HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

When he thinks back to last year's Pocatello/Highland matchup, the Black and Blue Bowl that this town anticipates every year like it's Christmas, Dave Spillett still feels a pang of regret. The Thunder really liked where they were, and they figured they had a shot at toppling the Rams. Then, in the week leading up to the game, they lost two quarterbacks, a linebacker, a receiver.

"We had some team issues that we dealt with," Spillett said.

This year, Poky doesn't have any team issues, but it does have an injury to a key cog. Starting quarterback Dre Contreras, who missed his club's first game as he recovered from a broken leg, has another injury. It will sideline him for Friday's game, which is set for 7 p.m. at Highland's Iron Horse Stadium.

"He's still trying to figure out what it is and what he has to do," Spillett said. "My heart hurts for him. Our team hurts for him. We hope we get him back soon. He's such a tough kid, such a great leader, such a great football player. He really makes us a dangerous football team."

That will put something of a damper on this rivalry matchup, but it's still Poky/ Highland, still the Gate City's equivalent of Red Sox and Yankees or Duke and North Carolina. In this year's interaction, the Thunder will try to win their first game since 2010 - when many of these players were learning to write their own name and read out loud.

If there were ever a year for Poky to do it, this would be the year. Highland is fresh off a win over Century, which the Rams used to erase an 0-2 start, their first such start in six years. It's unfamiliar territory for Highland, a perennial powerhouse trying to avenge last season's loss in the 5A state championship game, a program operating without Gino Mariani for the first time in what feels like a million years.

So what first-year head coach Nick Sorrell has told his guys is this: Do you want to be the group that finds a way to let the winning streak over Poky to shatter?

"Or do you guys want to continue what we do up here?" Sorrell said. "Continue the traditions and make sure that football and Highland are synonymous. And that's kinda what we pushed across in these kids and hopefully shows up Friday night."

The Rams may be 1-2 so far, but it's not because they've played poorly, not exactly at least. In their season-opener, they fell to Utah's Lehi, which recently beat Corner Canyon — a top program in the nation. Then they dropped a 29-21 decision to Skyline, which is the back-to-back defending 4A champions. The Rams are far from happy about their start, but they set up their schedule like this on purpose. They want to acclimate themselves to playing the best competition, the type they expect to face in the state playoffs.

To get there, they will rely on the playmakers who keyed their first win, a romp over Century. Sophomore receiver/ defensive back Kai Callen, a burgeoning star with an offer from Idaho State, took the opening kickoff of the second half back for a touchdown. Highland's defense yielded just 98 yards total. The Rams were facing an overmatched opponent, to be sure, but they took care of business in that setting.

Here's another new part of Highland's team, aside from its head coach: Callen isn't the only kid playing both ways. The other is Mason Fullmer, who is filling the running back and middle linebacker spots. That's seldom the case with programs the size of Highland's, with a thousand kids on the sideline and a thousand more in the stands waiting to join the ranks when they're old enough.

So Sorrell has been impressed with Callen's stamina, Fullmer's physicality. It's one thing to play well at one spot. It's another to run back out there when possession changes and do it again.

"You'd think it'd be a lot of work," Fullmer said, "but after getting in shape from our coaches and summer workouts and stuff, it's not too bad."

Highland will hope not. The Rams get the challenge of slowing down Poky's offense, which will some certainty — namely Ryken Echo Hawk, who continues to shred defenses like old credit cards — and with less certainty, namely backup quarterbacks Hunter May and Tavin Williams. May quarterbacked the Thunder in their first game, a loss to Utah's Morgan, before Contreras returned to action.

Now he's out again. How will Pocatello respond? The Thunder will find out in the Black and Blue Bowl. No pressure.

"They've been playing against these kids their whole life, either with them or against them. So that's no secret," Spillett said. "Are they gonna be fired up? Absolutely. Were they fired up last Friday against Twin Falls? Absolutely. These guys, they love the game of football, they love to get physical out here and play a little bit. They've been playing bully ball the last couple of weeks, and I think this will be a really good test Friday night to see where both teams are, Highland and Poky."