POCATELLO — There’s something medieval in the sportsmanship procedure of 2020. Handshakes are a thing of the past, and all that germ-spreading has been replaced with a ceremony that feels like it belongs in either Roman wars or 4th-grade picture day.

Both teams trickle near midfield with coaches directing them into a straight line. It’s a 10-yard wide stretch of padded football players that goes four-deep. With a few feet separating each squad, they look each other in the eyes, wave their helmets and say a few mumbled words of good graces.

It’s an interesting spectacle. For those with a curious eye, it’s often a pretty good tell, too. Ping-ponging glances at the motionless sides is perhaps the best way to observe size, to learn which team is bigger and stronger. Often, that information alone is all you need to figure out who will be celebrating that night.

Perhaps that’s what made Friday night so surprising. It’s not just that Century walloped a Bishop Kelly team that were heavy favorites (the Knights were ranked third in the season-ending media poll, while Century was unranked), but that the Diamondbacks looked like the Monstars from Space Jam. When the whistle sounded, they all got taller, bigger and faster.

They played that way, at least.

Century (7-3) knocked off Bishop Kelly, 33-14, on a windy night in Pocatello. The victory thrusts the Diamondbacks into the 4A state semifinals, where they’ll play at Emmett next week.

“We’re putting a trophy in the case. Anytime you put hardware in the case, it’s a good season,” Century coach Travis Hobson said. “In my opinion, this is a legacy win. We’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time — a game like this, to beat a really good football team and to beat them soundly. It’s a proud moment.”

That wasn’t a scenario most anticipated.

Bishop Kelly had rattled off six straight wins, outscoring its last three opponents 124-19. The Knights’ wrecking ball of a running back — 6-foot-2, 195-pound Seth Knothe — could seemingly fall out of bed and pick up seven yards. Plus, Bishop Kelly’s offensive line was thought to be one of the best in the state, with a double-dose of size and masterful technique.

“Truth be told, on Monday we told our offensive and defensive lines that, for the first time since Highland, we thought they were at a disadvantage,” Hobson said. “That they weren’t the better offensive and defensive lines.”

All that makes this postgame quote from Bishop Kelly coach Tim Brennan all the more head-scratching.

“They physically out-played us up front,” Brennan said of Century. “They controlled the line of scrimmage, and that’s how you win football games.”

It began on the first drive, when 6-foot-5, 250-pound Titan Fleischmann brought down Knothe in the backfield and then sacked Bishop Kelly quarterback Keegan Croteau on the next play. A promising drive ended before the Knights crossed midfield.

That was the theme all night. The Diamondbacks never allowed B.K.’s lethal ground game to get comfortable. Then they would take the ball on offense and let their rushing attack gallop behind bulldozers that asserted their will in the trenches.

Century ran the ball 45 times for 243 yards, more than 100 more than the Knights (6-2). Senior Easton Millward led the way with 90 yards and a pair of touchdowns, the second of which finished off a 12-play, 60-play drive in which the Diamondbacks ate up five-and-a-half minutes of clock and rushed the ball on all but two of their snaps.

“I think our boys are underrated,” Hobson said. “We’re bigger and stronger than people think we are. Their coaches said, ‘Man, you guys are huge,’ and we are, but you don’t see that on film.”

Century took a 14-0 lead after Millward’s second score, a margin that Hobson wasn’t all that comfortable with. Two plays helped ease his angst.

After Bishop Kelly downed a punt inside the 5-yard line for the third time, Century quarterback McKean Romriell began the drive from the 1. A pair of run plays pushed the Diamondbacks up a few yards, but Hobson had already called punt alert, thinking risks in that spot rarely work out. His coaches thought they could get it on third down, sending in a pass play.

Only thing was, receivers Bruin Fleischmann and Jovan Sowell messed up and flipped their alignment. Fleischmann was supposed to be on the outside, looking for a quick hitch that would move the chains. Instead, he found himself in the slot, running a streak. Romriell figured he’d go with it, that he could probably muster a pass interference call with a throw to the 6-foot-4 wideout.

“I somehow happened to catch it, run around, not trip and make it to the end zone,” Bruin Fleischmann said of his 95-yard touchdown. “I think that was the nail in the coffin.”

Hobson would disagree. He thought the final nail came a quarter later, after the Knights cut the deficit to 20-7.

Again, it came when his coaches looked into their crystal ball. Hobson’s defensive assistants got on their headsets and hollered out, “That’s going to be a deep out on their sideline,” the same one the Diamondbacks had practiced against all week.

Sure enough, when Croteau flung the ball, senior defensive back Myles Gifford jumped the route and notched a 35-yard pick-six.

“I saw the receiver come out and run a hitch and the quarterback’s eyes got big, so I just made a play on the ball,” Gifford said.

“You watched that half of the stadium deflate,” Hobson said, pointing toward the remnants of B.K.’s sidelines. “That was the dagger in the coffin if you asked me.”

The disagreement over which play really ended the game might have been the biggest source of conflict on a night the Diamondbacks celebrated their first state semifinal trip since 2015 — a celebration that might have seemed impossible after Thunder Ridge handed them a distressing 48-28 loss in early October.

“The Thunder Ridge loss, that was the best thing for us,” Hobson said. “We got exposed — that was a blessing in disguise. … They’re playing awesome football right now.”

That they are, which brings up the note that you’d be hard pressed to find a Century player or coach disagree with. Whether Century has one or two more games remaining, the Diamondbacks don’t expect to be favored — and, to them, that’s just perfect.

“It’s kind of our identity that we’re the underdogs and we’re going to keep being the underdogs throughout the rest of the playoffs,” Gifford said. “Nobody expects us to keep going and I think that’s what drives us.”

CENTURY 33, BISHOP KELLY 14

BK 0 0 0 14

C 0 7 13 13

SECOND QUARTER:

C — Easton Millward 8-yard run (Brayden Stouse extra point good) 6:59

THIRD QUARTER:

C — Easton Millward 4-yard run (Brayden Stouse extra point attempt no good) 6:23

C — McKean Romriell 95-yard pass to Bruin Fleischmann (Brayden Stouse extra point good) 1:19

FOURTH QUARTER:

BK — Seth Knothe 1-yard TD run (Sam Pape extra point good) 9:44

C — Myles Gifford 35-yard pick-six (Two-point conversion try no good) 5:17

C — Kyler Hillman 3-yard run (Brayden Stouse extra point good) 2:29

BK — Seth Knothe 1-yard TD run (Sam Pape extra point good) 1:03

PASSING: C — McKean Romriell 16-19-205-1-0 … BK — Keegan Croteau 11-19-144-0-1.

RUSHING: C — Easton Millward 17-90, Zac Snow 14-75, Jovan Sowell 2-45, Kyler Hillman 8-40, McKean Romriell 4 (-7) … BK — Seth Knothe 23-104, Jason Buss 1-22, Keegan Croteau 4-7, Colby Weikert 1-1.

RECEIVING: C — Bruin Fleischmann 3-99, Jovan Sowell 9-80, Zac Snow 2-12, Emmett Holt 1-9, Isaac Panttaja 1-5 … BK — Jeff Cilley 3-68, Jason Buss 6-60, Seth Knothe 1-15, Leighton Blyth 1-1.