The high school football season in Idaho begins on Aug. 23. So to get you ready, we’re counting down with at least one local team preview every day until kickoff.
Up next: The Soda Springs Cardinals
2023 IN REVIEW:
0-7 (last place in 2A South East Idaho ConferenceMissed state playoffs
COACH’S RESUME:
Head Coaches: Rod Worthington and Scott Gambles, first seasonOverall record: 0-0Assistant coaches: Josh Mazza, Jared Hunsaker, Spence Siepert, Owen Teuscher
RETURNING STARTERS:
7 on offense7 on defense
SODA SPRINGS — The 2023 season is one the Cardinals would probably like to forget.
They recorded a winless season (0-7) for the first time in at least 33 years and maybe ever, according to Soda Springs Athletic Director Jeff Horsley.
Soda Springs only put up 72 total points on the scoreboard and lost by an average of 23 points per game.
But regardless of all that, a positive atmosphere is abundant on the field as the program announced an unorthodox approach with two co-head coaches leading the team in 2024.
Those coaches are Rod Worthington and Scott Gambles.
Both are familiar with the gridiron, with a combined 20-plus years of football coaching experience and many years playing the game at the high school and collegiate levels.
Worthington and Gambles collectively have a unique view on how the game is played, believing with the right strategies and balanced perspectives, coupled with their longtime friendship, their co-head coaching will provide an excellent mix of positivity and growth for the Cardinals football program.
Soda Springs also has a sideline of new assistant coaches who aim to inspire player success on and off the field. They are Jared Hunsaker, Spencer Siepert, Josh Mazza and Owen Teuscher.
As the Cardinals work hard to build unity and respect for each other, the new coaching staff believes consistent momentum and repetition are keys to learning and growing as a team.
Soda Springs is hoping for big things from its returning players this season.
Those to watch are senior all-league offensive/defensive lineman Dakoda Billman and his fellow upperclassmen Elijah Dilworth, Matt Perkins and Shad Stoor. The play of all-league junior running backs Cole Garbett and Ryder Bensten will also be crucial to the Cardinals’ success.
Quarterback Kayden Harrison and wide receiver Chase Jacobsen, both juniors, will be relied on heavily as well to put Soda Springs back into the win column.
Worthington, who was previously the head coach for the Cardinals in the early 2000s, said so much is new right now and no position is set in stone, yet expectations and goals are high.
He added the Cardinals’ coaches and players have set individual and team goals, but their 10 absolute offensive goals to strive for each game are:
“We want to win, have zero turnovers, zero sacks given, score on the first drive, control the ball 28 minutes of each game, score within the red zone every time, 200 yards or more of rushing (per game), 100 yards of passing (per game), two drives of 10 plays or more and be penalty free.”
Along with those goals, much is talked about regarding team unity.
To achieve that kind of united atmosphere, comes not only holding each other as players accountable, but players to coaches and coaches to players as well.
So the Cardinals are not allowing the past to hold them back.
They are moving forward and expecting to see great things to come this season.
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