Year Recap: Badger sports had bright year

Bonners Ferry High School sports had a great year in 2022 across all seasons and athletics. From state triumphs, to unforgettable program success, to revitalizing a team, the Badgers saw it all this year.

Winter sports

Boys Basketball

Badgers boys basketball made history winning districts for the first time in 15 years and returned to state for a second year in a row. The Badgers lost their first game against Marsh Valley and then defeated Fruitland, which moved them to the consolation round. The Badgers fell to Homedale and missed taking fourth in state by one point.

March 3, first round — Marsh Valley 66, Bonners Ferry 46

March 4, second round — 3A Loser Out: Bonners Ferry takes out Fruitland 70-62.

March 5, consolation final — Homedale 57, Bonners Ferry 56

Homedale earned the consolation title, winning fourth place for the 3A state tournament over Bonners Ferry.

The Badgers only graduated one senior, Ethan Hubbard, and returned with a fury and scored 103 in the season opener. They remain undefeated (6-0).

In addition, on Dec. 16, senior guard Braeden Blackmore scored his 1,000th point for the Badgers.

Girls basketball

In the 21-22 season, the girls went 8-11 overall and finished 2-4 in conference. They finished off the season falling to Timberlake by 53-50.

Timberlake’s McKennah Kronenberg hit a deep three-pointer with 1.4 seconds left, sending the Tigers past the Bonners Ferry Badgers, 53-50, in the 3A District 1 second-place game.

“What a great game,” said head coach Travis Hinthorn. “I think the largest point spread was six points. We were playing well at the end of the season and gave ourselves a chance to win.”

The Badgers are back at it and with the changes in the IML with Priest River and Kellogg moving down to 2A, the Badgers are looking to battle it out against Timberlake for the league title.

Currently, Badger girls basketball is 6-4 overall and 0-1 in league.

Wrestling

Badger wrestling at the state competition, Eli Richards claimed a second state championship and signed to wrestle at the University of Alberta. Jackson Rickter finished in second at state and signed with Waldorf University. Boys wrestling finished 7th in state.

Badger girls wrestling became the first district I and II champion. Savannah Rickter won her bracket and moved on to the first state competition, and took third in state with no classification to school. Gena Kelsey took second at districts, but did not advance to state due to only the top wrestler advancing.

Girls wrestling continues to dominate in the beginning of the 22-23 season taking first place in all of their tournaments so far. The program has many experienced juniors that also have wrestlers for Bonners Ferry Wrestling Club.

Cheerleading

Badger Cheer team is back at it with a full squad and competing for the first time in years. Bonners Ferry cheerleaders were named the 3A grand champions at the Lakeland Holiday Classic cheer tournament on Dec. 10.

The cheerleading squad had their best performance to date and finished nearly every routine without any deductions, Bonners Ferry Cheer coach Christina “Chris” Gaffield said.

Badger cheer have several other competitions coming up in the next few months and has their eyes on the state competition.

Spring sports

In spring sports, the Badgers continued to impress with baseball, golf and track going to state.

Badger baseball went to state for the sixth year in a row on May 19-20. The Badgers went 0-2 and lost to the eventual state champion Marsh Valley in the first game. Marsh Valley beat all their opponents by at least 10 runs in five innings each game.

In their second game, the Badgers fell to Snake River 1-2.

The Badgers finished the season with a 13-13 record. This was the sixth state tournament the Badger baseball team qualified for in the last seven years, not including 2020 due to COVID-19.

Trey Bateman was selected as All-League Most Valuable Player this year. Since 2015, every year except 2020 due to COVID-19, a Bonners Ferry Badger has been recognized as the All-League MVP.

Track and Field

Both track and field teams took second at districts and a total of 24 athletes qualified for state.

The girls team was only five points behind Timberlake.

At districts, Charles Henslee, who took first in the 1600m, was the 2020 state champion for the event.

The sprint medley relay team took first. The team includes Noah Walker, Cleo Henslee, Noah Bottcher and Charles Henslee.

Braeden Blackmore took first in the high jump.

At the state championship, Morgan Burt took first place in the pole vault at 10 feet. Burt initially tied in the pole vault, but since she made the vault in fewer attempts than her opponent, she finished first.

Asha Abubakari won the discus and the shot put.

Badger girls finished fifth at state.

Helene Rae finished fourth in shot put and improved her personal record multiple times in the past five meets. Camille Ussher took fourth in the 800m with a new PR.

For the boys, Charles Henslee took fourth in the 1600m.

The boys sprint medley team finished fourth with a time of 3:43.76. Snake River took first with a time of 3:37.99.

Golf

Girls golf won every Intermountain league match with Braylyn Bayer medaling all four times and were named IML and district champs for the second year in a row. The girls finished second at the 3A state tournament, held May 16-17 at the River Bend Golf Course by two strokes.

Kimberly High School edged the Badgers to win the 3A title with six of their golfers placing in the top 10. Three Badgers placed in the top 10.

Braylyn Bayer took second in state, just two strokes behind the top placer from Kimberly. Avery Bayer finished fifth and Cali Iacolucci finished seventh. Mia Blackmore tied for 22nd and Holly Alexander finished in 42nd.

Girls golf took first with the Bayer sisters battling out for top place.

Boys golf saw a young team come together and improve throughout the season.

No individual golfer qualified for state this year.

“The boys team keeps improving their games,” said head coach Ralph Lotspeich. “By this time next year, they will be in the hunt with Eli Blackmore and Tyson Tadlock leading the way.”

Softball

The Badger softball program was in a building year. Badger girls softball had a huge increase of players, with the program capped at 32 girls. Many played softball for the first time.

With so many new players, head coach Kasey Skeen focused on fundamentals and preparing for the mental game.

Badger softball finished out their season in a Class 3A district 1 loser-out game against Priest River softball.

Fall sports

Badger fall sports went wild with teams returning and flocking to the state competition.

Badger football had its best season in decades, dominating the field, making historic wins. With the changes in the Intermountain League of Priest River and Kellogg dropping to 2A, Timberlake and Bonners Ferry were left to battle it out. The Badgers went on to play and defeat previous 3A IML competitors such as St. Maries 46-14 and Kellogg 25-0.

The Badgers also claimed the IML league championship for the first time since 2005. The Badgers remained undefeated in regular season for the first time since 1975, won the IML championship for the first time since 2005 and won its first state playoff game since 2003 in front of the home crowd.

Senior Cleo Henslee rushed for three touchdowns en route to the Badgers win over the Wolverines at Kenny Mendenhall Stadium.

The Badgers finished 9-1 after losing to Weiser in the second round of the state playoffs. This year's team went farther than they ever have in years. Badger football's last visits to the state contest was 2015, 2013 and 2009. Each time the Badgers went one-and-out.

The players were spurred on partially due to the coaches promising at the beginning of the season that they wouldn’t shave until the team lost. After each win the Badgers took photos with the sign “the beards live.” There were 23 seniors on the team.

This was the season that had fans and competitors alike explaining “Holy Schnikes,” much like head coach Travis Hinthorn exclaimed when mic-ed up on KREM2 news as Cleo Henslee dove for a touchdown against the Timberlake Tigers at the league championship game.

This year had fanfare with the community coming together to form the Badger Nation, packing the stands and even bringing in lawn chairs to cover the track as added seating. Badger Nation faithfully traveled far and wide to see the team play, even outnumbering their opponent’s home crowd.

Hinthorn said the playoff game against Wood River had the largest attendance in any game he has seen in Bonners Ferry, with an estimated 1,200 people in attendance.

Boys soccer season

Badger boys soccer returned to the state competition for the second year in a row. The Badgers went 0-2 in the contest. As the No. 6 seed, the Badgers were pitted against the No. 3 seed and 2021 state champion Sugar-Salem. The Diggers won 6-3 against the Badgers and then defeated American Falls 4-0. Bonners Ferry went on to play McCall-Donnelly on Friday, Oct. 21 and lost 1-0. Comparably, Intermountain League opponent Timberlake also went 0-2 in the state contest.

In 2021, the Badgers played at state and also went 0-2.

The Badgers took second in the league behind Timberlake and finished the season 10-2 in conference and 15-4-2 overall. The Badgers went 6-0-1 before taking their first loss of the season on Sept. 20 against Timberlake 3-4.

For the second year in a row, Bonners Ferry High School senior Nick Eastman has been named 3A Boys Soccer All-state second-team player. Eastman scored 27 goals and 15 assists in the fall season, averaging 1.3 goals per game.

Girls soccer season

Badger girls soccer spent the season working on a new dynamic due to graduating so many seniors. Just like in the 2021 season, the Badgers took third in conference, with a 7-6 overall record and 5-4 in conference record.

Going into the season, Bonners Ferry coach Emily Winebark said she was unsure of what to expect since the program had graduated a large group of seniors. She wasn’t sure who would step up, but she is proud that the team did.

At districts, the girls beat Grangeville 6-1, before falling to Timberlake 5-0. For the Badgers, goals were spread amongst the team. Winebark said this showed the team was more cohesive, rather than focused on one strong individual.

This year’s team goal was “don’t hesitate.” Winebark said the team worked on being aggressive, confident and having the head game of being a better team.

XC girls

This season, the Badger cross country team has 15 runners, with about an equal number of boys and girls. There was a large turnout of freshmen boys.

Despite smokey conditions this fall, the Badgers improved their times and their mindset. The Badgers girls cross country team took second place at districts on Oct. 20.

Ceci Roemer led the Badgers with a time of 20:27, taking third place and improving her time by 30 seconds. Sydney Beckle was close behind taking fourth place at 20:33.

Ryan Beckle finished in 12th for the Badgers at 18:53. Jack Woods finished in 16th place at 19:23.

“Even the boys, despite having no qualifiers, had some of their best performances of the season,” said head coach Tyler Warner.

Badger girls cross country finished ninth at the 3A IHSAA state race. Warner said the girls had great, positive attitudes and worked extremely hard to be prepared for the day.

He added that one of the challenges the Badgers encounter annually is the southeastern teams come from a much higher altitude and seem to have really great days at state.

Volleyball

Badger volleyball returned to the state competition for the first time since 2017 after winning the IML district championships against the Timberlake Tigers. This win also made Bonners Ferry the District 1 3A Champions.

In two rounds at districts, the Badgers beat Tigers 3-0 in both matches.

The Tigers didn’t beat the Badgers in a set all season.

The last time the Badgers finished in the top four in state was in 1994.

The No. 6 seed Badgers played third-seed Weiser and fell in three sets; 22-25, 14-25, 14-25.

Bonners Ferry then played the No. 7 seed Buhl, which won 3-1. The Badgers were right with Buhl in the first and fourth sets, but ultimately fell to the Wolverines; 24-26, 15-25, 25-23, 20-25.

Badger volleyball finished the season 11-11 overall and 2-0 in league taking the IML championship.

North Idaho Hall of Fame

Brayln Bayer, Ralph Lotspiech and Eli Richards were inducted to the North Idaho Hall of Fame at the 59th annual North Idaho Sports Banquet on April 16.

Bonners Ferry athletes, teams and coaches were nominated 12 times across the various categories.

Braylyn Bayer was named North Idaho’s 2021-2022 High School Girls Golf Athlete of the Year. Ralph Lotspeich, Badger golf coach, was named North Idaho’s 2021-2022 Girls Coach of the Year. Eli Richards was named North Idaho’s 2021-2022 High School Wrestling Athlete of the Year.