Determined and Excited

Bonners Ferry football players look forward to great season. By Robert Lavala

As football season gets into full swing, the chatter over a cup of coffee at the local diner could easily turn to what happened at the game the night or the week before. Bonners Ferry football is a strong part of the character of our community and everyone looks forward to how our Badgers are going to do.

With a pretty good season last year, the players at Bonners Ferry High School are hopeful that they can do at least as well and maybe even return to the State Playoffs.

Having spoken with many of this year’s players, they are all excited and positive about their chances. The Libby team and the Newport team played well against our varsity squad getting them to 'bite' on play action and run action fakes. Then the ball would be thrown to an open receiver for a completion. We suffered in this regard due to the basic fact we have a youthful team. This year there are only three returning seniors and seven or eight juniors. The rest of the varsity squad is made up entirely of sophomores, which lends to the lack of size and experience needed to compete against bigger teams.

Another detrimental attribute the football team is dealing with is non-football related injuries. Several key players suffered injuries off the field that has prevented them from playing, or at least curtailed their performance thus far in the season. Couple that with the fact that there are only just barely enough kids signed up for the program so you have fatigue problems as there is no 'depth' on the bench. The players are out on the field the entire game with no relief because there are simply no other players to come into the game.

Speaking with Caleb Gerring, a junior on the team this year, he mused that, “...this year is a rebuilding year.” He recognizes the fact that there are a lot of sophomores that will fill out the varsity team for next year. He went on to say, “Last year was the first good year for the football team in a while and that was nice. Last year there were ten starting seniors and that made it easier to run the group and have success”.

I asked Caleb what he would give as advice for the younger players: “Stick with the program and stay with it in high school. Lift weights and play for the love of the game.”

Returning player Tres Hiatt, a senior with the Badgers, knows that is a tough place to be when going up against varsity teams made up almost entirely of seniors with a few juniors in the mix. Our team is facing a challenge this year as we are rich in sophomores but the hopeful side of that coin is that they are all really excited to be playing and are looking for every opportunity to play hard and do well.

I asked Tres about his outlook for the team. “We have a promising group, and if we stay healthy we'll do fine. The JV team is struggling with numbers.”

His advice to younger players, “Come out. You only have four years so come out and live it up!”

#lifecommunity #sports