HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

When Braden Driscoll talks about his Aberdeen team, the one he's in his first year coaching, he always comes back to one thing: the interior. He talks about his linemen like they're all teenaged Supermen. His mind might drift to other parts of the game, to other players and positions and themes, but he always seems to circle back to the interior like they have some magnetic pull.

"We definitely gotta recognize our offensive line guys up front," Driscoll says, talking about Aberdeen's 48-3 win over American Falls last week.

"I know they would give the credit to our offensive line," Driscoll says, talking about two of his skill position players.

"I feel like our defensive lineman Micah Nelson had three sacks, did a great job," Driscoll says, talking about last week's win again.

If it wasn't clear already, Driscoll loves his linemen, on both sides of the ball. He may be new to the head coach position, but he's been around Aberdeen long enough to understand the Tigers have long won up front, and he doesn't want to change anything in that department. If anything, he wants to enhance that position group, to make sure it stays at the forefront of the way his team operates.

For Aberdeen, that will be key in the team's Week 2 matchup, a 7 p.m. Friday home date with Declo. With no Pocatello teams playing in town, the Journal will be covering this game, one of our two Games of the Week. The other is Challis-Mackay at Rockland.

"We don't have a lot to go off of right now other than the fact we know that Declo is physical," Driscoll said. "They're really solid up front, and at the line of scrimmage as well. They've got talented backs, talented quarterback. They're very well coached."

He had a point there — the Hornets are 1-0 so far, topping Nampa Christian in a blowout last week — so to learn more about them, let's take a look at their last few seasons. In the last decade, Declo has recorded the following seasons: Four state championships (two repeats), one runner-up finish, two semifinal finishes and three quarterfinal finishes. They're a perennial powerhouse, an annual lock to make noise in the postseason.

Which leaves us with a question: If that's all Driscoll and Aberdeen know about Declo, that the club is a force year after year after year, how do they prepare for this year's team?

"Well, we've been playing them the last few years, so you look and you think that they probably will do some things similar to what they've done before," Driscoll said. "So you try to just be prepared for what they've done before, and maybe make things that might be thrown into the mix, try to get the kids engaged in learning their assignments, and preaching to them to just be solid in knowing their responsibilities and doing their job on each play."

We already know what Driscoll mostly means. He wants to make sure his linemen do their job, that they move things around. What might be more interesting is this: How will the Tigers' skill position players fare?

That would be quarterback Gage Driscoll and running back Brody Beck. Beck quarterbacked last year's team, which reached the Class 2A quarterfinals, but now he has shifted to running back. He did so to make room for Driscoll, the incoming signal-caller. If last week's results are any indication, they're in good shape for

Here's a sampling: Beck carried 10 times for 197 yards and three touchdowns, while Driscoll passed for 86 yards and added two scores on the ground. If it seems like the Tigers didn't need to pass, it's because they didn't. They trust their guys on the line.

"They know that without the guys up front," Braden Driscoll said, "that doesn't happen."

Second game of the week: Challis-Mackay at Rockland

When Rockland hosts Challis Mackay on Friday afternoon, the Bulldogs will be trying to erase a couple things: One, the taste of last week's blowout loss to Camas County, and two, last season's loss in the state quarterfinals.

Rockland figures to be in good shape to do so. The Bulldogs return a cadre of playmakers, including quarterback Gavin Permann, running back Brigham Permann and linebacker Teague Matthews - the latter of whom won 1AD2 all-state player of the year honors in basketball last winter.

On this Friday afternoon, that group will try to help the Bulldogs earn win No. 1 this season, going up against a Challis-Mackay squad.

HIGHLAND AT SKYLINE, 7 P.M.It's tempting to think of Skyline

through the lens of the Grizzlies' big star, Oregon commit Kenyon Sadiq, what with his size and catching abilities and general football savvy.

Well, tempting for most people.

"The other kid receiver wise is the (Caden) Taggart kid," Highland coach Nick Sorrell said. "He's got some speed that presents a little different dynamic than what Kenyon has, because he's so big and physical and so many things. You've gotta watch out for both of those. So you can't focus all of your attention just on him, you've got to worry about everybody else.

"And their running back, he's got some scoots. He plays hard, he runs hard. So they've got weapons all over on the offensive side."

For the Rams to follow their lopsided defeat last week to Utah's Lehi, they will need to keep Skyline's playmakers under wraps, which is about as easy as stealing the Mona Lisa. The Grizzlies' core skill players have been around for years, long enough to help them win back-to-back 4A state championships the last two seasons.

Highland has a few of those too, though. Sorrell liked what he saw out of junior Drew Hymas, who made his first varsity start last week. Sophomore Kai Callen supplied his team's lone score, snaring an interception and racing the other way for a touchdown.

In general, though, it's an intriguing matchup: Longtime 5A power Highland against longtime 4A power Skyline. Their schools reside just 45 minutes apart, but this will be their first matchup since 2015, when the Rams earned a two-score win. To secure another, all Highland will have to do is contain a Pac-12 commit and his defending state champion club.

"We do that for a reason," Sorrell said of starting the season against two defending champions. 'We want these kids to go against the best of the best. In our minds, that's how we're gonna get better, and that's how we're going to adjust to the varsity speed quickly."

POCATELLO AT RIDGEVUE, 7 P.M.Poky may be coming off a blowout loss, a 35-7 loss to Utah's Morgan, but the Thunder have already improved.

They have starting quarterback Dre Contreras back from injury.

"He's come in over the summer and got a lot of really good mental reps, even while he was hurt," Pocatello coach Dave Spillett said of Contreras, who broke his leg early in the summer, "and has really just locked in on our offense. So he's a great runner. He's a great thrower. He really allows us to open up our playbook and just kind of go after people."

That development figures to unlock the offense for the Thunder, who started sophomore Hunter May at quarterback last week. He will slide over to receiver, Spillett said, allowing Pocatello to keep a potent playmaker on the field.

Only time will tell if that will lead to Poky's first win of the season, but it's a good start.

CENTURY AT BONNEVILLE, 7 P.M.

Century coach Ryan Fleischmann feels like he learned something about his group after last week's game. The Diamondbacks fell, to be sure, dropping a 34-8 decision to Hillcrest, but their head man saw something promising.

"Not everything is a strategic correction at halftime, and they came out and competed much better in the second half," Fleischmann said. "In fact, I think we were plus-1 in the second total. So I liked the fact that they didn't quit."

The good news for Century is this week, the group gets a game against a team in a similar spot. Bonneville is also rebuilding, and the Bees are also young. Maybe this is the Diamondbacks' chance to earn their first win of the season - and build something positive for the future.

"It's hard to know exactly who somebody is as a competitor in the absence of competitive situations," Fleischmann said, "and you just don't really always have those. So even though you train together all summer, and you come out and throw 7-on-7, you lift weights, even in scrimmages and stuff, it's still new when Friday nights show up. That's still a pretty unique experience."