Silver Valley Sports: Oct. 27 - Nov. 2

WALLACE FOOTBALL  

1A State Football Playoffs  

- 10/31 

Wallace 64 Salmon River 58 

SILVERTON — Sophomore Cooper Miller accounted for seven touchdowns, and the Wallace Miners needed all of them to outlast the Salmon River Savages of Riggins 64-58 in a wild first-round game in the state 1A playoffs Friday at Sather Field. 

In a game that featured 17 touchdowns and 122 total points scored, Miller ran for four touchdowns and passed for three for Wallace (8-2). His final TD, a 17-yard run in the closing minutes, provided the winning points for the Miners. 

Riley Davis ran for six touchdowns for Salmon River (6-4). Henry Larson caught a pair of TD passes from Miller, and Lennox Radford returned a kickoff for a score and caught a TD pass. 

Larson finished with 11 catches for more than 300 yards.  

Wallace was playing at home in the playoffs for the first time since 2013 and their first playoff win since 2011.

Wallace advances to the quarterfinals where they will take on Genesee in a rematch from Oct. 3, when the Bulldogs knocked off the Miners 22-18.  

Salmon River 8 14 24 12 — 58  

Wallace 16 14 20 14 — 64  

First quarter  

SR — Riley Davis 1 run (2-point conversion good) 

Wall — Cooper Miller 59 run (2-point conversion good) 

Wall — Henry Larson 50 pass from Miller (2-point conversion good) 

Second quarter  

SR — Davis 34 run (conversion failed)  

Wall — Larson 85 pass from Miller (2-point conversion good) 

SR — Davis 11 run (2-point conversion good)  

Wall — Miller 9 run (conversion failed)  

Third quarter  

SR — Davis 29 run (2-point conversion good)  

SR — unknown 20 catch (2-point conversion good) 

Wall — Lennox Radford 96 kickoff return (conversion failed) 

Wall — Miller 44 run (2-point conversion good)  

SR — unknown 60 catch (2-point conversion good) 

Wall — Radford 15 pass from Miller (conversion failed) 

Fourth quarter  

SR — Davis 29 run (conversion failed)  

Wall — Miller 11 run (conversion failed)  

SR — Davis 3 run (conversion failed)  

Wall — Miller 17 run (2-point conversion good) 

KELLOGG VOLLEYBALL  

3A State Volleyball tournament 

- 10/30 

Kellogg d. Firth 

IDAHO FALLS — It was nearly 10:30 p.m., and Kellogg head coach Hollie Yrjana wasn’t sure her heart was still functioning — but she couldn’t stop smiling. Her second-seeded Wildcats had just survived their first five-set match of the season, outlasting seventh-seeded Firth 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 26-24, 15-12 in the opening round of the state 3A tournament at the Mountain America Center. 

After rallying to force a fifth set, Kellogg jumped out to an 11-3 lead, then held off a furious Firth comeback to seal the win. Firth (20-8) came out swinging, exploiting gaps in the Wildcat defense and keeping Kellogg off balance early. The Wildcats responded in the second set with a hitting barrage of their own. Midway through the match, Yrjana urged her undersized squad, none taller than 5-foot-8, to pick up the pace and stop trying to match the Cougars hit for hit. 

“When we changed our tempo, that was the turning point for us,” Yrjana said. “We can’t just rely on our hitting when we play these taller girls.” 

Kellogg got key contributions from its supporting cast, but when the match tightened, captains Paige Yrjana and Dani Henrikson stepped up. 

“Paige was a beast on defense for us tonight,” Yrjana said. “Dani was phenomenal all night too.” 

- 10/31 

Melba d. Kellogg; Nampa Christian d. Kellogg 

IDAHO FALLS — The Kellogg Wildcats’ bid for a state title came to a sudden end on Friday, dropping back-to-back matches in the 3A state tournament at the Mountain America Center. 

In the first match, the second-seeded Wildcats took on the sixth-seeded Melba Mustangs, but lost a tight contest 25-15, 27-29, 24-26, 25-17, 15-11. 

Kellogg started the match a step slower than usual following their five-set win over Firth on Thursday night that ended after 10:30. The Wildcats battled back to win the second and third set but couldn’t put Melba away in the fourth and fifth frames. 

Roughly 20 minutes after the match against Melba finished, Kellogg found itself squaring off with fifth-seeded Nampa Christian in a loser-out match. 

The Wildcats simply didn’t have enough in the tank, losing to the Trojans in four sets: 25-9, 22-25, 25-18, 25-13. 

Kellogg, bidding for its first trophy from state in program history, fell one win short and finished 25-3. 

The Wildcats are graduating just one player from this year’s team, which featured three juniors, five sophomores, and one freshman. Coach Hollie Yrjana is disappointed by how the season ended, but felt like it was a great launch point for her young squad.  

“The tournament didn't go as we hoped, but it was a terrific season,” Yrjana said. “Most of these girls have not been to a state tournament. This experience will definitely get them ready for next time. These girls elevated their game to the next level and figured out how to play as a real team.”   

WALLACE VOLLEYBALL  

2A State Volleyball Tournament 

- 10/30 

Valley d. Wallace 

POST FALLS — A bad bounce later, and the sixth-seeded Miners had the momentum and match snatched away. 

Senior Kylee Phillips had 11 kills and 12 digs for the Miners, who won the first set 25-18 before falling 25-16, 25-15, 25-8 to the third-seeded Vikings of Hazelton in an opening round match in the state 2A tournament at Post Falls High. 

Senior setter Aubrey Birdsell had 16 assists for Wallace. She missed most of the second set after being hit in the head by the ball on a Valley spike. 

“One of our setters took a really hard hit in the head and I think mentally, it threw us off for a while,” coach Katie Bauer said. “We kind of had a hard time refocusing. And our serve receive broke down a little bit. They had great serving and we couldn’t get our kills going because we couldn’t get into system.” 

It is the first time at state for Wallace since finishing fourth in 1A Division 1 in Lewiston in 2023. 

“We talked to them before the match,” Bauer said. “State is a long few days and a lot can happen in the span of all the matches. You’ve really just got to take it one set at a time. We’ll regroup after this and hopefully our setter is OK.” 

Junior Megan Hull had 10 kills, junior Kayden Stutzke 12 assists, senior Anna Rehnborg 14 digs and senior Oliva Berry 13 digs for Wallace. 

“That first set, Kylee came out on fire and had five kills and was just swinging really well,” Bauer said. “Megan keeping everything in play and being careful about where she was putting the ball. And (Grace) DeLano did a lot for us, both blocking and hitting. We just moved her to the middle, and it gave us a little spark, which was nice to see.” 

Junior Hailey Malone had 13 kills, junior Sophie Crumrine 11 kills and sophomore Emily Huetting nine kills for Valley. 

- 10/31 

Wallace d. Wilder; Oakley d. Wallace 

POST FALLS — After staying alive earlier Friday with a 25-15, 25-10, 25-17 win over seventh-seeded Wilder, the sixth seed Wallace Miners were eliminated from the state 2A tournament Friday night with a 25-21, 20-25, 25-15, 25-21 loss to No. 4 Oakley in a loser-out match at The Arena. 

Wallace finished 17-10. 

KELLOGG CROSS COUNTRY 

3A State Cross Country Championships 

- 11/1 

LEWISTON – Kellogg junior Shadrach Creswell set a new personal record and finished just outside of the top 25 at the 3A State Cross Country Championships at the Lewis-Clark State Country Course in Lewiston Orchards. 

The Malad Dragons won team championships for both boys and girls.  

3A TEAM SCORES — 1, Malad 49. 2, Ririe 62. 3, North Fremont 80. 4, Soda Springs 98. 5, Nampa Christian 102. 6, West Side 104. 7, New Plymouth 220. 8, Ambrose 238. 9, Kellogg 241. 10, Melba 267. 11, Marsing 272. 

TOP THREE, LOCALS — 1, Boston Burbidge, Malad, 15:18.6. 2, Ethan Willis, West Side, 15:30.9. 3, Jace Nalder, Malad, 15:38.1. 26, Shadrach Creswell, Kellogg, 16:47.9. 47, Tadhg McLaimtaig, Priest River, 17:32.8. 50, Alex Cassidy, Kellogg, 17:35.3. 61, Davin Harju, Kellogg, 18:02.6. 62, Daniel Gunkle, Priest River, 18:03.4. 63, Buck Coe, Kellogg, 18:11.7. 82, Gage Pierce, Kellogg, 20:08.4. 83, Manik Sharma, Kellogg, 20:28.1. 88, Eavin Knight, Kellogg, 22:05.7.