krobinett@journalnet.com

POCATELLO - Blackfoot football coach Stan Buck left the field smiling following a 24-14 loss to Jerome in the first round of the 4A state playoffs on Thursday at Holt Arena.

On the surface, it seemed like a strange reaction considering his Broncos' reign as state champions had just come to an end, but he was satisfied all the same.

Blackfoot lost a lot from last year's championship squad, and he knew all along that it would be tough for his young Broncos to repeat. Besides, there is no shame in losing to the Tigers.

The way they played against Blackfoot, it's pretty clear that they are an emerging contender.

"We played well, and our defense did good to only give them 24 points," Buck said. "Compared to what they've been doing this season, that's not bad at all. I thought we made a couple big plays tonight, they just made a few more."

The big difference was that Jerome's big plays came on both sides of the ball.

Entering the playoffs, the Tigers were averaging nearly 42 points per game with their high-flying spread offense. Everyone knew they were good on offense. But against Blackfoot, they looked just as good on defense.

Jerome's first score of the game came on a sack of Broncos quarterback Anthony Clarke that resulted in a safety, and it set the tone for the entire night. Blackfoot didn't score until the third quarter when it was already trailing 24-0, and every time it tried to get back in the game, Jerome shut down the Broncos with a crushing turnover.

By night's end, the Tigers had picked off four passes and recovered two Blackfoot fumbles.

That came from a stellar pass rush that pressured Blackfoot quarterbacks Ramsey Wilken and Clarke into making an unusually high amount of mistakes.

"Our defense was amazing," Jerome coach Gary Krumm said. "It was by far our best performance of the year. We got pressure on their quarterback and some of our defensive backs made unbelievable catches on those interceptions."

Buck said six turnovers is what did in the Broncos.

He was still proud of the way his team fought back behind 111 receiving yards from Ruben Hernandez and kept the game close until the end of the fourth quarter, but much like close losses against Pocatello and Hillcrest during the regular season, the Broncos couldn't quite pull out a win.

"You've gotta play well in those tough games, and we didn't execute the way we needed to at the end of them," he said.

Still, it was the beginning of the game that doomed Blackfoot more than anything. The Tigers built an early lead behind 350 passing yards from quarterback Jake Lammers and were playing catch up the whole way.

To win in such an uneventful way, Jerome treated the victory as a ground-breaking win for the program. Krumm raved about how strong Blackfoot was up front, and said the Broncos were "by far the most physical team we've beaten."

Next, Jerome will travel to the Treasure Valley where it will most likely play Nampa, last year's state runner-up.

That will no doubt be another tough game for the Tigers, but if they can beat the defending state champs, there's no reason why they can't win again.

"I would hope so," Krumm said. "This might be the spark that we need to give us confidence going forward and make us believe we can take the next step."

Jerome 24, Blackfoot 14

Blackfoot 0 0 8 6 - 14

Jerome 9 0 15 0 - 24

Scoring Summar:

J - Safety

J - Jake Lammers 1 run (kick good)

J - Jake Lammers 1 run (Zach Ingraham run)

J - Logan Parker 56 pass from Jake Lammers (kick good)

B - Ruben Hernandez 44 pass from Anthony Clarke (Hernandez catch)

B - Anthony Clarke 7 run (pass failed)

Rushing: Blackfoot - Wacy Johnson 12-79, Anthony Clarke 6-(-6), Christopher Percy 4-6, Ramsey Wilken 1-5. Jerome - Jake Lammers 8-16, Zach Ingraham 4-5, Ross Hillier 3-45, Dylan Dowton 1-1, Kris Bos 2-7, Cameron Stauffer 6-5.

Receiving: Blackfoot - Ruben Hernandez 9-111, Rafe Vitelli 1-7, Zach Parker 1-6, Logan Chidester 1-4, Nate Kunz 2-16, Juko Flores 1-33. Jerome - Kenneth Williams 2-21, Kris Bos 5-60, Ross Hillier 2-49, Gus Callen 11-106, Nolan McDonald 1-3, Zach Ingraham 2-41, Heyden Thacker 2-15, Cameron Stauffer 5-16, Logan Parker 1-56.

Passing: Blackfoot - Ramsey Wilken 5-10-40-0-1, Anthony Clarke 12-21-146-1-3. Jerome - Jake Lammers 28-36-350-1-1.