For football fans, now that the NFL Draft has concluded and most of the spring games have been played on college campuses all across the nation, the next few months are a time to look forward to the season and practices that begin in August.

    But for a group of die-hard players, this is the middle of their season.

    The Idaho Mustangs are a semi-pro football team that plays in the Rocky Mountain Football League and is made up of players from all over Southeast Idaho.

    “The league has been going since 1997 and we are the last original team still involved with the league that still has a name,” Mustangs player/coach Greg Hillary said. “We have made the playoffs every year the league has been in existence.”

    The Pocatello Predators and Idaho Falls Mustangs merged a few  years ago to give the team its current look.

    The Mustangs play at the AA level in the Idaho Division where the team currently finds itself tied for third place with a 1-2 record.

    The Idaho division is made up of eight teams that stretch from Ontario, Ore. to Rexburg.

    The Mustangs also compete with teams in the Montana and Utah Divisions. The league is made up of 18 teams in four states, as a team from Nevada plays in the Utah division.

    Hillary said his team is made up of about 60 players ranging in age from 19-51 and living anywhere between Rexburg and American Falls. All of the players on the team pay to play, and because most of the players have jobs and families, practices are few and far between.

    “The 51-year old was our team MVP last year,” Hillary said. “He is a stud.”

    “I get one practice a week and maybe 16 practices a year,” Hillary said. “Everybody works full time and goes to work on Mondays sore and limping and comes home and has their wives putting the ice bags on them and rubbing them down with Icy Hot. But it is a blast and the competition is good.”

    The team and players pay for all of their own travel expenses and equipment, but Hillary said that this season they are making more of an effort to get sponsors, and those efforts have allowed the team to be able to play a couple of home games in Holt Arena. The first of those games is May 12 and is the finale of a tripleheader that begins with a kids camp that morning.

    “We are going to be teaching the kids some of the basic fundamentals of football at the camp,” Hillary said. “We will teach them how to take a snap, how to catch, how to take a handoff — the basic stuff. We only get a couple of hours with the kids so we are going to keep it pretty basic.”

    The camp is for kids between the ages of 8-13 and will be at Holt Arena on May 12 and 19 beginning at 9 a.m. Check-in begins at 8 a.m. both days and each participant will get a Mustangs T-shirt, while supplies last.

    To register for the camp and to get more information visit idahomustangs.com.

    “We are hoping this camp catches on,” Hillary said. “And if it does we are going to be doing this for years to come.”

    The Mustangs play Saturday against the Gem State Guardians at Caldwell High School at 2 p.m.

    May 12 is the team’s next home game, which will be played at 8 p.m. against the Arco Anarchy.

    The Upper Valley Vikings and the Mini-Cassia Diggers begin the day in the dome at 1 p.m. Teams from St. George, Utah, and Great Falls, Mont., will take the field at 4 p.m. with the Mustangs finishing off the night.

    Admission is $8 for all three games.

    For more information about the Rocky Mountain Football visit thermfl.com.