POCATELLO — Jadyn Downs rolled right, looking to make magic for Pocatello one last time, but it wasn't to be.

Downs' 42nd and last pass attempt of the night found the arms of Minico defensive back Zayne Maughan over the middle with less than 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, allowing the Spartans to escape Holt Arena with a hard-fought 20-14 win Friday.

"That's what we talk about every day, playing hard, bend but don't break," Minico coach Keelan McCaffrey said. "Our defense wants to be on the field there at the end, and our kids run to the football, play great defense and play fast, so I think that helped us there at the end."

Minico, which relied on the one-two running punch of Karter Zampedri and Rylan Chandler — both ran for over 100 yards, and the Spartans attempted five passes all game — broke a 14-14 tie on a 12-yard touchdown run by Zampedri with 4:48 left. The extra point was no good.

Pocatello, starting at its 24-yard line, nearly drove the length of the field to win it, putting together a wild 16-play drive that had no fourth-down conversions but did have a potentially game-ending Minico interception called back for offsetting penalties.

A 14-yard pass from Downs to Jaxon Williams got the Indians down to the Minico 19 with plenty of time left, but they stalled there and ended up facing a fourth-and-5 from the 14 with 34 seconds left.

Downs rolled right, but his receivers were all covered, and a desperate cross-body heave to the center of the field went right to Maughan. Minico kneeled twice to end the game.

PHOTOS: Pocatello-Minico football

"I think tonight was a battle of two really good football teams," Pocatello coach Dave Spillett said. "We made some poor mental mistakes, and against a good football team, where every inch counts, you can't do that. That puts you in a bad situation."

The dramatic ending capped a very well-played, competitive game at Holt Arena.

Pocatello scored first after Matt Ney caught the opening kickoff at the goal line, broke left, and took it all the way to the Minico 20 before being chased down.

On fourth-and-goal from the Minico 7, the Indians went for it, and Downs rolled right and hit Casey Bruner with a great throw in the back of the end zone. The Indians missed the extra point.

Minico struck right back, hitting a trick-play halfback pass from Chandler to Connor Stocking on its first play from scrimmage. On fourth-and-13 from the Pocatello 31, Ben DeVries got behind the defense and Brevin Trenkle hit him for the touchdown and a 7-6 lead.

Minico wouldn't complete another pass for the rest of the game, but the Spartans extended their advantage early in the second quarter, grinding out an eight-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. Zampedri or Chandler ran the ball on every play, and it ended with Zampedri bulling over from the 1-yard line for the touchdown.

"(Minico) has a couple of really good backs that run really hard," Spillett said. "They hit some big ones. They were able to get movement up front. Against a team like this, you have to gap assignments and you have to trust the guys behind you are going to do their job. There were a handful of plays tonight where we didn't do that, and it cost us."

Pocatello had a very good answer though, with a 15-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that took over six minutes.

Downs converted a fourth-and-1 in Pocatello territory with a 4-yard pass to Williams to keep the drive going, Ryan Payne ran in the 1-yard touchdown, and Downs ran in the 2-point conversion to tie things at 14-14 heading into the half.

Downs threw for 126 yards in the first half and finished 27 of 42 for 235 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

"We were struggling to get movement up front, and we liked our matchups on the outside," Spillett said.

Both teams had chances in the third quarter, but seemed to be competing against each other to see which team could shoot itself in the foot in the most painful manner.

The Spartans had a first-and-10 at the Poky 25 on the first drive of the second half, but went backwards on sacks and penalties and ended up in a fourth-and-43 back on their side of the field.

Pocatello took the punt and drove to the Minico 35, but Downs fumbled and Adrian Naranjo recovered for the Spartans.

Minico, not to be outdone, made sure to have someone load up the downward-pointing pistol on the next drive as Zampedri and Chandler carried the Spartans all the way to the Pocatello 6.

Eventually, it went off, as a snap through the quarterback's hands backed the Spartans up 15 yards, and an eventual 35-yard field goal try was wide right.

Pocatello punted the ball right back, and the Spartans finally broke through. Zampedri appeared to be bottled up on the winning touchdown, but eventually broke free for the score.

Zampedri finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries for Minico, and Chandler had 26 carries for 165 yards.

"Karter Zampedri, he filled in for Tazyn Twiss, and him filling in and stepping up in such a big game and running hard and being physical at the end of the run, I think that was crucial to our success," McCaffrey said.

That gave Pocatello one last chance to win it, and the Indians very nearly did, but Minico's defense was just good enough to see out the win on Maughan's interception.

Up next:

Pocatello (3-4, 0-2 4A District 4-5 East Pod) hosts Preston at Holt Arena next Friday. Minico (6-1, 3-1) hosts Century on Friday.

MINICO 20, POCATELLO 14

Minico 7 7 0 6 — 20

Pocatello 6 8 0 0 — 14

Scoring summary

First quarter

P — Bruner 7 pass from Downs (kick failed), 8:03

M — DeVries 31 pass from Trenkle (kick good), 6:17

Second quarter

M — Zampedri 1 run (kick good), 9:31

P — Payne 1 run (Downs run), 3:21

Fourth quarter

M — Zampedri 12 run (kick failed), 4:48

Individual stats

Passing — Pocatello: Downs 27-42-235-1-1. Minico: Chandler 1-1-37-0-0, Trenkle 1-4-31-1-0.

Rushing — Pocatello: Downs 12-28, Payne 9-24-1, Park 2-5. Minico: Chandler 26-165, Zampedri 14-103-2, Merrill 3-21, Trenkle 4-(-17), Chavez 2-(-21).

Receiving — Pocatello: Park 7-66, Williams 6-62, Ney 5-38, Bruner 5-30-1, Payne 4-23. Minico: Stocking 1-37, DeVries 1-31-1.

Minico at Pocatello football