There are two regular season games left on the Blackfoot Broncos football schedule.

One of those two games means a little bit more than the other — at least as it pertains to the Broncos’ postseason playoff plans.

Fresh off a 56-7 rout of the visiting Idaho Falls Tigers on Blackfoot’s homecoming night this past Friday, signs are trending up for the boys in green and black.

Blackfoot stacked 474 yards on the Idaho Falls defense, and in a blowout game that ended with a running clock.

Perhaps even more fun for Blackfoot than the 474 number is the large number of players who saw the field in a homecoming game that turned into a mismatch early.

“It’s a nice opportunity to get playing time for those kids who work hard in practice every day, but don’t see the field as much,” Blackfoot coach Josh Stewart said. “Was also nice to see our starters excited for those players. We always talk about how every player is part of our success.”

Buoyed by the good vibes coming out of homecoming night, the Broncos enter the final two weeks of the 2025 regular season with everything to gain.

Not only does the win over Idaho Falls bring the Blackfoot team, fans and community together for the stretch run, it allows dinged up players extra time to nurse nagging injuries.

In addition, the dominant homecoming win allows the team additional time to review the successes and failures from the more competitive games on their schedule — specifically losses to Hillcrest, Skyline and Madison.

“We have three losses, but all three of those are to really good football teams. Really good teams,” Stewart said. “Last year those three teams really got after us, but this year we feel like we competed with them and are getting closer to their level.”

This week Blackfoot hits the road for a tough battle against 6A Thunder Ridge.

The regular season then ends Oct. 24 with a home game against Shelley.

“Thunder is a 6A school with 6A athletes,” Stewart said. “They do a lot of things on offense you have to prepare for, and they play us hard.”

He continued, “Shelley is a big rivalry game, and Shelley has learned something about themselves and made changes. They started out the season running the spread, and learned — as a good staff will — that they are a little stronger under center running their T formation. Shelley’s going to be very tough, no two ways about it.”

There are two automatic playoff berths awarded to High Country Conference schools, and losses to Skyline and Hillcrest almost certainly remove Blackfoot from that calculation.

With 16 berths for 25 schools in the 5A playoffs, however, Blackfoot is a virtual lock to make the Saucy 16 bracket whether or not they beat the Russets on Oct. 24.

But if the Broncos win out, they go into the postseason with a more favorable seed and that all-important mojo.

Current maxpreps rankings put Blackfoot at No. 6 in the state. But at No. 14, Shelley is likely out with a loss.

In addition to the homecoming win over Idaho Falls, the Broncos have decisive wins over Preston (28-7), Bonneville (40-22) and a 41-12 win over a quality Pocatello team.

The Broncos’ conference losses are to defending 5A state champion Hillcrest and 5A state runner-up Skyline — two teams who have combined to win eight of the past nine state championships.

It’s hard to deny, therefore, Blackfoot plays in the toughest 5A conference in the state.

But as they say, to be the best…

“In addition to Hillcrest and Skyline, there are going to be a lot of good teams in that bracket,” Stewart said. “Minico and Twin Falls are tough out of that area, and Bishop Kelley is the team to beat in a very tough conference. We have seen a lot of the northern schools as well, and Century is having a great season. I don’t know if there will be any easy games at all.”