SEASON PREVIEW: Football: IML includes Moscow and moved to 4A

Badger football will have two league games this year, as Moscow is now a league opponent.  

New high school classifications have moved the 3A Intermountain League to 4A. Moscow had a student population of 769 in 2023 as provided by Niche.com. Last year, Bonners Ferry was reported to have 436 students and Timberlake had 538.  Moscow has petitioned to go down a league for football, as Lewiston (1,365), Sandpoint (1,086) and Lakeland (863) all have larger student populations.  

The changes for league on 30 additional students at the lower end and 60 students at the top end. Prior classification student population as 320 to 639, now at 4A is 350 to 699.  

Bonners Ferry head coach Danny Swift said moving to 4A is not a drastic change, especially since very little has changed at the state level. By adding Moscow to the league, Bonners Ferry will have two league games.  

“Moscow is bigger, but we should be competitive,” he said, the first week of practice.  

“At the end of the day if we do what we’re supposed to do as coaches and players do what they are supposed to do as players, and we progress like we should [Moscow] will just be another opportunity for us to play a competitive game,” he said. “If we take care of business, it will just be another way for us to make it to the playoffs.” 

The district champion will automatically advance to the playoffs. From there the other top seven ranked teams in the 4A classification will advance to the playoffs. The top four teams will host at home.  

Approximately 60 Badgers have come out for football, including 11 seniors, 19 juniors, 20 sophomores and 13 freshmen.  

Swift said the program is light on freshmen, but he hopes to pick more up as the school year approaches.  

Team rankings and game scores are tracked and decided by MaxPreps.com. Last year the Idaho High School Activities Association moved to use the site to seed state football tournaments.  

Coaches are responsible for reporting accurate game scores the day of or after a game. Last year, drastic changes in rankings took place at the end of the regular season, as teams did not report scores until late October.  

Team rankings improved depending on the margin of victory and it was commonly thought that a higher margin of victory, say 50 points instead of 35 points, improved rankings. To an extent, higher margins of victory do improve rankings.  

Swift said that in the spirit of good sportsmanship, he is not in favor of such a high margin of victory improving rankings.  

“MaxPreps rankings are flawed, but they are better than an automative berth to state,” he said. “Or else there would only be one berth for District 1 and 2. With the rankings as they are at least there is a chance the best teams are involved in the playoffs.”  

In league play, the Badgers will travel to Moscow and host Timberlake for Senior Night.  

Swift said traveling to Moscow may be a decent trek but is slower than driving to Orofino for a non-league game.  

Brody Rice, a senior, will return as quarterback. The offensive line includes Makeen Loretto, Kai Aiken and Taylor Dodd. Sulay Abubakari will play tight end and defensive end. Logan Thorne and Shiloh Berry will be on the defensive line. Conrad Hiatt will play several positions.  

Incoming rising players include Alex Stolley, Jacob Solt and James Morgen. 

Swift said that, while the team is younger this year, it is also more experienced. Sophomores and juniors will get a lot of playing time this year.  

He said the younger players have talent and will be fun to watch.  

“There will be an experience differential, which is going to be significant, with a lot of opposing teams, but I expect us to be competitive,” he said.  

Last year the Badgers finished 3-5, 0-1, with their season ending against league rival Timberlake when Cooper Lenz scored three touchdowns to win league 66-28 to win at Kenny Mendenhall Stadium. 

The Badgers were down 12-6 starting the second quarter, but then the Tigers went on to score 37 additional points.  

Bonners Ferry will open the 2024 season at home on Saturday, August 24, at 7 p.m. at 5A Lakeland. 

Coaches include Danny Swift, Andy Rice, Alec Hamilton, Kenny Swift, Jason Trujillo, Chris Saban, Robert McCune. David Koon is the team manager. 

    Bonners Ferry football player sprints for a conditioning drill.
  

    (left) BFHS head football coach Danny Swift instructs the offensive line through a play.