BFHS boys soccer team third at state!

TWIN FALLS — The Bonners Ferry Boys’ soccer team defeated the District VI champion Teton Redskins 1–0 Saturday to claim the third-place trophy at the Idaho 3A State Soccer Tournament at the Sunway Soccer Complex in Twin Falls.

Freshman forward Jake Tremble curled a corner kick inside the near post in the 45th minute for the game’s only goal.

It was his team-leading 12th goal of the season. The Badger defense made the goal stand to earn the victory.

Senior goalkeeper Garrett Skeen recorded eight saves for the Badgers; making several nice saves in the last 20 minutes of the game to earn the shutout, his seventh of the season.

Teton outshot Bonners 11–6, but were unable to get the equalizing goal due to the efforts of Skeen and the back four defenders of the Badgers.

The Redskins had won their opening game 5–4 over Wendell in penalty kicks, then lost to Fruitland in overtime 1–0 in the semi-finals.

The Badgers opened the tournament Thursday in the quarterfinals facing District VI runner-up South Fremont, who earned the state berth by virtue of its’ win over Aberdeen in a play-in game the week before.

Bonners Ferry defeated the Cougars 1–0, the game’s only goal coming in the 25th minute when junior Jesus Mendez delivered a well-placed through pass to junior forward Victor Mendez, who finished the one-on-one opportunity with a low shot past the Cougar keeper.

The Badgers outshot their opponents 10–8, with Skeen making six saves.

South Fremont was limited to very few scoring opportunities and were generally outplayed by the more aggressive Badger squad, led by IML most-valuable player, senior midfielder Keaton Tremble.

On Friday, in the semi-final round, Bonners Ferry faced District IV champion Gooding, who entered the tournament with only one loss, and who had spanked Weiser a day earlier 5–1 in the quarterfinals.

The Senators controlled the action for most of the first half, but the Badgers, led by Skeen and defenders senior Evan Moe and junior Cameron Woods, held tight.

Jake Tremble had a couple of close near-miss scoring opportunities, but halftime arrived with the game still scoreless. After 20 more minutes of intense, scoreless action to begin the second half, Gooding broke through in the 62nd minute when junior Angel Cardenas scored on a perfectly-placed header off a corner kick from senior Rico Mendez to give the Cougars a 1–0 lead.

The Badgers countered with more offensive urgency in an attempt to get the equalizer, but the strategy backfired, when in the 68th minute the speedy Mendez took a long over-the top of the defense pass and in a one-on-one opportunity beat Skeen to his left, scoring his 38th goal of the season and giving the Cougars a 2–0 lead with only 12 minutes remaining.

Bonners Ferry tried in vain to score, but never generated any good chances, and the game ended with Gooding moving on to the championship game after the 2–0 victory.

While the loss was initially difficult to accept, the Badger team realized that they had played a quality opponent as well as possible, and on this day lost to the better team. Gooding outshot the Badgers 12–5, with Skeen making eight saves.

Saturday’s action saw Gooding defeat Fruitland 1–0 to claim the championship, their second since breaking through in 2009.

Wendell edged Weiser 1–0 to earn the fourth- place trophy. With the third-place showing, the Badger soccer program earned their sixth overall trophy since 2001, tied for the most among fellow 3A schools. The Badgers finished the season 10-8-2.

Coach Moe would like to thank the parents, families and other supporters who made the long trip south to support the team at the tournament, and for everyone’s support during the season.

While this Badger team had shown steady improvement over the last half of the season, the state tournament showing was unexpected, indicating that when the boys played together they were capable of overachieving as a team.