Priest River 48, Kellogg 14

KELLOGG — With Kellogg's loss to Grangeville last Saturday, Priest River captured the 3A Central Idaho League title — their first district title since 1957 — and they wanted to finish out the regular season on a high note.

Junior Colton Kuprienko tied the single-game school rushing record set by Sawyer Staudt in 2024 with 265 rushing yards on 21 carries, scoring three touchdowns in the process, senior quarterback Lucas Mathews surpassed 1,000 passing yards on the season with a 9-for-16, 158-yard performance and three touchdowns of his own, and the Spartans scored all 48 of their points in the first half in a rout of the Wildcats on Friday night at Teeters Field.

Sophomore Layton Goins started off the scoring on the Spartans' opening drive with a 33-yard receiving touchdown off a bubble screen. Kuprienko then found paydirt on a 1-yard scamper as Priest River led 12-0 after one quarter of action.

After a Wildcat touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, the Spartans rattled off five touchdowns and 36 straight points over the next 11 minutes of play. 

Kuprienko scored on runs of 1 and 66 yards, and senior Nate Ferget, who carried the ball 10 times for 57 yards, scored on an 11-yard run as Priest River took a commanding 34-7 lead midway through the quarter. Sophomore Madden Redinger hauled in a 4-yard receiving touchdown, the first touchdown of his career, and Goins, who totaled a career-high 116 receiving yards on six catches, caught a 31-yard dime from Mathews for a 41-point advantage heading into halftime.

Kuprineko eclipsed 10 rushing touchdowns on the season while Goins reached over 500 receiving yards and 10 total touchdowns on the season in the winning effort.

Senior Braden Leach added two receptions for 38 yards for Priest River (5-4), which has won three straight contests and will find out their 3A state playoff second round matchup early next week. Since the Spartans were crowned district champions, they receive an automatic first-round bye and are set to host the opponent yet to be determined.

Priest River 12 36 0 0 — 48

Kellogg 0 7 7 0 — 14

1st quarter

PR — Layton Goins 33 pass from Lucas Mathews (conversion failed), 9:50

PR — Colton Kuprienko 1 run (conversion failed), 4:05

2nd quarter

KLG — A.J. Peak 4 run (Laurenz Hoffbauer kick), 11:53

PR — Colton Kuprienko 1 run (Colton Kuprienko run), 9:12

PR — Nate Fegert 11 run (conversion failed), 8:26

PR — Colton Kuprienko 66 run (Colton Kuprienko run), 5:14

PR — Madden Redinger 4 pass from Lucas Mathews (conversion failed), 1:08

PR — Goins 31 pass from Lucas Mathews (Layton Goins run), 0:29 

3rd quarter

KLG — Draeden Taylor 6 pass from Porter Lewis (Laurenz Hoffbauer kick), 2:35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

PR — Kuprienko 21-265, Fegert 10-57, Goins 1-4, Mathews 2-(-14), H. Leach 1-(-1).

PASSING

PR — Mathews 9-16-3-158.

RECEIVING

PR — Goins 6-116, B. Leach 2-38, Redinger 1-4.