3A football roundup

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Marsh Valley 10, American Falls 0

ARIMO -- Paden Johnson and his American Falls teammates didn't do very much right Friday in a 10-0 loss at Marsh Valley, but Johnson succeeded at the one thing he's been perfect at all season -- the coin flip.

American Falls won the coin flip to win the 3A Fifth District title and top seed.

The Eagles' victory, combined with a Snake River win over Bear Lake, left the Beavers, Eagles and Panthers in a three-way tie atop the district, each with 2-1 conference records.

Marsh Valley athletic director Mike Welch then informed the Eagles that Kansas City tiebreakers are only used if a team has to be excluded from the playoffs. For just seeding purposes, teams perform a coin flip.

Johnson, who American Falls coach Jess Johnson said has won every coin flip this season, called tails to give the Beavers the top seed. They will host South Fremont in the first round of the state playoffs.

Marsh Valley Jason Taylor was then called upon to make a second flip, and he called it wrongly, which gave the second seed to Snake River. The Panthers will host Salmon, while third-seeded Marsh Valley will travel to Shelley.

"It's hard, but we have to play a good team in the playoffs anyway," Taylor said. "I would have liked to obviously have been in a different position, but where we're at, we're just going to accept it and move on."

The turn of events overshadowed Marsh Valley's victory Friday, during which it held American Falls to 137 yards of total offense. Drake May punched in a rushing touchdown in the second quarter, and Michael Wheat added a 24-yard field goal in the third.

"They physically got after us tonight," American Falls coach Jess Johnson said. "We just had a hard time generating any offense."

Snake River 20, Bear Lake 14

MONTPELIER -- For the second straight week, Bear Lake jumped out to an early lead before fading in the end Friday.

This time, the 20-14 home loss to Snake River kept the Bears out of the playoffs.

"We knew we had our chances. Unfortunately the last two weeks we ran out of gas," said Bear Lake coach John Homer. "All the credit in the world goes to the kids. We've been playing with about 15 kids the past two weeks, and eventually they wore out. We felt we were right there with everyone we played."

With its win, the Panthers earn the second seed out of the 3A Fifth District following a coin flip to settle a three-way logjam at the top.

Two long Morris Bunn touchdown runs spotted the Bears a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, but Snake River (4-4 overall, 2-1 3A Fifth District) slowly chipped away at the lead, scoring a touchdown in each of the next three quarters.

In the closing minutes, the Bears (2-6, 0-3) drove to the Panthers' 10-yard line, but Snake River's defense held to seal the victory.

Bunn carried the ball 18 times for 147 yards to lead Bear Lake. Snake River got 67 yards on 17 carries from Brock Bench. The Panthers will open the 3A playoffs at home against Salmon.

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