Bears, Bengals and more ready for Idaho state football playoffs

It takes three years to create a program capable of winning a state title. That is the advice that Moscow coach Rob Bafus said he received during a summer camp as he was in his early days of coaching.

In his third season with the Bears, Bafus and his team will enter their first postseason together. What makes it more remarkable is the fact that the team went a combined 1-15 in his first two years as head coach.

Moscow won its first five games this season, finished the regular season 7-2 and won the 4A Intermountain League.

Talk about an improvement.

The Bears will host American Falls at 7 p.m. today in the first round of the 4A Idaho state tournament.

Elsewhere, Lewiston, Grangeville and six 2A/1A Whitepine League teams also begin their respective state tournaments this weekend.

Here’s a look at the area’s teams heading to State in Idaho football:

Moscow’s massive transformation

It is a transformation that has shocked a lot of local football fans, but the Moscow head coach had belief that his team was going to turn things around.

Bafus said that things began to take shape last season. Early on in the year, Moscow was competing against teams like Clarkston and Pullman. The Bears were just unable to find a way to win. In 2024, that same team is not only finding ways to win those close games, but take control of games.

It was during the trip for the second game of the season against Caldwell, a game that was moved to McCall due to wildfires in the area, when quarterback Noah Velasco turned to his coach and told him a line that Bafus got emotional recalling:

“This year feels different.”

Those four words perfectly explain what has happened to a Moscow team that has a lot of senior leaders like Velasco.

The belief in the team has always been there, but something has clicked, something just “feels different.” The Bears defeated Caldwell 54-0 that week.

The last time the Bears made the state playoffs was in 2020 in what is now classified as 5A when Moscow was a No. 13 seed in the 16-team bracket. The Bears upset No. 4 seed Jerome 45-7 before losing to fellow Inland Empire League member Sandpoint 31-13.

American Falls finished the regular season 5-4 and is strong on the defensive side of the ball. The Beavers have not allowed a team to score more than 21 points in a game this year.

Lewiston Bengals bound for State for first time since 2022

The Bengals will open the 5A state tournament today at 6 p.m. Pacific when ninth-seeded Lewiston travels to Twin Falls to face the eighth-seeded Bruins.

Lewiston finished with a 5-4 record in its first season dropping down a classification and earned a bid into the 16-team bracket as the highest-seeded at-large team.

The Bengals had several historic events during the regular season as they said goodbye to old Bengal Field on Oct. 4 with a 48-0 win over Hermiston of Oregon and opened the new P1FCU Sports Complex with a 38-21 win over 6A opponent Lake City on Oct. 18. Lewiston also upset one of the top-ranked 6A schools with a 13-6 victory over Coeur d’Alene on Sept. 5.

Coach Matt Pancheri has tested his team with four games against teams from other states. The Bengals defeated Hermiston as well as cross-river rival Clarkston 49-0, but lost to Bothell and Kennewick of Washington.

The season-finale loss to Lakeland, 34-14, forced the Bengals to go on the road in the opening round of State. The Hawks earned a No. 3 seed after taking the IEL crown.

The Bengals have leaned more on senior Jeremy Yoder at the quarterback position, but have not been afraid to flip to junior Mason Way to get a different feel. The Lewiston defense has had a strong tendency to gravitate to the football, showcased with a school-record six interceptions against Hermiston.

Twin Falls finished the season 4-4, but lost three of its final four games. The Bruins earned the last automatic bid after they finished second in the Great Basin Conference. Twin Falls has not allowed more than 18 points in any game other than in a 36-point performance by Sandpoint in the season opener.

If Lewiston were to win on the road in the first round, a date with No. 1 Skyline would most likely be on deck next week.

Whitepine League puts five teams in 2A tourney

Five teams from the 2A Whitepine League, led by league-champion Logos, will participate in the 12-team 2A state tournament.

The Knights, after an 8-1 regular season and a perfect 7-0 performance in the WPL, will enjoy a bye week in the first round. Seamus Wilson has put on a show for the Logos fans all season long, but will have to wait until the second round to get any playoff action.

Logos coach Nick Holloway really wanted to test his team with nonleague games against defending state champion Butte County and perennial-power Oakley.

The Pirates denied the Knights a chance at revenge after a semifinal defeat in 2023 when Butte County won the season-opener rematch 36-24. Since then, Logos has not dropped a game and has scored 60-or-more points five times.

In an all-WPL matchup, Kendrick will face Potlatch at 7 p.m. today at the P1FCU Sports Complex in Lewiston. It will be a battle between Jay Marshall of the Loggers and Maddox Kirkland of the Tigers.

Kendrick finished 7-1 on the season with its only loss (and only time it did not score at least 50 points) coming against Logos, 30-18, on Oct. 18. The Tigers scored 466 points this year.

The Tigers won three straight state titles at the 1A Division II level before moving up to 2A (formerly 1A DI) this season.

Potlatch started red hot, winning five games in a row, but lost the final four games of the season to four playoff-bound teams. The Loggers lost 68-6 to Kendrick earlier this year.

Prairie earned the No. 4 qualifying spot and will host Grace at 6 p.m. today. Grace finished 5-4 on the season including a 36-12 win over WPL-foe Clearwater Valley on Oct. 11.

The Pirates went 6-3 this season with all three losses coming to playoff teams (Valley, Logos and Kendrick. Prairie is not afraid to get in a shootout with each of its final eight games having a combined 70 points or more. Recent prep athlete of the week Dylan Uhlenkott has been the bell-cow running back all season long for the Pirates and should touch the ball north of 20 times today.

Kamiah earned the No. 3 qualifying spot and will host Glenns Ferry at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Pilots finished the year 6-3 overall and third in the Snake River Conference.

The Kubs won four of their last five games to finish 6-3. All three losses were to tournament-bound WPL teams. Kamiah put up 46 points against both Potlatch and Lapwai to close out the regular season. Quarterback Dave Kludt will look to continue putting up big numbers in the postseason.

Other local teams

The Grangeville Bulldogs earned a first-round bye in the 3A tournament after winning the Central Idaho League with an overall record of 6-3. Senior running back Cooper Poxleitner has been a threat to score on any play and will be a key leader for the Bulldogs when they host a second-round game next week.

The Deary Mustangs will open the 1A tournament with a home game against Cascade at 5 p.m. today. The Ramblers earned an at-large bid after a 4-3 season, but they will enter the postseason on a two game losing streak.

The Mustangs won the 1A Whitepine League with an overall record of 4-4 and a perfect 3-0 league record. Deary won four of its final five games of the regular season and scored at least 38 points in all five games. Nolan Hubbard at quarterback and TJ Beyer in the backfield have shown to be a dynamic duo for the Mustangs, while Jarrett Keen has also shined.

Isbelle can be reached at 208-848-2268, risbelle@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyIsbelle.