BOISE, Idaho — It was the tale of two seasons for the Borah High School football team in 2023.
The Lions dominated in their first four games, starting undefeated with wins over in-town rivals Capital and Timberline. But Borah ultimately lost its last five regular season games, including a double-overtime defeat to rival Boise on homecoming and senior night.
"I kind of feel like we got a little bit ahead of ourselves and kind of took our foot off the gas and got we got humbled," said Keijen Shearer, a senior playing several positions this season, including linebacker, fullback, tight end and long snapper.
Despite the difficulties, the Lions made their way into the first round of 5A state playoffs.
Fourth-year head coach JQ Kenyon said Borah is looking for more in 2024.
"We expect the ball to kind of be rolling right out of gate," Kenyon said. "Rather physical in the box with our defensive linemen and our linebackers all kind of coming back. So, we should be rather strong against the run."
"Coaches are pushing us a lot more because they carry that chip on their shoulder as well," Shearer added. "They just know all around that we can do better than we did last year."
The Lions will be without several key pieces on the offensive line this season who helped lead the state playoff run, including two-way standout Trevor McKenna, who is now part of the Boise State football team.
Borah is also without running back Jevon Nelson, the offensive player of the year in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference River Division.
"Those are two players you can't really replace, but what we can do is adjust to that and find new guys and utilize our strengths and try to strengthen our weaknesses," senior wide receiver and defensive back Karden Hilpin said.
"We have two honorable mention and second-team all-conference defensive linemen coming back. John Ceron, Austin Flaherty, along with that Trevor's little brother, Mason McKenna, who split some time with Trevor and those other guys at the defensive line," Kenyon said.
The Lions return eight starters on defense.
"I think a big thing is consistency this year," Hilpin said. "That's a big thing we're trying to focus on this year, and just trying to keep the pedal and the gas, you know, just keep driving and don't let up, because we don't got enough time for that. We don't have enough room to spare. We got nothing to lose here."
Borah begins a new era this fall in Idaho's top classification, competing in the 6A SIC River Division alongside Boise, Eagle, Kuna, Mountain View and Owyhee.
Kenyon thinks the Lions are "gonna be able to surprise some teams."
"Borah, we play here for each other," Shearer said. "Just kind of play with a little chip on our shoulder because we're the underdogs."
The Lions open the season at 7 p.m. Thursday against Timberline at Dona Larsen Park.
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