Click here for a photo gallery of the 2014 East Idaho All-Star Game.
And for the story recapping the game, click here.
I’ve watched it happen the past two years. It’s like a script with predetermined steps.
Step 1: A bunch of all stars get together to play in the aptly named East Idaho All-Star Game at Shelley High School. It’s District 5 versus District 6.
It all went down last Friday and the talent was abundant. A good chunk of the kids playing had gone through their high school graduations the week leading up to the game. If not, they will soon enough. For most, it was their last football game — ever. For everybody there that warm, breeze-free night, it was certainly their final football game in high school. It was a jovial atmosphere.
Then there’s step 2: The game starts.
A few quarterbacks tossed a few touchdowns and District 5 led the 6th District 14-7 after the first quarter. It looked like we were headed to a classic shootout. But the defenses found their groove, the offenses lost theirs and we had a back-and-forth, turnover-filled battle over the final three frames. Eventually District 6 won 27-21.
But step 2 isn’t about the final score. It’s about how the emotions kicked into gear as the night wore on. Quarterbacks stopped throwing so many touchdowns and a few interceptions instead, linebackers delivered bone-crushing hits, linemen started to complain about defensive linemen’s techniques for rushing the passer and old rivalries flared up.
There’s plenty of hate between fellow District 5 teams — don’t get me wrong. No one in Malad likes West Side and on and on. But Highland and Pocatello, Marsh Valley and American Falls, they’re really not that far away from one another. Amongst Poky’s three city schools there is a familiarity born from growing up close to each other. The distance between District 5 and District 6 schools, though, that creates contempt. Century and Pocatello don’t like one another but they absolutely despise Bonneville and Blackfoot.
And believe me, as dominant as Highland is in the 5A 5-6 District, Madison, Hillcrest, Skyline and Idaho Falls wanted nothing more than to shove it down the Rams’ throat the last chance they could. Highland’s four district rivals had a combined 16 players in the all-star game for District 6, including 11 from Idaho Falls, who the Rams embarrassed in a 51-6 demolition last season.
“Everybody was getting a little more into it the later it got into the game, which is fun,” said Century head coach David Spillett, who was in charge of the 5th District.
So as the quarters passed, the chirping picked up, a couple personal foul flags flew into the air and coaches from both sides harped on their guys to stay calm.
Am I making this sound like a bad thing? Believe me, it’s not. In a contest that’s purely for fun, the rivalries helped the final score mean something. It meant that a dropped pass or a blown blocking assignment carried weight with the failure.
They were playing an all-star exhibition contest and suddenly a football game broke out. High school football ended last November, but there we were, in the middle of May and it felt like the opening weekend of the season.
Then the game stopped and reality set in. We have two months of summer before teams gather for practice in August.
“It felt real good,” said Shelley head coach Travis Hobson. “It jazzes you up for the summer. ... Now we’re ready to go. I’m in football mode.”
That leads us to step 3: We wait. It’s the worst part.
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