Preseason Coaches' Poll
Foothills Division
T-1. Meridian
T-1. Rocky Mountain
3. Eagle
4. Timberline
5. Skyview
6. Boise
River Division
1. Mountain View
2. Capital
3. Owyhee
T-4. Borah
T-4. Centennial
6. Kuna
Written by: Wayne Dzubak
The Owyhee Storm is the new face on the block in 5A SIC District III football. A recent pep rally, complete with marching band and a ribbon cutting was held to celebrate the opening of the West Ada school districts newest school.
Head coach Sherm Blaser, who led the Kuna Kavemen to a 4A State
Title in 2019 before making the switch to Owyhee, is starting the program from scratch. Blaser has a history of creating a preferred culture and template for playing the game. Along with his success at Kuna, Blaser was able to turn Melba into a perennial 2A playoff participant from 2014 to 2017.
Owyhee did draw some players from Rocky Mountain but while none of those were starters for the Grizzlies, they will certainly bring a winning attitude from a program that has lost just once in the last three seasons.
Blaser and the Storm suffered their first loss when Boise High transfer Jack Payne, the star quarterback for the Brave, decided to concentrate on his first love basketball rather than suit up for the Storm football team. Payne has been highly recruited in basketball with several scholarship offers from NCAA Division I schools.
So it appears a pair of sophomores, Matt Irwin and Severin Bruga, will battle for the starting job as the Owyhee quarterback. Irwin makes his way to the Treasure valley via Portland, Oregon while Bruga was a freshman last year at Los Gatos High in California.
Right now the Storm features just six seniors on the roster so experience will be at a minimum but the excitement should be off the chart when Owyhee opens the season Friday August 27th at Centennial.
Owyhee certainly inherited some talented athletes but varsity experience is not a strength and only time will reveal just how quickly the Storm will intensify!