In 1-A division one, everybody is looking upward at council, including the Cascade Ramblers. Cascade lost 52 -6 last year to the conference champion Lumberjacks.

Council will be tough to knock off its perch this year, but Cascade has the chance to surprise some teams this year. With seven of eight players back on both sides of the ball and one of the biggest groups of lineman in the league plus improved team speed.

"The thing about 8 man football, whoever has the fastest jack rabbit's going to win," says 18 year head coach Pal Sartori.

Sartori is back after a year away from Rambler football. He says Council has the bulls eye, but isn't the only team to watch in 1-A division one.

"Idaho City will be good, but we have the athletes to compete with them."

down the road at Horseshoe Bend Scott Christenson is one of five first-year coaches, and says conditioning is the key to improving the Mustang's 2-7 record.

"They didn't have any weight training," said Christenson, "they lost four games in 4th quarter."

The Mustangs are a pretty young team, six sophomores on a team of 13. But they've got a bruiser at running back, and could be poised to make a run.

In the small school division two, the story has been Garden Valley for the past several years. But player of the year J.C. Tucker graduated along with a big senior class, and that's got teams like Salmon River licking their chops..

"Lots of people writing us off this year knowing we lost a fantastic senior class," head coach Ben Roeber said.

But Coach Roeber says the team speed is actually improved this season, and teams better be ready.

Plus there is plenty of pride in the valley as well this year, because of a brand new school.

"Just being known as the dumpster school," laments senior Eric Hileman, "we probably have the nicest school in 1-A now."