Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Oakley
2. Raft River
3. Lighthouse Christian
4. Glenns Ferry
5. Murtaugh
Written by: Will Hoenike
From the outside looking in, fans might be hearing the “Mission: Impossible” theme song. Whether it’s the Tom Cruise movies from recent years or the Greg Morris/Peter Lupus TV show from the 1960s and 1970s … that likely depends on the fan hearing the music.
The mission, should third-year head coach Brennan Jones accept it, is to replace 12 departed seniors from the Oakley Hornets’ 2020 state-championship team.
Twelve seniors subtracted from an 8-man football team. Austin Cranney is gone. Strom Pickett, Robert Wybenga, and Isaac Mitton are gone. Clay Douglas and Beto Bobadilla? Gone. And that’s not even all of them. Jones knows they all contributed to the fourth state title in program history, so all those roles must be filled.
What Jones also knows – along with his staff, his players, and people in the Oakley community – is that there’s talent there.
The Hornets allowed just 17 points per game last season and posted two shutouts, both very good numbers in the 8-man game. The team returns one of the key playmakers from that group in senior linebacker Dace Jones. Jones was 1st-Team All-Snake River Conference as well as 1st-Team All-State after registering over 100 tackles and intercepting five passes. He should be joined at the linebacker spot by a pair of underclassmen, junior Ethan Toribau and sophomore Bry Severe, who played pivotal roles on special teams last season and are primed to step into larger roles this fall. Senior Daniel Gonzalez should also step into a key role on the team’s defense, along with senior Hayden Hunter along the defensive line and senior Payton Beck in the secondary.
“We play assignment-based defense. Do your job and trust the rest of the guys to do theirs,” Jones said. “We only return one starter from last year (on defense) so we are young and have big shoes to fill.”
Offensively, Jones and offensive coordinator Mark Mace may open things up a bit in 2021. That may seem counterintuitive for an offense that posted more than 60 points in five different games last season, but the team did that largely with a tremendous run attack. This fall, the team may lean more on smart quarterback Payton Beck and a fleet of quick pass-catchers, including Jones, Gonzalez, and junior William Praegitzer.
“We would like to be more explosive,” Jones said. “We ground out a lot of points last year. We have a little more team speed and it should lead to more points.”
Which could be a tough mission of its own. Oakley played 12 games in 2020 and was held under 40 points just twice. In all, the Hornets put 692 points on the scoreboard last season, including 52 in its state-championship victory over rival Raft River, a team that allowed just 156 points in its other ten games leading up to the championship contest.
The Hornets play two meet-in-the-middle games this fall and both represent stern challenges. First, Oakley will again participate in the season-opening 8-Man Classic at Middleton High School. This year, Jones and his players will face the uber-athletic Titus Yearout and the Lapwai Wildcats on August 28. The team will be back in the Boise valley two weeks later to face 1A Division 2 power Kendrick at Parma High School on September 11.
“We have a great legacy, we teach that, above all else, you only get what you’ve earned,” Jones concluded. “We have a daily pursuit to improve individually.”