Friday Night Lights: Showdown in Box Elder

In the Northern Division of Class C Six-Man football, every game is important and every week is a battle. This weekend will be no different. Along the Hi-Line the focus will be on the Box Elder Bears and North Star Knights, who will go head-to-head in a crucial early season matchup.

The Bears (1-1) have their sights set on qualifying for the six-man playoffs for the first time in a long time. To achieve their goal, defeating North Star (1-0) Saturday afternoon in Box Elder will be key.

"In the Northern C every game is important because they are all conference games," North Star head coach Steve Simonson said. "This is another game that we have to go and win, but Box Elder is not a team you can overlook. Coach Simpson has done a great job with them and if you overlook them at all, they will beat you."

The Knights have been a perennial playoff team under Simonson and after posting a 6-3 record a year ago, they continued their winning ways by beating Sunburst 62-59 in their opening game. Their team is centered on the run and when it comes to running the football at North Star, it is usually behind Jaxon Simonson, a 6-4, 280-pound lineman that paves the way for star running back Gavin Spinler.

"Teams know what we are going to do, I have always said I'll give my playbook to the other coaching staff," Simonson said. "We are going to run the football behind Jaxon (Simonson) and get it to our running backs Gavin Spinler and Payton Peterson."

The Bears, who could easily be 2-0 if it wasn't for an injury to starting quarterback Brandon The Boy, lost to Sunburst 54-39. After building an early 19-0 lead, The Boy had to leave the game and from that point, things changed and the Bears managed just 15 points in the final three quarters

"In my opinion, Brandon The Boy is probably the best quarterback in the Northern division," Steve Simonson said. "He is very athletic and very elusive. He throws a great ball and does a lot of good things with it."

The Boy is planning to be on the field Saturday but as important as his presence will be, containing the Knight's running game will be just as important.

"We know they are going to run the ball at us," Box Elder head coach Ronnie Simpson said. "Jaxon Simonson is a big boy and he will be tough for us to handle but we just need to take on the block and make a tackle. But (North Star) has some very good athletes, but I think we are a little bit faster and we will have to use that speed aspect to try and get out and make some tackles."

The Bears, who missed the playoffs a season ago by just one game, know how important this game is against North Star and with the way the Box Elder schedule is set up, a loss is going to make qualifying for the playoffs extremely difficult.

That is because Box Elder's last two games are against Denton-Geyser-Stanford and Geraldine/Highwood, the two participants in last season's six-man state championship game. Each school is a traditional power in six-man football and if the Bears fail to win enough games early in the season, their playoff hopes may rely on getting wins in those final two games, which is much easier said than done.

"This game is a must win for sure," Simpson said. "Every time you go out on the field it is a must-win between us, Big Sandy, North Star and Valier because every team is fighting for those last couple of playoff spots. So, every game is a must win. If you lose any of these games now, once you get to (DGS and Geraldine/Highwood) it's going to be tough."

Yet, the fact that the Bears are even talking about making the playoffs is a testament to Simpson and the program he is building. Gone are the days of Box Elder being an afterthought in the Northern Division. They are a force to be reckoned with and Simpson expects an electrifying atmosphere for the game Saturday.

"I am excited and I am glad that we are at home for this game," Simpson said. "Last year we went down there and they put a pretty good thumping on us, so hopefully we can get them back this year. Hopefully, we will get a lot of fans out and, like I said, this is a big game. A lot more people are showing interest and the basketball team won the state championship last year and now we are trying to make the playoffs in football. We have a good core here and getting this win would be huge."

The Knights and Bears are set to do battle at 1 p.m. Saturday in Box Elder.