Dave Spillett ducked just in time, avoiding the deluge of water headed his way. The Pocatello teenagers in charge of the operation, carrying a giant Gatorade container, were not fazed. They loaded back up and charged back toward their head coach, determined to celebrate this 31-7 win over Century by dousing him with whatever water remained in the container. When they unloaded that, Spillett side-stepped it.

“Sneaky-fast, that’s what I am,” Spillett said with a laugh. “Might have pulled a muscle.”

As he talked about this victory Friday night, Spillett wore a wide grin. Since the Thunder’s last 4A District 5 championship, only a year had passed. Since they celebrated one on their own field, well, good luck tracking that one down. For the Thunder, that’s part of what made this so meaningful: They beat a cross-town rival. They earned a home playoff game next week. They won a district title doing it. And they did it all at their place, Lookout Credit Union Field, the first facility Pocatello has ever called its own.

“It means the world, man,” said quarterback Hunter May, who accounted for two touchdowns, helping the Thunder put this one away in the third frame. “I mean, our starting quarterback went down. I knew we had to fight, you know? This stuff wasn't easy.”

If the Thunder were running underwater in the first half, they were walking on it in the second. To cap the first half, junior Garrett Keller converted a short field goal, good for a 10-0 lead. By the time the third quarter ended, the Thunder were standing atop a 31-0 advantage. Their defense forced two fumbles, and their offense turned both into touchdowns. When May wasn’t making plays, he ceded to junior Ryken Echo Hawk, who tallied 19 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns, helping his team total 203 rushing yards for the game.

Plus, Poky’s defense authored one of its finest performances of the year. The only score the Thunder yielded came in the final three minutes, a four-yard pass from David Satter to Richie Bull in the end zone. Still, check out the numbers the Thunder held the Diamondbacks to: 144 total yards, two turnovers, 48 yards through the air.

“Awesome,” Spillett said. “Our defensive guys have been challenged the last couple of weeks, and they're tired of it. So it was great to see them get a bunch of stops over the course of the night. Really, in my mind, pitch a shutout. Really proud of the defensive guys.”

Really, Pocatello did almost everything well. May completed 12 of 19 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown, a 32-yard jump ball that senior Krue Hales pulled down in the corner of the end zone. Echo Hawk scored on rushes of four and 15 yards, reversing fields when he needed to, shaking off tackles when he ran out of alleys. The Thunder’s offensive line made it all possible.

“I saw a giant hole,” May said of his touchdown rush.

“I was seeing some great holes by our line,” Echo Hawk said.

So much of this Pocatello season was not in anybody’s plans back in August. Players have been in and out of games. Last month, Hales was ejected for what officials deemed was a punch, and his coaches lost the suspension appeal, forcing Hales to miss nearly two full games. Other players have been in and out of games with injuries, sicknesses. Heck, the Thunder have played most of the season without Dre Contreras, their starting quarterback who is still walking around in a boot with an injury.

For Poky, adjusting took time. They tried freshman Tavin Williams at quarterback. They tried May. Only problem with that: Coaches were expecting May to play slot receiver, so if they moved him to quarterback, they would lose a receiver.

But before May could make his coaches look like geniuses, he had to look the part. He started the season wearing No. 23, a receiver number. By the time Pocatello’s home matchup with Shelley rolled around last month, it became clear May would be playing quarterback the rest of the season — so he needed a new number. “I wasn’t messing with 23 as a quarterback,” May said.

So he slid a No. 10 jersey over his pads. He swapped a bulky helmet for a slimmer one. “I always go by look good, play good,” May said. As the Thunder head into next week’s 4A state playoffs, hosting an opponent to be decided, they’ve made a habit out of both.

They’ve even managed to stay dry.

“To be able to do it on our own field for the first time, really in the history of Pocatello, really special,” Spillett said. “To be able to open the fences and have all of our student body come down here and celebrate with us in the first ever championship on our own field — pretty special night.”

POCATELLO 31, CENTURY 7

Scoring summary

First quarter

P — Hales 32 pass from May (PAT good), 5:18

Second quarter

P – Keller 24 field goal, 0:00

Third quarter

P — Echo Hawk 4 rush (PAT good), 9:48

P — May 43 rush (PAT good), 4:41 – 24-0

P — Echo Hawk 15 rush (PAT good), 3:29

Fourth quarter

C — Bull 4 pass from Satter (PAT good), 3:47

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Century: Horton 14-61, Satter 8-16, Gunter 2-11, Rawlings 1-8. Pocatello: Echo Hawk 19-106, Beckles 4-25, May 4-49, Stucki 1-12, Williams 1-5, Van Orden 1-6.

PASSING — Century: Satter 8-17-0 48. Pocatello: May 12-19-1 115, Williams 2-2-0 17.

RECEIVING — Century: Bull 2-22, Rawlings 4-17, Lopez 2-9. Pocatello: Winn 2-12, Hales 3-44, Echo Hawk 1-12 Applington 2-21, Crittenden 1-5, Smith 1-7, Christensen 1-4, Crittenden 1-5, Cordell 1-10, Myers 2-17.