Priest River football eager for season opener

PRIEST RIVER — Jared Hughes is entering the second year of his second stint as the Priest River football coach. He’s seen a lot in his time around the program, but nothing quite like this.

The coronavirus pandemic prevented the Spartans from holding spring ball, attending summer camps and putting pads until about two weeks ago.

Hughes admitted all the uncertainty has presented quite a few challenges and the time away could impact the team early in the season.

“This is a great group of kids that are hardworking and pretty smart, but we don’t really know until we line up,” he said.

As it stands right now, the Spartans have around 30 players on their team and about a dozen returners from last year’s squad. Hughes said last year the most the team had at a practice was 22, so he’s encouraged by the uptick in turnout.

At times in 2019, Priest River struggled having 11 players on the field. This year, Hughes said the Spartans have enough players for a scout team and a solid JV squad throughout the season.

Senior captain Coby Rogers had his Priest River baseball season in the spring taken away and his North Idaho Lakers American Legion season in the summer cut short due to COVID-19, so he’s happy to be back on the field with his teammates.

“I’m super stocked,” he said. “It honestly feels so good to be back outside.”

The Spartans went winless last year but Rogers is hoping the team can be more competitive this fall and get a couple wins under their belt.

Starting quarterback Caden Brennan, lineman Bradley O’Brien and Teagun Holycross all graduated but the team has several key returners including Kent Alexander, Michael Johnson, Kameron Salesky, Jesse Poisel, Deegan Goins and Matyus McLain.

Junior Everett Hanna and freshman Kai-Poi Wong-Yuen are battling it out for the starting quarterback spot and Hughes said the team will lean heavily on a large group of underclassmen.

“We’re younger but bigger, so it’s going to take a little bit longer to gel,” he said.

Rogers is moving from fullback to running back this season and he is aiming to find the end zone a handful of times this fall.

“I like running the ball because I get to run through people,” he said.

Given the amount of inexperience on the team, Hughes said he’s simplifying things and planning to stick to the ground game early in the season.

“Running back wise, all those guys are returning so that’s good,” he said. “There’s a stable of five guys right there and any one of them can run the ball well.”

Rogers plans on showing the younger players the ropes in the coming weeks and admitted it was tough to stay motivated this summer.

“It doesn’t feel quite the same, but it feels good to be back,” he said.

Hughes believes the Spartans can make some noise once league play rolls around.

“I’m excited because we got a lot of kids out but nervous because I don’t know how they are going to react when the lights hit,” he said.

Rogers said the whole team is grateful they get to play this fall.

“We’re going to try and get in as many games as we can,” he said, “so we got to play hard and make the most of it. There’s not much we can really do with everything that’s going on.”

Kickoff for the season opener against Kellogg is set for 7 p.m. Friday at PRLHS.