POCATELLO — All week, Travis Hobson’s body was “puckered.” The Century head coach was tense, his frame clenching as if a natural warning sign. A hold-your-breath moment because the future seemed so uncertain.

In other words, Hobson was scared. Of losing the Diamondbacks’ first conference game against Preston? Maybe, a little. He was more anxious about what team he was going to see on Friday. It could have been the one he’s seen flashes of, that lights up practices and dominates opponents. Or it could be the one that lost by three scores at Thunder Ridge last week in a game that wasn’t that close.

“We’ve got kind of a Jekyll-and-Hyde complex going on,” Hobson said. “I was worried. I didn’t know which one of my teams was going to show up.”

In Century’s 61-24 victory over Preston (2-4, 0-1), he found out pretty quick.

After one quarter, the Diamondbacks (4-3, 1-0) were up 23. When halftime struck, Hobson strolled into the locker room and, although it may have been tough to spot under his black-and-purple Century mask, showed his pearly whites for a halftime speech. That doesn’t happen much.

“There will be a lot of smiling tonight,” Hobson said with, of course, a smile. “Those are the fun times to be coaches.”

Preston ended the second quarter in a regretfully painful way.

With less than 10 seconds before the half expired, the Indians tried to get tricky. When you’re down that much, bold ideas become necessity. After he completed a pass earlier in the contest, the Indians decided to let receiver Emery Thorson take another snap. He chucked a pass along the right hash to a receiver that never touched it.

Century’s Jonah Sowell returned it 50 yards for the score. Sowell’s pick was one of four on the night for the Diamondbacks. The other three all came via senior Myles Gifford.

“Myles is a great player and it showed. He’s going to go play at the next level for sure,” quarterback McKean Romriell said.

Romriell, though, had his part in the nail-in-the-coffin end of the half.

Two plays and about 20 seconds before Sowell’s pick-six, Romriell stood on the 18-yard line, the punishment for a touchdown-negating penalty on second-and-goal. He lofted a high-arcing pass to the corner, a parabola-like trajectory that mimicked the mountains that serve as the backdrop for Century’s stadium, landing the ball in the breadbasket of receiver Isaac Panttaja.

It wasn’t his longest, but it was the prettiest pass of Romriell’s superb victory. The junior quarterback finished his night, which only lasted three quarters, with 430 yards on 25 of 30 passing with six touchdowns and no interceptions.

“My coaches having more confidence in me, I feel, helped a lot. And my teammates giving me a little tap on the back telling me I got it,” Romriell said. “My line was giving me a good amount of time ... and my receivers were just getting open. It was mostly them, not me.”

And in Century’s Jekyll-and-Hyde complex, Hobson knows that the 5-foot-8, 150-pound Romriell is the spark that’s either going to light a fire or burn the house down.

“When McKean is confident and in-control and shows that panache, then you see what happens with the team,” Hobson said. “And when he’s a little bit nervous ... teams often go as quarterbacks go.

“I think that kid looks in the mirror and sees himself as a 6-foot-6, 300-pounder. When he shows up in that fearless mode, he’s a heck of a quarterback.”

On Friday, that couldn’t be debated. What can now be debated is Century’s place as a potential state-tournament participant. In a three-team conference, spots are limited and the bubble, especially with COVID uncertainty, feels vast.

All that means is Century’s final game — a Oct. 23 matchup at Poky — earns that much more importance. As if it needed any.

“I think we’re a better team than even what we showed tonight,” Romriell said. “We have a big game coming up and we’re not going to overlook anybody but, at the same time, we know who we are. We can win that game.”

CENTURY 61, PRESTON 24

C 13 34 14 0

P 3 0 7 14

First quarter

C — Emmett Holt 34-yard pass from McKean Romriell (Brayden Stouse kick no good) 8:32

P — Owen Pearson 21-yard field goal 3:42

C — Kyler Hillman 6-yard run (Stouse kick good) 1:14

Second quarter

C — Jovan Sowell 34-yard pass from Romriell (Stouse kick no good) 10:30

C — Jovan Sowell 19-yard pass from Romriell (Stouse kick good) 7:44

C — Bruin Fleischmann 43-yard pass from Romriell (Stouse kick good) 3:13

C — Isaac Panttaja 18-yard pass from Romriell (Stouse kick good) 0:30

C — Jonah Sowell 50-yard interception return (Stouse kick good) 0:02

Third quarter

C — Deonta’e Lang 3-yard run (Stouse kick good) 6:39

P — Tyler Lindhardt 73-yard pass from Brecker Knapp (Pearson kick good) 5:31

C — Tyler Schell 49-yard pass from Romriell (Stouse kick good) 3:44

Fourth quarter

P — Tait Rawlings 5-yard run (Pearson kick good) 10:50

P — Justin Inglet 12-yard pass from Knapp (Pearson kick good) 2:58

PASSING

C — McKean Romriell 25-30-430–6-0, Tyler Schell 0-1-0-0-0 … P — Brecker Knapp 12-26-165-2-3, Emery Thorson 1-2-9-0-1

RUSHING

C — Kyler Hillman 8-65-1, Zac Snow 3-20, Drew Roberts 10-14, Deonta’e Lang 2-5-1, Jaxsen Tuia 1-(-1), McKean Romriell 2-(-8), Tyler Schell 3-(-29) … P — Charles Iverson 8-37, Brecker Knapp 4-8, Tait Rawlings 5-48-1, Cole Harris 3-5, Emery Thorson 1-1, Hunter Wright 1-(-2)

RECEIVING

C — Bruin Fleischmann 6-126-1, Emmett Holt 5-104-1, Jovan Sowell 5-99-2, Tyler Schell 5-56-1, Isaac Panttaja 3-38-1, Zac Snow 1-3, Myles Gifford 1-4, Drew Roberts 1-(-1) … P — Tyler Lindhardt 3-91-1, Cole Harris 4-29, Tait Rawlings 2-27, Charles Iverson 2-22, Hunter Wright 2-13, Justin Inglet 1-12-1