Caldwell Twilight Cross Country Invitational
Thursday, Sept. 4

BOYS

Individuals

1 Watson, Barak Sr Columbia 15:51.08 1

The 10-game league schedule for girls 5A Southern Idaho Conference began Wednesday with five games and the unbeaten Centennial's girls kept their sizzling start going with a 4-2 victory at Borah.

Centennial senior Hannah Masson, who assisted a goal in the Patriots' 2-1 nonconference victory over Boise on Tuesday, registered three goals against Borah.

The first in-season Idaho high school football media poll was released earlier today, and 2A Nampa Christian, which crushed Glenns Ferry 27-0 last Friday, is the lone District Three team ranked No. 1.

Capital, which opens its season at 7 p.m. Friday against Boise at Bronco Stadium picked up one first-place vote and is ranked second in the 5A poll. Reigning state champion Meridian is fourth — also with a first-place vote.

In a battle of 5A Southern Idaho Conference unbeaten girls soccer teams, Centennial topped Boise 2-1 on Tuesday behind two goals from sophomore dynamo Sofia Huerta at Boise's Willow Lane Sports Complex.

"I'm stoked," said Centennial coach Tara Sprengel, whose team improved to 4-0-0. "This has been our biggest challenge and our most intense game. Today, these guys showed up and played together. We still have steps to take, but this is a good start."

If the first week of competition — two for soccer — revealed anything, it would be that the Treasure Valley is loaded with championship-caliber athletes in football, soccer, cross country and volleyball.

Before I review the early action, be sure to vote for our football Game of the Week in our online poll. The winning game will be featured with a preview on Friday and extensive game coverage on Saturday.

Now, let's look back at the past couple weeks.

Football

At halftime of Saturday's Bishop Kelly-Central Catholic football game, the Jimmy Driscoll Classic cross country meet finished on the track, and Weiser's Ryan Jaggi pulled away with an impressive victory.

"Awesome. I felt amazing. I'm just excited," said Jaggi, who finished in 16 minutes, 59.82 seconds. "It went out fast and I stayed with the leaders through 2 miles, but I knew I couldn't out-kick them, so I started to make my move early. It paid off."

Bishop Kelly fell behind early and couldn't muster enough offense to claw back against a bigger, faster and fresher team from Portland's Central Catholic Saturday afternoon at Nick Ysursa Field.

The Knights lost their season-opener 42-22, but showed some promise as they were a couple mistakes away from making it a game. Justice Mariscal led BK with 145 rushing yards, including a 41-yard TD in the fourth quarter.

The countdown to kickoff has begun.

The Treasure Valley high school football season begins Friday night with a slate of 12 games. And at 1 p.m. Saturday, Bishop Kelly opens the season at home against Portland's Central Catholic.

Below, I've provided a complete schedule of Friday's games and the preseason Idaho media high school football poll.

The high school football season begins in earnest Friday with 12 games featuring teams from the Treasure Valley. Saturday, Bishop Kelly debuts its renovated stadium at 1 p.m. with a showdown against Portland's Central Catholic (KGEM 1140 AM).

While 5A teams don't play for another week, Friday's schedule offers football fans a unique opportunity to catch some of the best small schools in action.

Welcome to the Idaho Statesman’s Varsity Extra blog, where you’ll find the latest news and analysis throughout the school year.

Let's start with the changes you might have noticed on the Varsity Extra page you can link to here.