IDAHO GOES DOWN It’s never too early to consider the 2025 football season, even if you felt that it was too soon.
Check out some early storylines to keep an eye on before the football season officially begins in 41 days, while you enjoy this week’s fireworks and barbecues.
We’ll start with quarterbacks because they receive the most attention.
Tyson Sweetwood, the quarterback for Hillcrest, is arguably the best player to watch this season.
The 6-foot-4 Carroll College commit was selected 5A Player of the Year and helped guide the Knights to the 5A state championship the previous season.
As one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks, Sweetwood ran for 995 yards and 16 touchdowns and passed for 2,660 yards and 23 touchdowns.
The Knights have a strong senior class coming in, but they lost their best tackle Michael McCartney and their best receiver Jace Judy.
At Rigby, Jake Flowers is also aiming for a second state championship.
Flowers helped guide the Trojans to a 6A championship the previous season, earning him a spot on the All-State second team quarterback roster.
Amani Morel and Jerzey Duenes, Rigby’s powerful running back tandem, carried a large portion of the offensive load; Morel was named to the first team of the All-State squad, while Duenes was named to the second team.
What impact does Duenes’ graduation and signing with Montana Tech have on Rigby’s offense, particularly Flowers?
We will need to wait and find out.
Jack Gardner of Sugar-Salem is one quarterback who won’t be trying to win the state championship again.
The All-Conference first-team player just earned a contract to play baseball at the College of Southern Idaho after leading the Diggers to their second consecutive state baseball championship.
A program that has won six state titles in the last seven seasons has some large shoes to fill.
Lupe Ortiz at Aberdeen and Keaton Archibald at Butte County are two other quarterbacks to keep an eye on.
Archibald helped guide the Pirates to the 2A championship game, earning him the title of High Desert Player of the Year.
In likely the most difficult division in eastern Idaho, Ortiz, a dual-threat 3A first-team All-State nominee, rushed for 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns and tossed for 433 yards and four scores.
Rockland quarterback Zach Permann was chosen for the Rocky Mountain Conference first team after a strong sophomore campaign. Carter Perry of Preston passed for 2,333 yards and 22 touchdowns, earning him a spot on the first team all-conference.
Return on Thursday for additional football narratives.
