Following the post-game handshakes with Preston at the conclusion of Pocatello's 35-6 win Friday at Holt Arena, one of the Preston coaches pulled Poky senior Wes Howard aside and said, "I can't wait till you graduate."

During the first five minutes of the game, it was clear why the opposing coach felt that way; no one wearing a Preston uniform - offensive or defensive - was immune to Howard's fury.

On the opening play of the game, Howard as a defensive end exploded through the Preston line to sack Preston Bridger Hall for a 5-yard loss. Two plays and a punt later, Howard as a running back broke through his offensive line to pick up 9 yards on the Indians' first play from scrimmage.

Howard continued to own the first half on both sides of the ball, picking up 82 of his team's 213 yards, and functioned as a main cog on the Pocatello defense that only allowed its opponents 27 yards and two first downs in the same stanza.

"Wes is a good football player, and he's got his whole heart and soul into it," Pocatello coach Tom Harrison said. "If you don't believe so, you can step down on the field and see it when he's on the field or when he's coming off. He's got the fire inside."

Pocatello capitalized on the field position gleaned by Howard on its first two series, namely sophomore Jerron Batts, who topped off the Indians' first two red-zone visits with touchdowns - the first on a 20-yard run, the second a 19-yard reception.

"The weight is pretty evenly spread on this team," Howard said. "There's kids that step up and make good plays. This game was a team effort. Our (offensive) line was opening up holes, and all of our running backs were running hard and scoring touchdowns."

Howard ended with 131 yards on 12 carries.

Despite Pocatello's dominance that allowed Harrison to play his second-team players for much of the second half, some of the early season kinks hadn't quite been worked out of its offense. The Indians were penalized 16 times for 122 yards.

Harrison pulled most starters after Howard parlayed his first-half success into a 58-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second half. Preston was able to score its only touchdown against Pocatello's reserves when Ryan Visser snuck in the end zone on a 3-yard run in the final minutes of the third quarter.

Despite giving up the shutout, Harrison said the chance to rest his starters for nearly an entire half was an opportunity he wanted to take advantage of, especially before next week's Rocky Mountain Rumble.

"We want (our starters) to be able to fight another day," Harrison said. "We could pad their stats and keep them in, but we don't do that. And we have some decent depth. We've got some good second-team players that are out there, and playing them lets us teach them through experience what they need to know to be ready to play."

Pocatello (1-1) will play Mountain Crest out of Utah at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Holt Arena.