High School Football Preview: Rigby Trojans
RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI) - The Rigby Trojans’ 2024 season may hinge on the previous one, when they left the playoffs in the quarterfinals.
“We underachieved,” admitted head coach Armando Gonzalez. “No doubt."
“I’m not saying it was a disappointment,” added wide receiver Parker Graham. “I’m saying it’s a learning step."
"I think now the kids understand that just because we’ve played in state championships in previous years, it’s not just going to automatically happen,” Gonzalez said.
“It was a great lesson for us to learn,” said lineman Feki Po’uha. “Great humbling moment.”
Local News 8 asked Gonzalez about the lessons the team learned from the previous year.
“Complacency,” he said. “It’s hard, as human beings, not to be complacent when you’ve had the success that we’ve had over the last six years.”
His efforts to help the team re-focus start with frantic practices.
“Our job is to make practice harder than the game,” Gonzalez explained. “That helps them be uncomfortable and grow.”
“It starts in the trenches - O- and D-line - and it goes out from there,” he continued. “And if we’re physically dominant, we know we can gain both a physical, and then later on, a psychological advantage over our opponents.”
Those linemen are led by Po’uha, who is the nephew of longtime New York Jet and current BYU coach Sione Po’uha.
“All respect to him, but I gotta ride on my own name, too,” he said. “Gotta make a name down here in Rigby.”
The linemen’s efforts create opportunities, to the relief of receivers like Graham.
“I’m saying we can make the state title,” he asserted. “But that’s my confidence. That’s everyone’s confidence here.”
Gonzalez worries less about the playoffs and more about how they’ll get there.
“Too many people think there’s just gonna be this magic answer,” he said. “The secret sauce of being successful. And really, the secret sauce is the journey and the process itself.”
“I really feel that it’s my job, in this day and age as a head football coach, to partner alongside our parents to finish raising their boys,” he continued. “Ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re trying to build men, right? For our society, for our communities.”
“Sometimes you have to do hard things to become better,” said Po’uha. “You gotta fail in order to succeed sometimes. You gotta fall in order to rise.”
Gonzalez preaches an unexpected emotion on the gridiron.
“Love is not how we feel about each other,” he explained. “Love is about what you do. It’s about the commitment you’ve made for each other.”
“Teamwork,” added Graham. “Trust each other. Trust your brothers. Trust one another to, y’know, get stuff done.”
“That’s what it comes down to,” Gonzalez said. “When you’re sliding up next to somebody on Friday night, you’ve gotta know, ‘I can count on this guy, and he can count on me.’ That’s love
