Bonners Ferry 26, Timberlake 15 

BONNERS FERRY — In their regular season finale and the Intermountain League title on the line, the Bonners Ferry Badgers needed a spark. 

Despite an opening drive touchdown, the rival Timberlake Tigers had just scored to give themselves a narrow 7-6 advantage in the second quarter. Luckily for Bonners Ferry, they didn’t need to wait to find their spark. 

On the kickoff, Badgers’ junior wide receiver Colson Baisden caught the ball, took it inside the hashmarks before bursting like a flash of lightning through a gap. Baisden found a fifth gear to escape the last Tiger defender before waltzing into the end zone and being mobbed by his teammates. 

“That was really a momentum swinger,” Bonners Ferry head coach Danny Swift said.  

From there, the Badgers looked like themselves again and rolled to a 26-15 win over the Tigers to claim their second straight Intermountain League championship. Swift said it’s the first time since 1980 that Bonners Ferry has held their league title in consecutive seasons. 

“It’s a group of young men that have bought into what we believe in, and they believe in what we’re doing,” Swift said. “They’re playing together, and it’s pretty darn special.” 

While Baisden lit the spark for Bonners Ferry, senior quarterback Alex Stolley added plenty of fuel to the fire. The Badgers quarterback totaled 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground, in addition to 50 passing yards and a touchdown to junior running back Tyson Dickson. 

Bonners Ferry got back to dominating up front and utilizing their running game to move their offense. Swift shouted out his linemen on both sides of the ball for their relentless work and his senior for getting a win on senior night. 

“Really appreciate all our seniors and everything they’ve given to our program,” Swift said. “Amazing community support, great coaching staff, we’re blessed to get to do this. It’s pretty awesome.” 

With the win, the Badgers close their regular season with a 5-3 record and punch their ticket to the state playoffs with a league championship. Bonners Ferry will be on a bye next week as other teams close out their regular season before they learn their next opponent. 

Swift commended his team and their toughness to bounce back from an extremely tough stretch in the middle of the season, where the Badgers lost three games in a row. 

“This team’s been through more adversity than most people would realize, and that can really break you down and take you out, but they’ve rallied around their group,” Swift said. “They’re a gritty, tough and unconventional group that always plays hard. They love the game, they love on another, and they play for each other.” 

Priest River 54, St. Maries 0 

ST. MARIES — There’s something the reader of this article and the last three opponents to face the Priest River Spartans have in common. They have both scored the same number of points on the Spartans’ defense: 0. 

Priest River’s latest victim was Central Idaho League foe St. Maries, whom the Spartans cruised past 54-0 on Friday night in the team’s third straight shutout. 

“The biggest thing is we tackle, it’s always three or four or five guys on the ball. We preach making the ball carrier pay every time he carries it, and you see it every week,” Priest River head coach Alex Zepeda said. “I believe defense wins championships... I feel really confident going into the playoffs the way our defense is playing.” 

On the defensive side, senior defensive lineman Dayton Wheeler added two sacks to bring his season total to seven. Senior Haiden Leach grabbed a pick-6 from his defensive line spot to boost the Spartans’ defense as well. 

While the lopsided final score may not indicate it, Zepeda said the Spartans came out flat in the first half. Priest River struggled with self-inflicted wounds, like penalties, but responded to a challenge from Zepeda at the halftime break. 

“I really believe this team has the potential to win a state title, so we had to reset and go back in that second half and play like state champs,” Zepeda said. “I feel like we did a good job of that.” 

The Lumberjacks were committed to slowing Spartans’ senior running back Colton Kuprienko, sending the house after him every chance they got, which allowed for junior quarterback Jacob Best to have his best game of the season. Best threw for three touchdowns, including two to Layton Goins and no interceptions against St. Maries. 

The all-out blitzes didn’t stop Kurpienko from stuffing the stat sheet, adding a couple of scores on the ground and another receiving. Zepeda commended Nate Fegert as well, describing every carry he had as a near-automatic first down. 

“The game plan was to stop Kuprienko, and so when teams do that, we got to make them pay in the passing game, and we came out and did that in the second half,” Zepeda said. “Super proud of team.” 

The Priest River win lifts them to 6-1 and 4-0 in league play, setting up another monumental matchup with Grangeville next week. When the Spartans travel to play the Bulldogs, the CIL title will be on the line after Grangeville snuck past Logos 28-27 on Friday. 

“At the end of the game I told them this has got to mean everything to you. This week and moving forward... we’ve got to lock in and do everything right. From studying the playbook to doing your assignments to eating right, all the little things that matter,” Zepeda said. “My message was let’s lock in and let’s go win a state title.” 

Priest River will play at Grangeville on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. in hopes of repeating as CIL champs.