POCATELLO – No district trophy, nor even a state tournament bid this year for Century.

The Diamondbacks are finished after a 2-1 home loss Saturday to Idaho Falls in a winner-to-state game in the 4A District 5-6 tournament.

The only iota of optimism Century has is that while it leaves the season empty-handed, the Diamondbacks do roll over their entire senior-less roster into next season.

The lack of experience that led to an up-and-down season led to an up-and-down final game. The Diamondbacks (10-5-5) had their moments, including right before the halftime break, but Idaho Falls had its way with Century for a large portion of the game.

“We were rattled this game,” Century coach Rocky Rhoads said. “We weren’t good enough.”

After the Tigers lost 4-1 Monday against Century, they switched from a 3-5-2 formation to a 4-4-2 to strengthen their backline. Idaho Falls coach Ryan Cook said he did not want to give Century room to maneuver when in possession of the ball.

The fourth defender allowed Idaho Falls to send one player at a Century dribbler while another hovered around them.

“When they attack up front, they’re so dangerous,” said Cook, whose team was 0-2-1 against Century this season. “The last couple games we gave them room just to run at us. They would come up with the ball and have 10, 15 yards. And when they get a full head of steam going forward, it’s really hard to stop. ... We were able to disrupt their rhythm, their flow.”

With no good looks at the net, Century got its lone goal off of a 30-yard free kick that was headed in by Cole Roske in the last minute of the first half. The score was tied 1-1 before Idaho Falls earned the final goal, 17 minutes into the second half to go back up 2-1.

Even set pieces were difficult to come by in the second half of Century’s game after tallying three corner kick and three free kicks in the first half. The Diamondbacks’ best shot at a goal came in the 75th minute, when Idaho Falls goalkeeper Tyson Lott made a diving save on a Shaun Abbasi shot.

A Century corner kick followed the scoring opportunity, but it was unsuccessful. As the final minutes ticked down, the Diamondbacks were helpless against Idaho Falls’ stingy defense.

“They’re hard-working, disciplined. They’re in it together,” Rhoads said of Idaho Falls. “They have strong team chemistry.”

The matchup contrasted Century’s last game, when it reached peak performance. Undefeated Blackfoot needed penalty kicks to defeat the Diamondbacks 4-3 on Thursday at home in the 4A District 5-6 title game.

“The Blackfoot game was everything I could expect from the boys,” Rhoads said. “I was proud of them. They performed at a really high level. Blackfoot’s undefeated for a reason. They’re able to put a lot of pressure on us, and we were able to answer back. That was the game of the year, as far as quality and intensity level.”

Century’s upward trajectory started after it was demolished at the same place, 5-0 to Blackfoot on Sept. 13. The Diamondbacks went 8-1-1 in their next 10 games, though they finished the season losing their last two games. Entering this year, Century was coming off two district titles and a state championship in its previous two seasons.

“Nobody likes to lose,” Rhoads said. “Our program is not accustomed to losing. Now, we have to eat it. We have to get better from it. That’s all you can do.”

{blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”}{p lang=”en” xml:lang=”en” dir=”ltr”}Century’s Roske scores on a header to tie game 1-1 against Idaho Falls at end of first half of 4A District 5-6 2nd-place game. #IDPREPS pic.twitter.com/hzPyTFzhS7— Jeff Papworth (@JeffPapworth) October 14, 2017{/blockquote}

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