Silver Valley Sports Recap: Dec. 14-27
Tigers Riley Trogden, Adam Ball and Luke Trogden were named to the Idaho Statesman's 1A DII All State Team. The trio led Mullan-St. Regis all the way to the 1A State Semifinals last month before running into eventual champs Dietrich.
Courtesy photo
Editor's note: The Shoshone News-Press ran the incorrect version of the Sports Recap in the Dec. 22 print edition. This week's recap includes the content for last week and the previous week.
MULLAN FOOTBALL
The Idaho Statesman recently released their list of 2020 All State Football Teams and the Mullan-St. Regis Tigers grabbed three spots.
Senior Riley Trogden (DB), and juniors Luke Trogden (DL) and Adam Ball (LB) were all named to the Statesman’s 1A DII All State second team defensive squad.
The teams are picked through a polling process involving all of the coaches across the state, which means that the trio of Tigers made a pretty good impact on opposing coaches, as well as their own.
“It’s awesome to have three guys on that team this year,” head coach Stetson Spooner said. “They definitely earned it.”
Spooner was disappointed to see that all three of their selections were defensive — understandable when you look at how dominant the Tigers were offensively up until their final game of the season, but he also understood that you have to perform well when the lights are on brightest — which didn’t happen in their semifinal loss to Dietrich.
“It’s a bummer that we didn't get any offensive spots but when the weather slows down an offense like it did in our first playoff game (against Horseshoe Bend) then you play poorly against a powerhouse like Dietrich, it’s tough to get all state offensive guys,” Spooner said.
The Tigers weren’t a team to intentionally run the score up against their opposition and regularly only played their starters in the first halves of games unless it was absolutely necessary for them to go back into a game which likely hurt some of their votes.
“Luke and Adam could've had probably near 2,000 yards apiece this season if we kept the pedal down all game every game,” Spooner said. “But we have multiple weapons and we don't want them standing around so we like our balanced attack on the ground. We also don’t want to win games by 60 points if possible just to fluff a guys stats for all state recognition. Having our guys win is the goal but not sacrificing any character or class in the process is the ultimate goal.”
All that said, the talent pool at the DII level was pretty impressive according to Spooner, so he feels really good about his superstar running backs getting defensive recognition and feels like it could be something for them to build off as they go into their senior years.
Riley Trogden wrapped up a solid career on the Tiger gridiron, appearing in multiple playoff games and being a major part of the program’s return to relevancy.
These nominations mark four straight years for the Tiger program receiving All State recognition and now the Trogdens and Ball join recent grads Skye Gallaway and Ian Farris as the standard bearers of the Mullan-St. Regis program.
“It’s not always about the award stuff but having a group that commits so much time and effort within this co-op get recognized throughout the state of Idaho is pretty sweet,” Spooner said.
WALLACE BOYS BASKETBALL
Dec. 15
Wallace 54
Bonners Ferry 62
WALLACE — The Miners had a shot to win the game in the final minutes, but foul trouble, missed opportunities, and the Badgers’ late game free throw shooting downed Wallace at Kirby Krulitz Court.
No further stats or information was received for this game.