State Championship Football Game

I am not even sure where to begin. Last night Logan and the Declo Hornet Football team played the Parma Panthers for the State Championship! I have to say last nights game was as good as the BSU/Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl! Declo (8-3) came in as the underdogs, but they were the underdogs in the last 3 playoff games that got them to this game. It was a dream come true for Logan to play a football game on the Blue Turf @ BSU. Thanks to everyone that was there for the game - Grandpa & Grandma Knopp, Dad & Barb, Mom & Arb, Corey & Mimi, Connie & Virg, Don Allen, Jackie & Jackson, it meant so much to Logan that you all were there! I meant to get a picture of our cheering section and forgot. To much excitement!

The Hornets played their hearts out, they did lose but it was by 1 point in over time. We are so proud of the whole team!!! 2nd in the State and the first time for Declo Football to make it to the State Championship game! Following the pictures I added the newspaper article from the Times News!

WE LOVE OUR TEAM!!! GO HORNETS!!!

This is team getting ready to take the field for the Championship game!

The next 3 pictures are from the Idaho Statesman Newspaper...

Logan catching the pass for another Declo 1st down!

Logan and Nate making a tackle!
Tyler Briggs getting a Declo touchdown, Logan is the white player blocking!
The Declo Hornets Football team following the game!


DECLO DENIED
Hornets lose, but runner-up finish highest in school history
By Ryan HoweTimes-News writer
Declo's dream fell one point short.The unheralded Hornets, who rose up from a 3-3 midseason record to make an unprecedented and historic playoff run, were upended by Parma in overtime, 29-28 Friday night in the Class 2A state championship game at Boise State University's Bronco Stadium. Declo finished its season 8-4, but accomplished what no other team in school history had ever done by reaching the state title game. And what a dandy of a title game it was, as the Hornets took the heavily-favored Panthers (11-1) to their limit in an overtime thriller that the players, coaches and hundreds of Declo fans who made the trip will be talking about for years. "One point difference in overtime of the state championship game, how close can we be?" said Declo coach Kelly Kidd. "The older I get, the more sports don't make sense to me because somebody always has to lose. Our kids played fantastic, all of them." Senior Riley Kowitz capped a 10-play, 73-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown with 10 minutes remaining in regulation. Quarterback Jeremy Jenkins threw to Jarad Erickson for the two-point conversion that tied the game 22-22 and forced overtime. Parma won the coin flip and elected to play defense first in OT. On fourth-and-goal, Kowitz scored from a yard out, behind the blocks of Sage Warner and Rich Mahoney. Declo chose to go for 2, rather than attempting to kick a PAT. It's an unconventional decision most of the time, but a wise one for the Declo coaching staff under the circumstances. The Panthers had already blocked two Declo kicks, plus the Hornets' starting center and wingman were on the sideline with injuries. Jenkins avoided the Panther rush, but his pass fell incomplete on the conversion try. On Parma's turn, Lance Johnson ran in from 3-yards to knot the score, and Devin Erickson kicked in the game-winning PAT."I'm disappointed that we lost the championship, but we played the hardest we could. What more can you ask?" said Declo junior Larsen Webb. "This season was definitely a success. We were the underdogs the whole season. We started at the bottom and came clear to the top." Declo overcame various bouts with adversity throughout its season. Foremost among them was an inexplicable 13-point loss to Valley that dropped Declo to 3-3 and would eventually force a three-way Kansas City playoff in which Declo missed out on the No. 1 seed by inches - a Glenns Ferry field goal barely snuck over the cross bar. But in hindsight, Kidd believes that perhaps destiny played a role in his team's season. If Declo hadn't entered the playoffs with the No. 2 seed, perhaps it never would have survived the other side of the bracket. And if the Hornets hadn't gotten a wake-up call from Valley, they never would have self-examined and become a championship-caliber team." We had a lot of ups and downs this season and once we made it to state (playoffs) we gave it our all," said senior Tucker Edgar. "It would have been nice to get the championship, but we're proud of what we did." Declo faced more adversity earlier this week when starting center and defensive tackle Drew Matsen injured his knee during practice and was hobbling the sideline Friday on crutches. But Matsen wasn't the only Hornet banged up. Jenkins had a bad wrist on his throwing hand, Tyler Briggs walked with a noticeable limp, and Tanner Field had two sprained ankles, just to name a few. "We limped in here, and the kids played spectacular. I'm so proud of them," Kidd said.Declo also overcame adversity in the first quarter when Parma punts pinned the Hornets twice inside their own 2-yard line. Declo's first scoring drive was a 99-yard masterpiece highlighted by a 55-yard run by Jenkins and capped by an 11-yard score by Briggs. Six turnovers - three by each team - blemished the second quarter, but Parma was able to convert a fake punt on fourth-and-8 into a 41-yard touchdown run by Johnson to lead 15-8 at halftime. Declo ran the ball nine straight times to open the third quarter, capped by Will Nunnelee's 16-yard TD scamper. Parma blocked the PAT to make it 15-14.The Panthers went up 22-14 when Rance Portenier threw to Randy Riley on a slant, and the 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore took it 80 yards for the score. That set up Declo's game-tying score, which led to the overtime period. The Hornets walked off the blue turf with something no other Declo team has - a state runner-up trophy. The Hornets also left with something much more valuable: a life lesson. "Anything is possible," Edgar said. "I never thought we'd get here, but it was our goal and we reached it and I'm glad to be apart of Declo history."
Class 2A state championship Parma 29, Declo 28, OT

Headed for the State Championship Football Game!

GO HORNETS!!! Well by now everyone knows that the Declo Hornet Football team will play for the State Championship today! I know they are all going to play the hardest they have ever played and win or lose they have had an awesome year!

Before the team headed out Thurday - the school had a pep rally! Coach Kidd gave a great speech and I know he inspired the team!

The football team was lined up and blindfolded, they thought they were getting a good luck kiss from the cheerleaders and just for fun they were suppose to guess what cheerleader kissed them. Well once the team was all blindfolded, in came their moms to fill in for the cheerleaders in the kissing department! It was so great, Logan was really surpised when I removed his blindfold! Good Luck son!

The team then loaded onto the bus in front of the school and they were headed to spend the night in Boise. They had a practice at the BSU practice dome and then a good nights rest. I hope they got some sleep!!!

Escorted out of town - the streets of Declo were lined with all the kids from the schools, parents, grandparents and fans! With the fire truck sirens blazing they were off! Good luck team!

Kory and I are headed out this morning! And yes I window painted my car! Chancey has made a big decision and decided to stay home w/ Aunt Debbie (thanks Deb)! She was released to start practicing basketball again yesterday and we all know her love for the game. She can't wait to get back out on the floor and actually play a whole game! So she is staying home to practice! We will miss her, but Logan understands as he has the same love for football! Keegan should have been headed home for Thanksgiving today, but he will await our arrival in Boise and we will head to the game! We hope to bring home a State Champion football player, but win or take 2nd, what an awesome experience!!!

DECLO HORNETS WIN!

LAST NIGHT THE DECLO HORNETS WON THE STATE SEMI FINAL FOOTBALL GAME. SO LOGAN AND THE DECLO HORNETS WILL BE PLAYING FOR THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP ON FRIDAY - NOVEMBER 21ST @ BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY @ 4:30PM AGAINST THE PARMA PANTHERS! THE WHOLE TEAM PLAYED A GREAT GAME AND LOGAN HAD AN AWESOME BLOCK THAT HELPED CHANGE THE MOMENTUM OF THE GAME TO LET THE RUNNING BACK GET TO THE 29 YARD LINE IN THE 3RD QUARTER, AS THE HALF TIME SCORE WAS HORNETS 0 TROJANS 8. 5 MINS AND 55 SECONDS INTO THE 3RD QUARTER THE HORNETS HAD 3 TOUCHDOWNS!

GO HORNETS!!!

State Semi Final Football

GO HORNETS! Logan's football team won their quarter final game last night against West Jefferson (defending State Champs). West Jefferson had only lost one game this season until last night when the Hornets made 2! The game was held in the Mini Dome in Pocatello and it was so much fun! Logan and the whole team played a great game -the final score was Declo 34 West Jefferson 6! So now we are headed to play Nampa Christian in the Semi Finals next Saturday back in the Mini Dome! I will let everyone know the time as soon as we know for sure. Here are few pictures from the game.

Red Neck Pheasant Farm

OK just so everyone know's this is Logan's latest project, not his parents idea. Since we have a new puppy that has to be trained to point and retrieve birds. Well you have to have birds around to train the puppy. Hence we now have a couple of pheasants! Logan got everything put together and asked me to come and help him get the 2 pheasants that he bought into his Red Neck Pheasant Farm. We really love this kid, but sometimes his projects wear us out... but I did help him and Dad made sure we had pheasant feed the next morning. Hope things work out training Ace, the poor birds!

Chancey's knee

Just an update on Chancey's knee injury. She has micro fractures and bone bruising in the bone at the bottom of the knee. She is actually very lucky, the doctor said most of the time with this type of injury you see a blown ACL as well. Chancey's ACL and all other tendons and ligaments looked great on the MRI. So she is on crutches for a couple of weeks and then we go back to the doctor to see where things are at. Hopefully she will be back to play basketball for the last 4 weeks of the season.

Thank you

I forgot to thank everyone for all their love and support during our horrible week. First, I need to thank Kory and the kids for taking care of each other! My dad who I don't know what I would have done without him, Dad thanks so much for being there for me and for Logan!
Thanks to all the grandparents who came and spent Logan's birthday with us!
A special thanks to June & Dorothy (the girls I work with) for taking care of me all week!
Thanks to Uncle Corey, I know you don't feel good, so thanks so much for taking the boys hunting Thursday night!
I love you all so much and I couldn't have survived the week without you all!
THANKS AGAIN!

The worst week

Well the Knopp klan has had the worst week ever. I spent the last weekend getting ready for a crazy week, catching up on laundry and planning some meals, because we knew the week ahead was going to be very busy. The week was going to include 2 football games for Logan and 3 basketball games for Chancey and Keegan planned to come on Thursday (he rearranged a couple of things so he could be home for Chancey's Thursday night basketball game).

Monday afternoon things just went all wrong. The Declo football team had to win at least one game of the Kansas City playoff against Valley & Glenns Ferry in order to go to the state playoffs, the playoff was held in Jerome. Chancey had her first basketball game in Burley that evening. So Kory and his 2 friends (Rob & Trace) headed for Jerome. I stayed to watch Chancey play basketball. I ran home afterwork to take care of the dogs. I let Logan's dog Remi out of his kennel and went in the house for a bit, when it was time to leave for Chancey's game I couldn't find Remi. Well the short story is Remi had been hit by a beet truck and was killed! I was devasted and knew Logan would be too. After several phone calls to Kory, my dad and others I headed into Chancey's ball game and there I sat crying. We all agreed to not tell Logan until he got home.

Chancey's game started and she was on her game, the team looked great! About 2 minutes before half-time Chancey put up a lay up and was pushed from behind. She landed on the floor and was holding her knee, crying out in pain. For all of you that know Chancey, well you know how tough she is. I ran to the floor as did her coach. She said her knee didn't bend when she came down and it took the force of her body. So the mother that was already a mess because I felt like I had killed Logan's best friend now was crying my eyes out because my daughter was in pain. I called Kory and we decided that after the game, because Chancey didn't want to go until the game was over, she needed to go to the Emergency room. By the way she had 14 points before she got hurt!

Kory, Rob, Trace & my dad all headed home from Jerome. Chancey and I headed for the ER. My dad decided he would go to our house and start digging a grave for Remi and be there when Logan got home. Kory meet us at the ER. My mom had been at the game and she was at the ER with Chancey and I. We were all really worried about Logan, so we decided that Kory should head home and be there with my Dad to tell Logan. I have never felt so much guilt as a mother, I knew there were trucks on the road! Logan who turned 17 on October 29th (yes right in the middle of our worst week) has gone from a boy to an amazing young man. We all knew Logan was devasted because Remi was his best friend and he had spent hours training Remi to hunt w/ him. Logan and Kory ended up coming to the hospital to get Chancey & I.

I know I have told Logan a thousand times how sorry I am. As a parent you never want to see your child hurt, so it's even harder when you have caused the hurt.

On tuesday we took Chancey to see Dr. Crane. He is thinking at best she would be out for a month, but we had to have an MRI to see exactly what the damage was. Dr. Crane thought she had a small tear in the outside ligament of her knee. The MRI was scheduled for Friday.

Wednesday was Logan's 17th birthday and since Chancey couldn't play basketball. We sent her on the bus with her team to Wood River and had all the grandparents over for dinner and Logan's birthday. Kory and I both knew eventually Logan would want to get another dog, he has so much love for animals and he needs one in his life. So we ended up giving him money, so that when he was ready he could find a dog or puppy.

Keegan knew his family needed him, so he did come home Thursday afternoon. Since Chancey couldn't play he went pheasant hunting with my brother and Logan. Friday he went to work with Kory and thank goodness because they were really busy. Chancey had her MRI and we meet w/ Dr. Crane on Tuesday morning to find out the results. Friday night Logan's football game (round one of the state playoff's) was against Malad! Declo won!!! So we play again next week against the defending State Champs - West Jefferson.

Well we are now to Saturday and yes things are looking up! Our family headed for Twin - we needed a few things at Costco and Logan wanted to go to Sportman's! Logan had been looking for another dog, before we lost Remi! He really wanted a pointer, but Mom & Dad said no more dogs. Well there was an ad in the paper for a German Wiredhair Pointer and he decided to call about the puppy. After shopping in Twin, Logan asked if we could call and just go look at the puppy. Of course Kory and I said yes, we called and got directions. The puppy was in Jerome. The gentleman had 2 puppies left, they had both been the first 2 picked and other people had paid deposits on them, but then could afford to take them. He had one male that was solid brown, well it didn't take away all of Logan's hurt, but they were instantly friends! So Logan paid the man (he really didn't want to let the puppy go but he couldn't keep both of them) and we welcomed home ACE! He is really mellow and Cloey is loving having a friend! We miss Remi, but Ace has a great owner and he will get tons of love and lots of hunting!!!

Logan and Ace!