Tigers won't be tamed

POCATELLO — As time expired Friday, Kendrick coach Zane Hobart was drenched in a celebratory water bath by his players, with good reason.

The Tigers held off a furious fourth-quarter comeback from Dietrich to win their second consecutive Idaho Class 1A Division II state championship 42-34 at Holt Arena on the campus of Idaho State University.

For Kendrick (12-0), it is the fifth title in the sport in school history. The Tigers won in 1991, then went back-to-back in 2000 and 2001 before winning it last year and now this one. Kendrick will enter the 2023 season with a 15-game winning streak. The Tigers went undefeated in 2000 as well.

Kendrick led 42-28 with 2:04 left in the fourth quarter after sophomore running back Sawyer Hewett ran 54 yards for a touchdown, his fourth of the game.

But as is often the case in eight-man football, it was far from done.

Dietrich (11-1) marched down the field in less than a minute, getting a 41-yard touchdown pass from Cody Power to Payten Sneddon.

The Blue Devils then recovered an onside kick and moved quickly down the field. But the comeback came up short as Power’s pass was intercepted by Tigers freshman linebacker Nate Tweit at the goal line.

“I wish we would have recovered that onside kick there at the end,” Hobart said. “But at the end of the day, our kids made the plays they needed to at the right time.”

A big reason for the Tigers’ success was the play of Hewett.

After missing six weeks with a torn quad in his right leg, Hewett has been just getting back up to speed. But on Friday, on the biggest stage, the 5-foot-11, 155-pound ball carrier made the biggest impact.

Hewett also had a rushing touchdown of 65 yards and receiving scores of 57 and 42 yards to total four on the game. He finished with six carries for 137 yards, adding 120 receiving yards.

“I give all the props to my teammates,” Hewett said. “I have the confidence in what I do and I have all the faith in the world that they will do what they need too. They are my brothers and we do this for each other.”

Hobart said this is just the start of big things for Hewett.

“I feel sorry for the rest of the state, he is only a sophomore,” Hobart said. “He played a heck of a game and made some huge plays all night long.”

While offense is what most in attendance expected to see between two of the highest scoring teams in the classification, it was defense that made plays and kept the final score lower than many had anticipated.

Kendrick recovered a fumble and intercepted three Dietrich passes in the game.

“Our defense made the plays when we needed them,” Hobart said. “Not only was the final interception huge, but each of those interceptions turned momentum for us.”

While the second half went the Tigers way, the first was not exactly what either team was expecting.

Hewett’s 65-yard touchdown on the game’s second play opened the scoring. But the Blue Devils scored the next 16 points, marking just the second time the Tigers had trialed in a game all season.

With 2:51 left in the first quarter Kendrick scored on Ty Koepp 15-yard touchdown pass to Jagger Hewett, but the 2-point conversion failed and the Tigers trailed 16-14 at the end of one quarter. It was Dietrich 22-20 at halftime.

“At halftime, we talked as a team and the kids believed they were going to win this game,” Hobart said. “They had gotten used to Dietrich’s speed and realized it wasn’t as bad as they had thought. But those kids wanted to win this game.”

The Blue Devils controlled most of the third quarter, chewing up more than six minutes of game clock. However, Kendrick forced a punt.

Sawyer Hewett then scored the lone touchdown of the quarter, a 57-yard reception, to give the Tigers the lead for good at 26-22, setting up the wild and frantic fourth-quarter finish.

Koepp finished 13-for-26 for 200 yards and two touchdowns, adding 108 yards on 18 carries and a score.

Power was 14-of-25 passing for 257 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Sneddon added 141 yards on four catches with a pair of scores.

Kendrick 14 6 6 16—42

Dietrich 16 6 0 12—34

First Quarter

Kendrick — Sawyer Hewett 65 run (Ty Koepp run).

Dietrich — Cody Power 30 run (Connor Perkins pass from Power).

Dietrich — Power 25 run (Power run).

Kendrick — Jagger Hewett 15 pass from Koepp (run failed).

Second Quarter

Dietrich — Payten Sneddon 4 run (pass failed).

Kendrick — Koepp 38 run (run failed).

Third Quarter

Kendrick — Sawyer Hewett 57 pass from Koepp (pass failed).

Fourth Quarter

Kendrick — Sawyer Hewett 42 pass from Koepp (Koepp pass to Jagger

Hewett).

Dietrich — Sneddon 69 pass from Power (run failed).

Kendrick — Sawyer Hewett 54 run (Koepp run).

Dietrich — Sneddon 41 pass from Power (run failed).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Kendrick: S. Hewett 6-137, Koepp 18-108, Wyatt Fitzmorris 5-15. Dietrich: Power 14-131, P. Sneddon 6-72, Hayden Astle 10-48, Wyett

Sneddon 7-17, Connor Perkins 2-(-6).

PASSING — Kendrick: Koepp 13-26-0-200. Dietrich: Power 14-25-3-257.

RECEIVING STATS NOT AVAILABLE