FOUR-PEAT: Kendrick dynasty continues with fourth straight state championship

MOSCOW — Kendrick seniors Sawyer Hewett, Wyatt Cook, Caleb O’Bryant, Xavier Carpenter, Carson Hogan, Brock Boyer, Leyton Brown-Sherrill and Evan Simpson stood patiently on the sideline with a blue watercooler in hand in the final seconds of the Kendrick Tigers’ fourth consecutive state title victory.

Before the clock could hit zero, Cook and O’Bryant ran toward their coach Zane Hobart with cooler in hand, pouring the cool water over Hobart’s head once again.

The Kendrick Tigers were Idaho state football champions for the fourth straight year following their 50-14 win over Butte County on Friday at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome on the campus of the University of Idaho.

“That’s the fourth time,” Hewett said. “That’s always awesome seeing Hobart get the water dumped on him. I can’t get enough of it to be honest.”

Four in a row

Kendrick’s path to a fourth championship — and first at the Idaho 2A level — was perhaps the Tigers’ toughest test yet. The champions dealt with multiple injuries to starters like seniors Hogan and Hewett throughout the season.

After three straight championships at the former Class 1A DII level, Kendrick made the jump to the reclassified 2A level (formerly called 1A DI), which was a level up from where they previously played.

“We didn’t know what to expect losing all those seniors because last year’s seniors were high caliber,” Cook said. “Knowing we had people stepping up, we had to get them on their horse, get them going, but I had faith in them — they are good athletes.”

The Tigers blew out most of their opponents, but lost to Logos of Moscow 30-18 on Oct. 18 in Kendrick. It was Kendrick’s first loss in three years and broke a 31-game win streak. In a rematch last week in the semifinals, the Tigers beat the Knights 52-26.

“That loss might have been a great thing for us against Logos the first time,” Hobart said. “Made us kind of regain our composure and our focus a little bit and the kids just handled everything that was thrown at them with grace and fortitude.”

Maddox Kirkland and the Tigers “weather the storm”

The Tigers’ dominating victory did not begin as convincingly as it turned out. Sophomore quarterback Maddox Kirkland flung his first throw of the day 49 yards down field to junior wide receiver Ralli Roetcisoender, who Butte County tackled at the 1-yard line. The Tigers ran a couple plays to try to punch it in, but lost the football, allowing the Pirates to recover the fumble.

The Tigers’ defense responded by forcing a fumble of their own and Kirkland found Cade Silflow for the opening score.

Butte County fumbled on the kickoff return, but Kendrick could not capitalize, giving the ball right back to the Pirates on a turnover.

The Tiger defense held strong again, but on the first play of the next drive, Kirkland threw a pass directly to Butte County sophomore Cooper Williams, who intercepted it, leading to the Pirates’ first touchdown off a Razor Duke run.

Butte County faced its own challenges when quarterback Keaton Archibald left the game with an injury and did not return.

Down their starting quarterback in the championship game, the Pirates turned to Duke under center and proceeded to run the ball on almost every play by necessity.

“We had a couple snaps, couple plays that didn’t go our way,” Hobart said. “That game could have easily been a lot different at halftime. You get down to the 1-yard line, you expect to score.”

Hobart said that Kirkland was crucial to Kendrick bouncing back from several early turnovers.

Kirkland said regaining his composure after several early mistakes is something he may have not been able to do even a month ago, but that guys like Hogan and Hewett encouraged him after he made mistakes.

“Mentally, he got stronger all year long,” Hobart said. “Maddox has great arm talent. Some of the best I’ve ever seen as a freshman and sophomore.

“We know he can throw the ball really well a multitude of different ways, but just that mental toughness, just that gunslinger mentality — he did a (much) better job throughout the season.”

Hobart said Butte County defended Kendrick differently than how they expected. After a quarter of play, the Tigers figured out the opportunities in front of them and began to throw the ball deep. The result was nearly 400 passing yards and six passing touchdowns as the Tigers cruised to a 36-point title win.

Kendrick rattled off 44 straight points with Silflow, Roetcisoender and Hewett combining for seven catches of 30-or-more yards.

Kirkland completed 13-of-20 passes for 393 yards with six touchdowns to one interception.

Ralli Roetcisoender’s big day

Hewett said he told Roetcisoender before the game that Kendrick needed four touchdowns from him.

“And guess what he did? He scored four touchdowns,” Hewett said, grinning ear to ear.

Roetcisoender delivered on his senior teammate’s wish, taking four of his five catches to the house for touchdowns of 32, 1, 63 and 15 yards — one in each quarter.

The 6-foot-2 junior did not play a large role on Kendrick’s previous championships because of age and the depth of the Tigers’ past wide receiver corps but took center stage on Friday.

“It was my time to step up,” Roetcisoender said. “And I did.”

The path to finding the end zone four times in the state title game was the same path that thousands of high school football players take every year.

“Film on Monday, put the work in Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, ball out on Friday,” Roetcisoender said.

A historic senior class

The seven 2024 Kendrick football seniors had the pleasure of never losing a state title game.

“We know how much is on the line, we’re making history. It’s just different this game,” Cook said. “I’ve been waiting for this day for weeks. This is what we’ve been looking forward to all season.”

Hewett, Kendrick’s senior running back, played a role in each of the Tigers’ four championships.

“This team, these guys that I play with are literally my whole life,” Hewett said. “I love this sport and I wouldn’t want to have played anywhere else.”

Many of Hewett’s playoff games took place over the past four years at the Kibbie Dome on the campus of University of Idaho.

Hewett will soon move to Moscow to join the Idaho Vandals football team.

“We’ve made quite a bit of history in this stadium,” Hewett said. “And it’s really awesome that I get to come here for the next four years and play a part in the Idaho Vandals.”

As the seniors took pictures with the state trophy, Hobart stood to the side taking it all in.

“They’re kind of like my kids,” Hobart said of his team. “I had my first daughter in January so I used to always tease, before I had a kid, these guys were my kids. They’re super special to me, they mean a lot, they work really hard for the program and they’re family.”

According to multiple Tigers, the love and respect is mutual.

“They’re phenomenal coaches,” Roetcisoender said. “Without them and of course (defensive coordinator Greg) Frisbee, I don’t think this would be possible. They dedicate all their time to us and without them, I don’t think we would have four-peated.”

For guys like Kendrick junior lineman Travis Hix, the chance to be a part of the history of the community that raised him is simply “awesome.”

“First eight-man team to four-peat, first eight-man team to move up a classification and win a state championship — it’s just great, it’s a good feeling, it’s special,” Hix said. “I’m going to hold it in my heart until I can tell my kids.”

As for how Hobart and the Tigers planned to celebrate the fourth straight state title? Hobart said: “We’re gonna be hanging out in Kendrick.”

Butte County 8 0 0 6 — 14

Kendrick 16 20 8 6 — 50

FIRST QUARTER

Kendrick — Cade Silflow 32 pass from Maddox Kirkland (Kirkland run), 4:56.

Butte County — Razor Duke 24 run (Rawson Twitchell), 2:52.

Kendrick — Ralli Roetcisoender 32 pass from Kirkland (Sawyer Hewett run), 0:43.

SECOND QUARTER

Kendrick — Hewett 38 pass from Kirkland (Kirkland pass failed), 6:28.

Kendrick — Silflow fumble recovery return (Kirkland run), 4:35.

Kendrick — Roetcisoender 1 pass from Kirkland (Kirkland pass failed), 0:05.

THIRD QUARTER

Kendrick — Roetcisoender 63 pass from Kirkland (Xavier Carpenter pass from Kirkland), 5:10.

FOURTH QUARTER

Kendrick — Roetcisoender 15 pass from Kirkland (run failed), 9:23.

Butte County — Duke 3 run (run failed), <1:00.

Passing — Butte County Razor Duke 6-12-1-36; Keaton Archibald 1-1-0-2; Kendrick: Maddox Kirkland 13-20-1-393.

Rushing — Butte County: Rawson Twitchell 25-92, Duke 20-87, Archibald 3-25, Stetson Wanstrom 1-6, Cooper Williams 2-(-7); Kendrick: Sawyer Hewett 11-49, Xavier Carpenter 6-40, Nathan Kimberling 1-4, Blake Morgan 2-(-3), Kirkland 2-(-4).

Receiving — Butte County: Koden Krosch 4-23, Levi Hendricks 1-9, Wanstrom 1-3, Twitchell 2-2; Kendrick: Ralli Roetcisoender 5-150, Cade Silflow 3-141, Hewett 4-98, Carpenter 1-4.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.