Firth High School: Idaho State Champe!

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FIRTH H .S. IDAHO STATE CHAMP: 5! By Mitch Buck to 12, 53 to 6, 48 to 0. Losing became easy, yet even in those losses I felt we were fractions away from being successful. | really began to understand that football is The summer of 1985 was very exciting for me “A game of inches.” because it was the beginning of my first job as Head During the 1985-86 school year, we emphasized Football Coach. It was at Firth High School in Eastern commitment in the weight room. We didn’t have a Idaho. In 1968, Firth finished the season 6-2-1 which was weight lifting class so we lifted in the morning and after the last time they won the league title. Firth’s only school.

At our school, most athletes play three sports, so unbeaten teams were in 1925; 7-0-1, and 1964; 8-0-0. the off season was in the summer. The basketball coach I wanted to do a great job and had high expectations. worked with me in promoting weight training and our We advertised our summer weight program and | commitment was better but a long way from what we envisioned players flocking to the weight room to lift. needed. Our power lifting meet helped as did a clinic we After one week, the players stopped coming. This lack of commitment disappointed me. Motivating the team had with Jason Buck (now a Defensive Lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals).

Two young men put forth a great was a constant struggle and frustration set in. The effort through the summer. The progress they made athletes seemed very apathetic towards weight lifting helped the teams attitude and they became two of the and acted as if it was a burden and non-profitable. I top players in our conference. Even though our record, at 2-7, had not improved, we had fantastic growth. We ofÏce and it was exceptional. The articles not only lost four games by seven points or less and could have motivated me and kept me on a positive track, but the very easily have been 6-3. players loved reading them. They helped in establishing dreams and gave direction in how to obtain them.

Slowly, we began to see more commitment. Mr. Tucker, our principal, gave us a weight training class That first season ended up being quite difÏcult. We during the 1986-87 school year. Our younger athletes began the season with 33 players and ended up with 21. lifted throughout the year but we still had a difÏcult We only had 2 players not miss any practices. Our time getting the older ones to lift consistently. The team record at 2-7 was indicative of our commitment. In made some great progress, but I knew we could do those seven losses we were outscored 342-37. I never dreamed I would coach a team that would lose games 63 A DREAM FULFILLED Continued from page 54 better.

Through the summer, we had more players lifting than any previous summer. It lead to a 6-3 season, Firth’s best since 1968. We beat our arch-rivals, Shelley, for the first time in 19 years. The season was very emotional and what I[ think coaching is all about. Not only were we faster, stronger, and more aggressive, but we had become significantly more committed to improvement because of our weight training. That state playoff berth still eluded us though. The end of the ‘87 season was the beginning of a great experience. We began to really believe. The players talked about a state championship. We dreamed of it and we began to work like we really wanted it to happen.

We had a lift-a-thon and used the money to buy football pants and a tackling sled. We posted our goals in the weight room. One of which was to be “The most physical A-3 team in Idaho.”

We opened the ‘88 season against our rivals Shelley High School. They are a classification bigger than us, and twice our size. That combined with the fact that we beat them the previous year and have never beat them two years in a row made it a very exciting and emotional experience. We loved preparing for the game, but playing it was even more enjoyable. The first series set the precedence for the whole season. On the kick-off, we tackled their return man just inside their ten yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, we got great penetration, caused a fumble and recovered it. Two plays later we were ahead 6-0. We never trailed in a game all season from there on.

Another one of our goals was to be “Better in November than we are in September.” We became witnesses that success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success. Our offense kept improving with time and our defense kept getting more physical with each game.

Ben McClure All-State QB, A-3 Player-of-the-Year 997 yards Rushing, 1103 yards Passing, 31 TD's We won the conference by defeating perennial powerhouse Sugar Salem 18-6. The fact we hadn’t beat them since 1973 made it especially satisfying. We went into the playoffs having outscored our opponents 306-62 and only giving up two scores in the first half. In the playoffs, we dominated our first opponent outscoring them 35-0. The semi-final game was our toughest test as we held off a comeback with a 75-yard 4th quarter touchdown drive in a 28-20 win. The state championship game was a rematch with Sugar and a final glorious colmination of our efforts.

We won 30-0 and controlled every phase of the game. We had finally fulfilled all our dreams and achieved our ultimate goal.

Our J.V. team finished 9-1. In th last two years, our Vasity and J.V. teams are 18-3 and 15-3 respectively. We did not have one player miss a game due to a injury.

We had eight players make the All-State team. One was the “Player-of-the-Year”, another was the “Lineman of-the-Year.” We had eight players make All-Area and Continued on next page A DREAM FULFILLED Continued from previous page #56 Brian Poole 6-2, 240, A-3 Lineman-of-the-Year Lyle Dye #58, 6-0, 160, All-State Nose Guard thirteen make All Conference. Our team received the team scholastic award in Idaho for having a 3.07 G.P.A.

We also had six players receive the Individual Scholastic Award for having better than 3.75 G.P.A. What does that leave for ‘89? I can’t say for sure but this | do know: We will be stronger! Our BFS congratulations to Firth High School for being persistent and having dream.

Brian Mecham 1147 yards Rushing, All-State Running Back Squat:410 PATHWAY TO A DREAM FULFILLED pts. pts. opp.yds. opp. yds. yds. yds. :

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* We did not keep statistics on the opponents in these categories . :

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“represents the players for each starting position and weight lifted on bench, squat, and clean: vs. season records.

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From BFS Magazine — Spring 1989. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).