At Thunder Ridge, the Titans' boys basketball team capitalized on a balanced scoring effort and held off Bonneville for a fourth straight win.

If you aren’t paying attention to the Blackfoot girls, you might be missing out.

Madison senior Taden King was seemingly scoring at will in the first half of Tuesday's game against Idaho Falls.

Rollover. Ejection. When those words are used to describe a car accident it’s often tragic.

Kashia Hale’s team was on the verge of taking another uncomfortably big lead. She felt confused, frustrated, awkward this Friday night. She had spent the last four years fortifying her Mackay girls basketball program, but for the Miners to open another 50-point lead, this time over Watersprings?

At Firth, Butte County's girls basketball team earned win No. 14 of the season with a victory over Firth.

The spotlight hangs from the video board like a yo-yo, hovering some 15 feet above the wrestling mat, illuminating the navy blue surface and its white, circular center. The rest of the gym is bathed in relative darkness, just enough that the spectacle feels like something that belongs in the…

Like any eastern Idaho wrestler, Shelley's Kolton Stacey grew up with his eye on the Tiger-Grizz Invitational.

At Pocatello, Dylan Seeley had the hot hand, knocking down 7 of 9 3-pointers on the way to 27 points and a team-high eight rebounds Friday night as the Idaho Falls boys basketball team downed Highland 51-47.

At Ashton, the state No. 1 North Fremont boys basketball team kept its record unblemished with a 44-24 win Thursday night over Firth.

Never had words of encouragement sounded so hollow. As Thursday’s first half came to an end, an anonymous Bonneville coach sung his team’s praises. “Great second quarter,” he called, his voice ringing throughout a gym of stunned fans.

SHELLEY – It was an eventful day that will be a memory for the rest of his life for Shelley High School senior and cross country runner Ben Vernon, who signed a letter of intent to attend the College of Southern Idaho.

Girls and women’s wrestling has been a growing sport for the past two decades.

North Fremont, which entered the week unbeaten, is the No. 1 2A team in the first boys basketball state media poll.

Sugar-Salem’s Mardee Fillmore signed at letter of intent to play college basketball at Utah State University Eastern earlier this week following in the footsteps of one of her former volleyball teammates.

At Rexburg, the Madison boys basketball team built a big lead during the middle of the game and ran away with a 64-43 win over rival Rigby.

The Watersprings Fab 5 has gotten a lot bigger.

At Rigby, in a matchup between two of the state's top-ranked 5A girls basketball teams, Rigby downed Thunder Ridge 65-60 Tuesday night to remain unbeaten in the District 5-6 conference.

Idaho’s girls basketball season has been underway for weeks now, but for the first time this year, the state media poll has been released.

At Ashton, the North Fremont boys basketball team cruised past Aberdeen Saturday and continued its spotless start to the season with a 62-44 win.

At Hillcrest, the Thunder Ridge girls basketball team rallied after a slow start Friday night, finishing with four players in double figures in a 57-45 win over Hillcrest.

At Thunder Ridge, the Thunder Ridge boys basketball team used a balanced scoring output to hold off Skyline 64-57 on Thursday.

Chandler Rhoads was hired as the new head football coach at Madison High, replacing long-time coach Mitch Buck, who stepped down after last season.

At Highland, the Thunder Ridge girls basketball team continued its blistering start to the season with a 53-42 road win over Highland.

RIGBY — On one occasion, Naomi Nunez laid in an easy two. On another, Brooke Donnelly spun into the lane for an open floater. After that, Donnelly converted a layup and Nunez splashed a triple.

At Thunder Ridge, the Blackfoot boys basketball team secured a 53-43 win over Thunder Ridge thanks in large part to an impressive fourth quarter.

More spectators will be allowed into high school athletic events beginning this week following a new order by Governor Brad Little that seeks to permit athletics to “continue in a way that is productive and safe for all participants, while including spectators.”

At Salmon, 10 South Fremont boys basketball players got on the scoreboard, helping the Cougars secure a 71-55 win Saturday over Salmon.

It’s probably not surprising that all four local teams that reached their respective football state championship games put up stellar defensive numbers.

First Team All-Area

COVID-19 hit Eastern Idaho 8-man football particularly hard this year, with just three local teams — Butte County, Challis and Watersprings — finishing out a limited season.

Entering a season with a roster full of experience and talent might be a coach’s toughest challenge.

The Thunder Ridge girls will win their first 5A state title in program history

At Bear Lake, North Fremont's boys basketball team ended the calendar year with a narrow, 43-41 win over the Bears.

There was little cheering in the sports world in 2020.

The Doug Andrus Holiday Basketball tournament turned into a bit of a showcase for Thunder Ridge and its star senior Lloyer Driggs.

At Skyline, Lloyer Driggs canned a deep triple at the buzzer, helping the Thunder Ridge boys edge Lake City at the Doug Andrus Holiday Basketball Tournament.

Boys basketball

There's something perplexing about the way Mattie Olson has established herself as one of Eastern Idaho’s most lethal scorers. She has the numbers, the records, the games that make you scratch your head and wonder how anybody is supposed to defend her.

At Arco, the Butte County girls basketball team cruised past Oakley, earning a 43-18 win.

Maybe one day Cami Dodson will reveal what she feeds her volleyball players at Sugar-Salem. Until then, she’ll keep stacking the accolades.

Here's the best of the best for 2020 football as voted on by coaches and compiled by the Idaho Statesman.

First team

When she tries, Sidney Parker can still remember the emotions, the mental toll it took to watch her best friend crumple to the ground with an injury that looked serious before any official diagnosis. It wasn’t just that Maddi Wilcox was in pain. It was also the opponent, the circumstances.

At Hillcrest, the Hillcrest boys basketball team fell behind by 13 points at the half, but stormed back with a 26-point third quarter to take control and down the Broncos 67-57.

At Skyline, Mattie Olson dropped a career-high 41 points as the Skyline girls basketball team topped Hillcrest, 73-53.

Sometimes, the pressure weighs on Sydnee Hunt. It’s a new thing. She feels pressure to play well, she says, to play how she knows how to play, to prove that she can replicate as a senior what she produced as a junior.

At Hillcrest, the Hillcrest boys basketball team pulled away in the third quarter as three players finished in double figures, led by Cooper Kesler's 18 points, to defeat Idaho Falls 71-55.

At Rexburg, the Madison boys basketball team secured its fourth straight win and dismantled Idaho Falls 69-25.

It’s been a tumultuous 2020 for area sports, but the year should end on a bright note with the new East Idaho Holiday Basketball boys basketball tournament.

On the state stage, east Idaho wrestling has become a small school play.

At Blackfoot, the Blackfoot boys basketball team got over the .500 hump Saturday night with a 48-42 win over Idaho Falls.

First team

Good luck finding another coach in the area who dealt with more this season than Skyline’s Kip Archibald.

In several ways, Sunny Bennion has been all over. She once lived with her family in Cedar City, Utah, before the family moved to Sugar City, where Bennion became a standout athlete at Sugar-Salem. There, she blossomed into a star on the football team and the softball team — among other teams…