POCATELLO — Sloan Lambson hadn’t felt the heat of Holt Arena before, the collective humidity when a swath of fans are bunched together in a potato cellar yelling and jumping and breathing with a ferocity that isn’t healthy.

“This is my first time playing in here,” said the senior defensive tackle. “It just sucked the (life out of me). That first drive, I was gassed.”

Even those who have acclimated to Holt Arena’s unique qualities for decades made mention of the heat, which doesn’t seem crazy — two years away from anywhere will turn something familiar into something foreign.

After COVID pushed high school football outdoors for the first time in a generation last year, Saturday marked the return.

“This is the first high school football game in Holt Arena in two years,” the PA announcer bellowed before 5A powers Rocky Mountain and Highland kicked off, “Let’s make it a good one.”

Saturday’s 12-7 Rocky Mountain victory was more than good.

It ended with ping-ponging looks from the clock to the field, heart-pumping nervousness as Highland tried to get off one more play before the clock struck zero.

It looked like they just might do it, too. Turn a great game into a mythical one and turn what had felt like a loss all night into a euphoric opening-night victory. Then the clock ran out. The whistles blew. The refs frantically waved their hands in the air. Highland senior quarterback Jack Whitmer caught the ball and pressed it against his helmet.

Rare is it – especially in big-time high school football – that both the winner and loser end the night with a smile. Yet as Rocky Mountain’s party raged outside, Highland coach Gino Mariani stood on the Holt Arena ramp with a smile.

“How can you be mad?” He asked. “We battled back. We held them to 12 points. We score. We get the ball back. And we have a chance to win it with 30 seconds left. You can’t ask for anything more than that.

“Yeah, you’re upset that you lost and you’re frustrated and all that good stuff, but the effort was there.”

Effort and ferocity.

Highland went into the locker room at halftime looking for answers. The first half left the Rams scoreless – down 12-0 after a first-quarter Rocky Mountain touchdown pass and a 95-yard run up the gut by the Grizzlies’ Hunter Steacker.

Rocky Mountain debuted offensive coordinator Tim Souza, whose ability to get the ball to playmakers in space put the game on blowout watch early.

The third quarter didn’t initially offer much hope for Highland. Rocky Mountain started the second half on a 12-play drive that seemed destined for points. Four of the first five plays of the drive were run for running back Lucas Leavitt – a senior tailback who hadn’t touched the ball a single time in the first half.

It seemed the Grizzlies were toying with their foes.

“We got down 12-0. We could have packed it up and said, ‘You know what? It’s not our night tonight,’” said Rams’ defensive coordinator Nick Sorrell. “They had to dig down.”

Amidst worry, Highland’s defense had a similar response.

Kicker Ian Hershey missed a 45-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Two plays later, the Rams' defense forced and recovered a fumble. Later in the second, Hershey bobbled the punt and fell down at the Highland 8-yard line. A play later, the Rams' defense forced and recovered a fumble.

And, so, after Rocky Mountain marched into the red zone to begin the second half, the Rams' defense – which attacks ball carriers like mosquitos swarming towards light – of course forced and recovered a fumble.

“When we wrap people up, that next person in is ripping,” Sorrell said. “We practice it all the time. We work on it during the offseason. It actually came to fruition here.”

Offensively, Highland was solid. Whitmer showed off his dual-threat versatility, taking off more than a dozen times while completing 22 passes for 161 yards. But the Rams repeatedly had drives stall around midfield – until the fourth quarter.

“It wasn’t anything fancy,” Mariani said of the change. “We just executed. It helps when you execute.”

To begin the final period, Whitmer hurled seven passes in nine plays, distributing the ball to a quartet of receivers and methodically marching the Rams down the field. He capped the drive by hitting a wide-open Raimon Barela over the middle for a 19-yard score.

A one-possession game was given a quick jolt of energy when Highland’s defense punched out its fourth ball of the night – affording Whitmer and the Rams’ offense more than five minutes to march 69 yards to victory.

They made it 58 hash marks down the field. Then the whistles blew.