Bulldogs extinguish Tigers in low-scoring opener

MOSCOW - The hazy cloud of smoke that's descended upon the Palouse cannot penetrate the Kibbie Dome.

Here, area high school football teams are safe from the hazardous plumes that have kept them off of their home football fields for weeks and instead inside gymnasiums for practice.

Genesee and Kendrick became the first two northern Idaho teams to take advantage of the University of Idaho's football facility on Thursday night in a nonleague opener for both sides.

A soft 25-yard touchdown toss from Kyle Moser to Garrett Borth capped with Moser running in the conversion in the opening four minutes of the game proved to be difference in Genesee's 8-0 victory over the "visitors" from Kendrick on Thursday evening.

The first varsity football game in the state of Idaho still suffered from the obvious effects of the Pacific Northwest wildfires.

Offensive playbooks were toned down, offensive penalties continually killed big plays and big drives, and the football was fumbled seven times - often resulting from low or bad snaps. Somehow, there was only one turnover.

One Genesee player decided to take it upon himself to go to the source of the issue two weeks ago, just when the Bulldogs began fall practice.

With the help of a family friend, senior Carson Parkins volunteered one weekend to help battle the Clearwater Complex fire near Kamiah.

"I was doing structure protection so I put sprinklers around houses and I was sticking around these hay piles that were burning (from) the barn which burned down," Parkins said. "So I was just protecting that the whole time."

Parkins spent Thursday night with the rest of the Bulldog defense fanning the flames of Kendrick's option attack when it mattered the most, keeping Kendrick quarterback Hunter Jones in check each time the Tigers were able to get into the red zone.

Genesee's defensive heroics were a necessity. The Bulldogs spent the final 44 minutes of the game protecting a one-score lead because of Kendrick's ability to fly around on defense and tackle in open space. Wyatt Hardin led a three-man defensive front that hardly allowed Genesee to find running lanes or hit the perimeter.

It didn't help matters that Genesee committed three penalties, which nullified plays of at least 37 yards, including what would have been a touchdown by Eddy Becker.

"Oh my gosh. They got some mountains over there. You think, well we'll pick on that little guy (Khetan Brown), and heck, he's open-field tackling like crazy," Genesee coach Jason Hanson said. "They're a little rusty because they've been in the gymnasium like we have, they're going to get better and score some points next week. Hats off to them for their open-field tackling."

Lack of field time didn't help Moser's transition to starting quarterback, filling in the shoes of Beau Tilleman. He had a hard time finding his touch after the initial touchdown toss, but bounced back to make his last throw of the game count. On a 4th-and-goal play from the 26-yard line and under two minutes remaining in the game, Moser floated a pass down the sideline for a 24-yard grab by Jake DeMeerleer. The play resulted in a turnover on downs, but pinned the Tigers inside their own three-yard line with only 100 seconds and two timeouts to work with.

"It felt pretty good actually because I had some pretty bad throws earlier in the game," Moser said. "That one made me feel better. It was a great catch by Jake, the ball still wasn't quite where I wanted it."

Moser's completion to DeMeerler was a fine closing mark to what, likely, should turn out to be the lowest scoring eight-man contest of the season.

"Yeah, you don't see many eight-man football games like that, that's for sure," Kendrick coach Zane Hobart said. "I thought both teams' defensive speed was good. I thought we could have picked up our offensive speed quite a bit."

Genesee will need to fine tune its offense next week with a matchup against defending state champion Prairie. Kendrick jumps into White Star League action against Lakeside.

Kendrick 0 0 0 0-0

Genesee 8 0 0 0-8

Genesee - Garrett Borth 25 pass from Kyle Moser (Moser run)

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Kramer may be contacted at sports@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2268.