Emmett keeps 'underdog' season alive in remarkable come-from-behind playoff win over Blackfoot

EMMETT — Rich Hargitt didn’t mince words. “We’re not very good. I want that printed. We’re not very good,” the Emmett High School football coach said while

EMMETT — Rich Hargitt didn’t mince words.

“We’re not very good. I want that printed. We’re not very good,” the Emmett High School football coach said while laughing. “I told somebody earlier this week if you have $100 in Vegas, I’d bet it on Blackfoot, they’re a hell of a football team.”

The Huskies sure showed their fun-loving coach by advancing to the 4A state semifinals with a thrilling 28-27 quarterfinal win over four-time state champion Blackfoot Friday night.

Emmett will host Century (7-3) in next week’s semifinals.

“We believe it and prove him wrong,” senior running back Westyn Smith said while laughing. “It works out. It’s one of those things where we like being the underdog. We play a lot more loose and free. We have nothing to lose basically. So I don’t complain at all when he says that.”

Caden Young led the way for the Huskies. The junior quarterback ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns and added two passing TDS to continue the fairy tale ride for the Huskies (9-2), who were picked to finish fifth in their own conference after a one-win season two years ago.

But Friday night, the clock looked like it had finally struck midnight on Emmett.

Down 27-26, Young was stopped at the 1-inch line on a keeper on 4th-and-goal with 1:24 remaining.

“I’m not going to lie, I lost faith a little bit,” Young said.

James Mallory and Jeffery Lockett didn’t, though.

The senior and junior linebackers, respectively, took advantage of a missed Blackfoot assignment up front to shoot the gap and drill halfback Teegan Thomas in the end zone for a safety that suddenly put Emmett back up 28-27 just 10 seconds later.

“That might have been the best feeling I’ve ever had,” Young said.

However, after the Huskies failed to run out the rest of the clock, the Broncos (8-2) got one last shot. They got the ball with 17 seconds to go at their own 48-yard line. Two quick completions from Jace Grimmett to Carter Layton put them in position for a 44-yard game-winning field goal attempt with seven ticks left. But the kick didn’t have the distance and fell about five yards short to secure Emmett's first state semifinal trip in five years and the first ever at the 4A level.

“We always do the same thing at the end of our season, we line all of our kids up at the goal line and we hug all of our seniors and tell them goodbye. I said, ‘You either have to hug your mother's goodbye tonight at 10 o’clock or you’re going to the semifinals at 10 o’clock.’ Well, it’s 9:28 so we’re a little early, but they didn’t want to hug their mommas goodbye and that’s what it comes down to,” Hargitt said. “We’re not better than a lot of the people we’ve beaten. But we’ve found a way to survive another day. We just keep our heads down and focus on the obstacle in front of us.”

Blackfoot took the early lead on its opening possession of the game on the first of four touchdowns by Grimmett. He hit Layton for a 27-yard touchdown pass midway through the opening quarter. But Emmett came right back with 14 unanswered points. Following a Bronco fumble, Young took advantage of a short field and found Caseyn Pearson for a 13-yard touchdown pass. Young then used his legs to give the Huskies their first lead of the game at 14-7 on a 41-yard run during the first play of the second quarter.

The Broncos then scored back-to-back touchdowns of their own. The first was on a 15-yard pass from Grimmett to Layton before Grimmett gave them the lead back at 21-14 with a 10-yard strike to Striker Wood with 3:21 remaining in the first half. But Young pulled a rabbit out of his hat by hooking up with Curtis Johnson in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard TD pass right as time expired to cut into the lead at 21-20.

Young used his trickery again by escaping a couple of pass rushers for a 17-yard touchdown run on a 4th-and-8 to put Emmett out in front again with 11:01 remaining in the game.

“Gamer. War daddy. Just a cat that plays his butt off,” Hargitt said. “He’s a yes sir, no sir kid. Incredibly cerebral. Sits in the film room for hours with you. He sat in there with me until 4 o'clock today going over the game plan. Just a student of the game. The cat’s a college football player. We got a college guy that we’re renting for four years.”

Blackfoot retook the lead at 27-26 less than two minutes later on a 10-yard run by Grimmett to set up an unbelievable finish. Grimmett finished 17-of-25 for 223 yards and four touchdowns.

-- Brandon Walton

(Feature photo by Brian Losness)