUSSETS HURDLE ROAD BLOCKS, WIN 2ND TITLE OVER FRUITLAND 17-14

(Pocatello, ID)

 

Through 11 games, Shelley Russet football coach Travis Hobson knew his team had been challenged, but the extent of the tests and the duration thereof left questions in his and many Russet coaches' minds.

 

"Obviously, we responded poorly to adversity in Manti (UT)," explained Coach Hobson.  "We had to battle for a half with Sugar and Gooding, but as the game wore on, we wore teams down."

 

Not so much was the case as the Russets (11-1) met again with the Fruitland Grizzlies (10-2) in a rematch of the 2012, 2009 and 2007 title games, where the Russets emerged victorious each time.

 

In this, the fourth installation of a budding cross-state rivalry, the Grizlies had different intentions and were not about to go down without so much as kicking and screaming on the way out.

 

"We knew Fruitland was good," said Hobson.  "We studied them in great detail, we spent extra time in practice against their looks.  They run the ball incredibly well and are capable passers.  They're well coached, full of storied tradition, big physical, fast.  Really, they have it all."

 

"All" may be a bit of a stretch as the Grizzlies were unable to capitalize on three interceptions, 14 Russet penalties and momentum swings that would make Tarzan dizzy.

 

"Credit the defense for that," says Hobson.

 

The defense, led by interior lineman Trevor Smith, Kolton Murphy and Lincoln Archibald made short work of a Fruitland line that led the way for a 250-plus yard per game rushing average on the season.  The Russets held Fruitland to 93 total rushing yards on the outing, which was surely impacted by the loss of star running back, Ryan Rule, who left with a knee injury early in the first quarter.

 

"Obviously, you never want to see a kid get hurt like that," said Hobson, "but that's part of the game and we all had to move on.  I wonder if the game would have been different had they not lost Rule."

 

Offensively, the Russets started sluggish and never really gained any serious momentum outside of a couple drives in the first half that ended in interceptions.  

 

The lone exception, however, came late in the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter as Dave Hadley, Shelley offensive coordinator turned to his running game led by Randy Bauer to lead a 9:16 drive that forced Fruitland to burn all of its' timeouts.  

 

By the time the Grizzly offense got back on the field with less than three minutes on the clock, the exhausted Fruitland players, despite one last push, just couldn't connect the dots enough to even threaten and turned the ball over on downs.

 

After that, it was three victory formations, three kneel-downs and an abbreviated celebration before bringing home the second blue trophy in two years.  

 

With the win, the 2013 Russets made their mark on an already storied Shelley football history as the first back-to-back state champions in school history.

 

"I'm proud," explained Coach Hobson after the game.  "I don't know if it gets better than this because of all of the naysayers and doubters out there that thought this was a long shot.  They boys worked hard.  The coaches coached their butts off.  The support staff pulled their weight and then some and the parents and community banded together when we needed them the most."

 

"It's just a special feeling to accomplish something as big as this after all we have been through.  Nobody can take this away from the boys.  They earned it," he said.

 

The Russets finish the season with a lone loss to the Utah Class 3AA Runner-Up Manti Templars.  They have lost one game in two seasons and have not lost to a 3A team since 2008.

 

"Well, that all sounds nice," said Hobson, "but every year is different.  This was a unique group and we'll have another bunch of new faces next season.  Step by step.  It's been a great season and we're just happy to have left on our own terms."

 

 

Aug 30 Faith Lutheran, NV            4:30      (Holt Arena)

Sept 5                 @ Teton​

Sept 12              Manti, UT

Sept 19          @ Bonneville

Sept 26                      Bye

Oct 3           @ Snake River

Oct 10              S. Fremont

Oct 17            Sugar-Salem

Oct 24                 Pocatello 

Oct 31                  Playoffs

Nov 7                  Playoffs

Nov 14                 Playoffs

Nov 21              State Title